Dubrovnik is the Croatian city with the best quality of life and Varaždin is the best choice for business. An award ceremony was held in Šibenik for the gala award of the best cities in Croatia, an event organised by Hanza Media, Ipsos Agency and the website Gradonačelnik.hr. Hundreds of Croatian city leaders attended the event which was also attended by the Minister of Development and EU Funds, Gabrijela Žalac.

On accepting the award, the Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković commented that “the prize confirms the slogan of the city administration 'Dubrovnik a city according to its citizens' and added that the next goal was to provide apartments for our young families. Because in Dubrovnik, it is almost impossible to buy an apartment.

Whilst the Mayor of Varaždin stated that “This is the reward of Varaždin entrepreneurs.”

Photo - HANZA Media 

Dubrovnik won the award for the Croatian city with the best quality of life for a large city, whilst Poreč won in the category for medium-sized cities and Novigrad Istarski in the category of small cities.

The Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Jutarnji List, Goran Ogurlic, said that this selection had been a very long and drawn out process because the voting committee insisted on strict criteria for the awards. In the final selection a total of 41 cites were entered with some of them competing for several awards.

List of winner cities by category

The best cities for quality of life

Small town - Novigrad Istrian
Medium sized city - Poreč
Large city - Dubrovnik

The best cities for business

Small town - Krk
Medium sized city - Sveta Nedelja
Large city - Varaždin

The Best Cities for Education, Demography and Social Policy

Small town - Pag
Medium sized city - Umag
Large city - Čakovec

Winner of "Best Smart City Solutions and Practices" Award - Rijeka