Croatia, now enjoying a boom in tourism, has come a long way since the dark days of the 1990s war. Visitor numbers are rising dramatically year on year and anyone who has visited Croatia knows why. If you fly into any of the country's airports you will pass over some of the most dramatic and beautiful coastlines anywhere in the world. Approaching Split, for instance, you can see how the Dalmatian dog acquired its name: the hundreds of variably sized islands look just like the spots on the dog.

The coastline is extremely beautiful all the way down from Istria in the north to Dubrovnik in the south, the clear, clean, deep blue sea being complimented by many people as "as clean and clear as anywhere." Inland there are outstanding national parks and Zagreb, the capital with a population of just over 0.75 million, is reckoned to be "one not to miss" before it gets known too well.

The influence of Croatia's many colonisations (Greeks, Romans, Slavs, Austians, among others) may be seen all over Croatia. It is a great place for diving owing to the many shipwrecks which lie on the ocean bed all down the coast.

Information: Croatia is bordered by Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Hungary. It has a population of roughly 4.5 million. Currency is the kuna but the Euro is widely accepted also. A pleasant Mediterranean climate prevails along the Adriatic coast, with an overwhelming number of sunny days, dry and hot summers, mild and humid winters.

The country is now a parliamentary democracy. The last general elections were held in November 2003, in which the ruling socialist SPD (and its coalition partners) lost, forcing Prime Minister Ivica Racan to resign. HDZ (the Croatian Democratic Union), under the leadership of Ivo Sanader, polled most of the votes of the electorate although they did not get an overall majority. They joined some smaller parties to form a coalition government.