Insider tips

In Dalmatia too one goes by the familiar 10% mark when tipping. Here, though, a tip is not given as a matter of course but very much as recognition of good and friendly service. So in particularly pleasing cases 15% is not presumptuous either - but to give no tip at all is clear criticism.

If you want to ask a Croat for directions, you should know a few rules of pronunciation: the Croatian "c" is pronounced like the German "z" (English "ts"). Depending on the diacritic, also readily as "ch" or "tch"; the "z", by contrast, sounds like an "s", and when it carries an accent it is pronounced as a soft "sh/zh" as in "journalist". The "h" should scratch a little in the throat and recall the German "ch", and with an "s" carrying a diacritic a light "sh" may be heard. And should you still not be understood after all that, simply point at the written word.