Expat Croatia

Skiing

In Croatia, in addition to the above-mentioned, it is possible to ski as well. Croats have very successful athletes in this event, so Croatia is a nation of ski lovers, and this is reflecting in its great facilities.

Janica Kostelic is a retired alpine ski racer from Croatia. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics (in 2002 and 2006), and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics, in 2002. Of course, this is not the end of all our ski successes. This is only the part of a famous story about Croatian ski. About one little country which has offered world only the great winners.

Croatia is not the primary ski destination in Europe, and its resorts can not be compared with the famous ones across Europe and world, but in any case they are cheaper, closer, and have other benefits. In Croatia there are only a few resorts: Platak, Bjelolasica, Begovo Razdolje, Sljeme, Celimbaša, Tršce etc. Most Croatian resorts are situated in Gorski Kotar.

In recent years, much was invested in Sljeme and Bjelolasica. Ticket prices vary, but start from 30 kuna, and the price of one day accommodation starts at 150 kuna or more, which is, taking into account its proximity and local cuisine, certainly one of the advantages of local ski resorts.

Bjelolasica

The Bjelolasica is the training centre for the Olympic skiing team, located in the Zagreb region, 27 km from Ogulin, in a vast valley at 620 meters above the sea level where mountain and Mediterranean climates meet in beautiful preserved nature of Gorski Kotar. Only at two-hour ride from Zagreb and Rijeka. A large sports hall, fitness club and sauna are located in the central pavilion of the Bjelolasica Hotel Complex, reopened in 1998. It has the mile long (1.6km) runs. Hight is from 619m to 1392m with 9 individual pistes, served by 6 ski lifts.

http://www.bjelolasica.hr

Platak

Located 25km northeast of Rijeka which direct access to 5 individual pistes, served by 4 ski lifts and 10km of cross-country trails. Omiljeno obiteljsko skijalište Rijecana omogucava setnju uredenim i obilježenim planinarskim stazama kojima se dolazi do prekrasnih vidikovca sa pogledom na more.  A resort very much on the grow looks to be a promising resort for the future.

http://www.platak.hr/

Sljeme

Croatian capital Zagreb can boast with having a ski resort situated only about twenty minutes car ride from the city center.  Sljeme resort is on Mount Medvednica looming above Zagreb. Ski slopes and ski lifts are situated on the peak ridge and on the north slopes of mountain Medvednica. The ski slopes begin almost on the very top of the mountain and continue to spread gently across the peak ridge on the Bijela livada (White Meadow)  towards east and steeply towards north on the Crveni spust (Red Slope). Next to the Crveni spust (Red Slope) on the north side of the ridge there are also Zeleni (Green), Plavi (Blue) and Bijeli (White) Slopes. Total length of the slopes is about 4.000 meters. There are two T-bar ski lifts (on the White and Green Slopes) and a three-chairlift (on the Red Slope),

Every skiing season there are a number of skiing competitions held on the ski slopes of Sljeme, among which the most famous and the most prestigious is the FIS World Ski Cup competition

http://www.sljeme.hr/

Celimbaša - Mrkopalj

Ski resort Celimbaša is located in a place called Mrkopalj located 15km from the Delnice exit off Rijeka – Zagreb highway. This place is settled on 832 m above the sea level and the resort comprises of 3 slopes, red – with length of 1350m, black - 500m and i another red – a 1000m in length. It is planned to widen the trails, build an artificial lake for easier covering the trails with snow, as well as purchase a bigger capacity cableway (two pulling ski lift and 2 lifts for now).