Croatia or Slovenia? When each is busy and when it is quiet

TL;DR

In 2025, Croatia's busiest month was August (28.2% of its tourist nights) and Slovenia's was August (18.7%). The quietest were January (0.7%) and November (4.1%). Croatia's two busiest months carried 54.5% of its year, against 35.5% for Slovenia, so Croatia's year was more concentrated.

Croatia and Slovenia, month by month

Each chart shows what share of the place's 2025 tourist nights fell in each month, on the same scale; the two busiest months are highlighted.1

Croatia

JFMAMJJA28.2%SOND

Slovenia

JFMAMJJA18.7%SOND

Share of the year, every month

Croatia had the smaller share of its own year in eight months (January, February, March, April, May, October, November and December), and Slovenia in four. A smaller share means a quieter month for that country, not fewer visitors than the other.1

Croatia and Slovenia: share of 2025 tourist nights by month
MonthCroatiaSlovenia
January0.7%4.4%
February0.7%4.5%
March1.1%4.3%
April3.5%6.4%
May6.2%8.0%
June15.1%11.0%
July26.3%16.7%
August28.2%18.7%
September12.5%9.9%
October3.7%6.9%
November1.0%4.1%
December1.0%4.9%

The key facts side by side

Croatia and Slovenia: key facts
CroatiaSlovenia
Busiest monthAugust, 28.2%August, 18.7%
Quietest monthJanuary, 0.7%November, 4.1%
Two busiest months54.5% of the year35.5% of the year
Busiest vs quietest41.1 times as busy4.6 times as busy
From abroadIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 90.3% of Croatia's tourist nights. Source pageIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 74.9% of Slovenia's tourist nights. Source page
Length of stayGuests stayed an average of 4.6 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Croatia in 2025. Source pageGuests stayed an average of 2.6 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Slovenia in 2025. Source page
How seasonalJuly and August together carried 54.5% of the year, making Croatia the first most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source pageJuly and August together carried 35.5% of the year, making Slovenia the seventh most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source page
Public holidaysIn Croatia, public holidays fall on 14 days in both 2026 and 2027. Source pageIn Slovenia, public holidays fall on 15 days in both 2026 and 2027. Source page

Each sentence is copied from the page it links to, where its source is cited.

Weather: Zagreb and Ljubljana

Averages for 1991–2020 at the weather station each page uses: ZagrebMaksimir for Zagreb and LjubljanaBezigrad for Ljubljana.2

Average high and rain by month, Zagreb and Ljubljana, 1991 to 2020
MonthHigh, ZagrebHigh, LjubljanaRain, ZagrebRain, Ljubljana
January5.0 °C4.1 °C46 mm67 mm
February7.8 °C7.0 °C45 mm84 mm
March13.0 °C12.3 °C48 mm83 mm
April18.0 °C17.2 °C61 mm97 mm
May22.4 °C21.8 °C76 mm114 mm
June26.2 °C25.8 °C91 mm125 mm
July28.1 °C27.9 °C80 mm122 mm
August28.1 °C27.6 °C86 mm124 mm
September22.6 °C21.8 °C104 mm160 mm
October17.0 °C16.1 °C88 mm150 mm
November10.7 °C9.6 °C87 mm138 mm
December5.3 °C4.2 °C62 mm104 mm

One station per place; weather varies within every country. Not a forecast.

What this comparison cannot tell you

  • A share of each place's own year, not a crowd count. A low share means that month was quiet for that place. It does not mean the place had fewer visitors than somewhere else, and a small country's busy month can still be far quieter than a big country's quiet one.
  • Nights, not queues. A national or prefecture total cannot show crowding at one sight, beach or old town. Day trips do not count at all, because nobody stays the night.
  • One year. These are 2025 figures. Another year can differ, for example when Easter moves between March and April.
  • We have not been to these places and make no judgement about which is better to visit.

Want a different pair? Open these two in Compare and add or swap places.

Key takeaways

  • Busiest in 2025: Croatia in August, Slovenia in August.
  • Quietest: Croatia in January, Slovenia in November.
  • Two busiest months: 54.5% of Croatia's year, 35.5% of Slovenia's.
  • What we would skip: picking one over the other on these figures alone. They show when each is busy, not which you would enjoy more.

Sources

The tourism figures come from Eurostat and the weather from the World Meteorological Organization's 1991–2020 normals, published by NOAA. We copied every figure from the two places' own pages, where each source is cited in full. See how we research.

  1. Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
  2. Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), the station named for each country in the table (the same station its country page uses), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years; also station MilanoLinate (station ID 00016080); also station BariPalese (station ID 00016270), from the same files, downloaded 24 September 2026. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.

Modified data. The monthly shares, orderings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts and the Japan Tourism Agency's figures (「宿泊旅行統計調査」(観光庁)を加工して作成). Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Neither body is responsible for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here.