- by croatiaweek
- July 25, 2026
-
in
News
Croatia has received the highest overall rating among five major Mediterranean holiday destinations, narrowly ranking ahead of Greece in an analysis of more than 1.6 million tourist reviews.
The study, published by Index.hr, examined 1,622,218 reviews posted on Google and Booking.com, comparing Croatia, Greece, Spain, Italy and Türkiye across 30 matched destinations over a two-year period.
Croatia recorded an average rating of 8.91, just ahead of Greece on 8.909, and clearly ahead of Spain, Italy and Türkiye.
However, the results revealed a more complex picture. When 12 nationalities who visit both Croatia and Greece were compared directly, 11 preferred Greece. Hungary was the only exception, with visitors rating Croatia 9.17 compared with 8.98 for Greece.
Croatia performed particularly strongly in areas including location, staff and cleanliness. It also recorded the lowest level of complaints among the five countries in several categories, including unexpected charges, tourist traps, waiting times and overcrowding.
Greece, however, scored significantly better for the role of people in the visitor experience. Staff accounted for 31.5% of positive comments about Greece, compared with 19.2% for Croatia.
Croatia’s main weaknesses included complaints about air conditioning, Wi-Fi and parking. The country also recorded the highest proportion of comments about feeling that a destination was expensive, at 4.47%, compared with 3.76% in Greece.
Accommodation was not the main source of complaints. Visitors more often pointed to everyday costs such as sun loungers, parking and coffee. Dubrovnik and Rovinj recorded particularly high levels of comments about prices.
Dubrovnik
The study also found that the proportion of visitors saying their holiday was “worth it” has fallen across all five countries over the past two years, amid rising prices, heat and overcrowding.
Some Croatian destinations performed exceptionally well. Makarska recorded an average rating of 9.10, placing second among the 30 destinations analysed, behind Santorini and ahead of Mykonos. Hvar also saw complaints about prices fall from 8% to 6%.
The analysis used artificial intelligence to classify reviews written in multiple languages. Its methodology and limitations have been published alongside the research. You can see more here.
