December the 23rd, 2025 – The glorious Adriatic Highway (Jadranska magistrala) has been declared one of the world’s most beautiful roads multiple times. If you’ve ever driven along it, you won’t need any explanation as to why.
As Putni kofer writes, for many people across Croatia, the stunning Adriatic Highway has always been an integral part of going to the coast or to an island. That first glimpse of the crystal clear Croatian sea is eagerly awaited each and every summer by countless road users from both Croatia and abroad. It sometimes transforms into a pizza oven of sorts when the crowds descend on the coast and the inevitable crowds and traffic jams pile up on it, but the view often makes up for at least most of that.
the adriatic highway – one of the world’s most beautiful roads, and also one of Croatia’s most important
Thanks to the utterly beautiful landscapes it passes through, spending a little more time than you otherwise might like on the road isn’t so bad. Croatia is famous for its excellent roads, and while the country itself finds itself higher and higher on global lists of “must visit” destinations, the Adriatic Highway is often on the wish list of lovers of a good road trip. Croatia’s remarkably beautiful Adriatic Highway is well known, and it has also been declared one of the world’s most beautiful roads – several times.
The dry definition of this winding masterpiece is much less romantic. Croatia’s Adriatic Highway spans a total of 1006 kilometres, running along the eastern Adriatic coast, from Trieste via Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Ploče and all the way down to Dubrovnik, and even to Ulcinj in Montenegro. Its largest section, stretching 818 kilometres, passes through Croatian territory and has an even drier official name there – D8.
Aside from being the most pleasing to the eye, it’s also one of the most important Croatian state roads. Despite the motorway’s construction, some of its sections still represent a kind of lifeblood of the areas through which they pass.
Until its ceremonial opening on May the 30th, 1965, there was no single road running along the entire length of the rugged, heavily indented Croatian coast. In some places, larger settlements were connected, but that was more or less it. Its construction eventually continued in places or even led along the routes of old Roman and medieval roads, as well as roads built in the 18th and 19th centuries and at the beginning of the 20th century. Examples of this are the route from Metković down to Dubrovnik, or the one leading from Senj to Karlobag.
In any case, the construction of the Adriatic Highway changed the fate of the Croatian coast forever. It began to develop, with houses and rest areas being built along it, and even entire settlements popping up. Some say that it was the one that enabled the development of mass tourism in Croatia, and it also played an extremely important role during the war.
building the adriatic highway was no easy feat
The construction of the Adriatic Highway was far from an easy undertaking. According to the blog of the Geotech company, more than 10,000 workers and about 300 engineers and technicians participated in its construction. At least six million cubic metres of material were excavated. Mines were used and about two thousand tonnes of explosives were used for this. According to the same source, the Croatian Army itself participated in the construction of the Adriatic Highway, and records were also broken, for example in the case of the 482-metre-long Bistrine Bridge near Ston, which was built in a mere 10 months.
The Adriatic Highway has 26 bridges up to 20 metres long and 13 bridges longer than 50 metres. Although stunningly beautiful (thanks to its panoramic, sweeping views, it was once included among the 10 most beautiful roads in the world) Adriatic Highway also has a flaw – it is dangerous.
It is six to seven metres wide (sometimes five to six metres), is full of sharp bends and slopes greater than six percent and intensive traffic can pose a serious issue. It often passes through settlements, and in some places vehicles are entirely exposed to the violent winds that have harassed the Dalmatian coastline since time bagan. High, rugged cliffs and rockfall also pose risks.
However, its sheer beauty outweighs all of these natural challenges, with countless drivers from across Europe and indeed the world taking to its twists and turns each and every year.
