Adriatic Sea

The home of Croatian islands and part of the Mediterranean

Stretching northwest-southeast between Italy on one side and Croatia on the other, Adriatic sea is considered to be one of the shallow seas. About the two thirds of the sea have the depth of 200 metres or less. The northwest part of the Adriatic sea, close to Istra peninsula and northern Italy is more shallow, while the southeast part of the sea is generally deeper - heading south towards the Mediterranean sea. This is also where the deepest Adriatic sea point was found - 1.2km in depth (1200 metres).

Bordering with Croatia and Italy

The Adriatic Sea's northwest - southeast full length is 870 kms, while it average width is 160 kms. The widest portion is 217 kms. It's overall surface covers 135,418 square kms. The overall length of the Adriatic coastline, combined between Italy's coast on the east and Croatian coast on the west, is almost 35,000 kms.

The other countries bordering with Adriatic sea are: Slovenia, with a very small coastline between Italy and Croatia's Istra peninsula; Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro also with a very small coastline near Dubrovnik area; and Albania with somewhat longer part of coastline. But it's Italy and Croatia that truly cradle the Adriatic sea, with Croatian islands populating the Croatian parts of the Adriatic sea.

The Blue Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is one of the cleanest seas in the world along the Croatian coastline. The average seawater transparency in the Adriatic ranges between 20 and 30 metres, while the deepest visibility measured out on the open sea was recorded to be 56 metres. The sea's salinity of 38% make it one of the more salty seas. This high salinity is also what gives it its deep blue colour, by which Adriatic Sea is known.

Adriatic Sea has a distinct blue colour, owing to high salinity
This photo shows the sea near the island of Pag

The summer water temperatures are fairly stable, ranging from 22 to 25 degrees Celsius - which makes it warm and pleasant for swimming and bathing in it. The winter temperatures can vary more, in particular near the coastline, where they can fall down to 5 degrees Celsius in the northwest part of the sea and down to 15 degrees Celsius in the southeast part (which is closer to the Mediterranean Sea). The deepwater temperature out in the open Adriatic sea tends to stay around 11 degrees Celsius.