Why I'm Considering Moving to Croatia from Switzerland (After 2 Years of Searching)

Originally published in the Remote Goats newsletter. This expanded edition lives on the blog for easier discovery.

I've spent two years researching where to move from Switzerland. Cyprus, Dubai, the Lugano area, Sion, Poland, Spain, Portugal — I've actively considered or visited most of the obvious European bases for remote workers and online entrepreneurs.

After all that, the country that's now genuinely competing with my Swiss base is one I'd written off early: Croatia.

Here's the full case, after my recent visit to Zagreb and Split.

The background: why I started looking elsewhere

I went remote with my career a couple of years ago, after starting Euro Top Tech (Europe-focused tech jobs and salary platform), Six Figure Euro Engineer (1:1 coaching), and more recently Remote Goats (this site).

Once the income stabilized, I started seriously assessing whether Switzerland still made sense as a long-term base:

1. First, I struggled to find a good alternative while having to keep the business running smoothly.
2. Then, I researched whether it might actually make sense to just stay in Switzerland — since finding an alternative is hard, and Swiss institutions / stability are genuinely valuable.
3. Finally, I formalized my setup as a Swiss-based Euro-trifecta — Switzerland as the legal / banking base, with rotating months in lower-cost European countries.

The trifecta setup imposes further exploration. Some months of the year need to be abroad to manage cost of living, and visiting places that have potential for remote workers fits both my interest and what my audience wants to read about.

As I scaled down the "Swiss months" portion, I started gravitating toward places with better lifestyle than onsite career opportunities (since the career part is now fully remote anyway).

What I tried first — and why it didn't stick

• Cyprus was an old favorite. I'd visited before and liked it; it has low/mid taxes (non-dom regime, 12.5% corporate). I deep-dived and revisited — but found some key issues that made me pivot. Still, Cyprus had a "feel" I really liked. Question: is there an alternative that gives what Cyprus gives without the issues?
• Dubai / Middle East: I had a trip planned, but the flight got cancelled due to the situation in Iran. The broader regional instability made me look away from Cyprus and the Middle East entirely for the time being.
• Switzerland fatigue: I was getting more and more tired with the Swiss cost of living, especially for a long-term setup where I'd be in the country most of the year.

That's when the Remote Goats Relocation Advisor suggested Croatia, and I started deep-diving it. Fun fact: I'd actually had Croatia on my radar earlier, in an old article on top European countries for remote workers. It just hadn't reached the front of the queue.

So instead of Dubai, I went to Croatia.

What I found, in 7 angles

1. History and geopolitics matter more than nomads admit

Before flying out, I watched some Yugoslavia documentaries to understand the regional history and current geopolitical situation. People grossly underestimate geopolitics for relocation decisions.

If you're a young digital nomad with no dependents and full optionality, geopolitics is fine to ignore. But if you're planning or building a family, stability matters, and having a Plan B option for tail-risk scenarios is genuinely valuable.

I've published a separate piece on how a Croatia + Uruguay setup is a solid, geopolitically-diversified configuration — Croatia as the EU primary base, Uruguay as the Southern Hemisphere Plan B.

2. Croatia has online momentum

There's growing interest in Croatia among the remote-work / online-entrepreneur audience that I track — search interest, content output, and digital nomad inbound flows are all trending up. Worth weighting when picking a base, because scenes have compounding effects: more interesting people show up, more meetups happen, more services exist for your kind of work.

3. Safe, culturally cohesive country

For me, this is one of the biggest factors in any relocation decision. Going around at night or day and frequently encountering people in altered states or doing dangerous things is a major lifestyle downgrade. I strongly prefer places where that's rare.

Croatia delivers on this. It also retains a sense of being a country with a culture and a cohesive society, rather than a transit hub of disconnected individuals. That's part of what I valued about Poland, and Croatia gives a similar feel — with a coastline.

The cost of cultural cohesion is that you have to actually engage with the language and culture to integrate properly. I find that a feature, not a bug.

4. Vibes, people, and food — better than expected

I just loved all of it. Quite a bit better than I expected going in. Mediterranean food, friendly people, walkable cities, café culture, no rush. You can browse some pictures on my Instagram.

5. Zagreb (the capital): hugely underrated

I went in with low expectations and was genuinely impressed. Zagreb has the architectural depth of Budapest or Vienna at a fraction of the cost, with more livable scale (~1M people in the metro). Café culture is exceptional, and the farmers' market scene is among the best I've seen in Central Europe.

I made YouTube videos while there if you want the visual:

• General overview of Zagreb
• The farmers' market visit

Disclaimer: we all have different taste — the fact I liked it doesn't mean you will. Visit before deciding.

6. The coast and Split

The Croatian coast lived up to the hype. Split specifically blew me away — the historical center built into a Roman palace, the Adriatic walks, the food. Made me wonder if Croatia is just secretly the perfect country.

I wrapped up with two video reviews:

• Split vs Zagreb comparison
• Final video review and "am I moving here?" assessment

7. Nature

Beyond the coast, Croatia has some of the most striking inland nature in Europe — Plitvice Lakes, the Velebit range, Krka National Park. Top-tier natural-environment access for an EU country at this cost level.

Why Croatia genuinely competes with my Swiss base

The shortlist comes down to:

Factor	Switzerland (Sion / Lugano)	Croatia (Zagreb / Split / Istria)
Stability	Top-tier global	Mid-tier EU
Cost of living	High to very high	Low to medium
Coastline	None	World-class
Tax burden (online business)	14-20% effective	~25-30% effective
Language friction	French / Italian (mid for me)	Croatian (high)
Lifestyle "feel"	Rushed (Zurich) / relaxed (Sion / Lugano)	Genuinely relaxed
Family-raising quality	Excellent	Very good
Climate	Sunny (Sion / Lugano), gloomy elsewhere	Mediterranean / continental mix

Switzerland still wins on stability, infrastructure depth, and absolute tax efficiency for online business setups. Croatia wins on coastline, cost of living, and what I'd call "humanness of daily life" — less optimized, more enjoyable.

The decision honestly comes down to:

• How much do I value the Swiss premium over the next decade vs the lifestyle / cost upside in Croatia?
• Where do I see myself raising kids?

The Croatia + Uruguay configuration

If I move to Croatia, I'd keep Uruguay as a Plan B base for geopolitical hedging — Southern Hemisphere, English-friendly residency, far from European or Middle Eastern flashpoints. I wrote about this configuration in detail.

For most readers, full Plan B isn't relevant. But maintaining residency optionality across two distant regions is cheaper than people assume, and the optionality has compounding value as global stability decreases.

FAQ

Is Croatia in the EU and the Schengen Area?

Yes to both. Croatia joined the EU in 2013, the Schengen Area in 2023, and adopted the Euro in 2023. For an EU citizen, this means freedom of movement, freedom to work, and no currency conversion friction — all the same advantages as Spain, Portugal, or Italy as a base.

What's the tax situation for remote workers in Croatia?

Croatia has a digital nomad visa with a tax exemption for non-resident remote workers (up to 12 months extendable). For full residents, options include standard income tax brackets (up to ~35.4% combined at higher brackets) or the Obrt sole proprietorship structures. Effective tax burden for a typical remote worker on €60-100k income lands around 25-30%. Higher than Slovenia's Normirani s.p. (~17-22%) or Cyprus non-dom, but lower than the Western European default.

Can English speakers get by in Croatia?

In Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, and other major cities, English is widely spoken in tourism / hospitality / younger generations. For day-to-day life as a resident — bureaucracy, healthcare, neighbours, schools — Croatian becomes necessary or strongly recommended. It's a Slavic language with a steep learning curve for most Westerners, but speaking it unlocks a much deeper integration. Istria is technically bilingual with public Italian schools, which is an interesting angle if Italian is your secondary language.

Why Croatia over Portugal or Spain for remote workers?

Croatia has stronger cultural cohesion, a less-touristed coastline outside peak summer, and isn't yet saturated with digital nomads in the way Lisbon or Barcelona are. Trade-offs: Spain and Portugal have larger English-speaking remote-worker scenes, more direct flight networks, and (in Spain's case) deeper job markets if you ever want to go hybrid. For pure remote workers prioritizing lifestyle and cost-efficiency, Croatia is genuinely competitive.

What's the best Croatian city for remote workers?

For full-time residency, Zagreb offers the best mix of urban services, business infrastructure, and culture without massive tourist pressure. Split is best if you want the coast and a digital-nomad scene year-round. Istria (Pula, Rovinj, smaller towns) wins if you prioritize quality of life, food culture, and Italian-influenced architecture. Dubrovnik is gorgeous but absolutely overrun in tourist season. For a multi-month rotation, splitting between Zagreb in winter and the coast in summer is a strong pattern.

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Browse country deep-dives on Croatia, or use the Relocation Advisor to compare countries against your specific income, tax, and lifestyle priorities.