Credit Cards

IF you search the Forum, you will find multiple recent discussions on credit cards, maybe not Croatia specifically, addressing this topic.

So, quick answer: Capital One credit cards. Multiple options (points or cash back etc), never any foreign transaction fees anywhere in the world, no markup on the exchange rate (you pay what Google gives as the exchange rate that day), decent interest rates, easy to apply for, don't require you to have other accounts with them to qualify. They do have cash advance fees so don't use this one to get cash from aTMs.

So you might also want the Capital One 360 Debit card to get cash. Completely on line application and management of the account. Same zero fee structure and exchange rate as the credit card.

I use Capital One as well. However, more and more cards have done away with foreign transaction fees in recent years so that my Alaska Airlines Visa has none at this point and neither does the American Express. Perhaps a card you already have does not charge fees? Otherwise, Cap One is easy and there's no annual fee, at least for the card I have.

The best card to use will be branded as VISA or MasterCard. After that it doesn't make a lot of difference as long as the card has zero currency conversion fees - that is fairly common as noted above.