Consider Croatia if you are going to Europe in 2022

I hear you. We have friends from high school who keep talking about going with us - my husband’s family is there so we go every 2nd year. No trip yet. I keep telling them about the change over and it will probably become more expensive but I don’t want to force people to travel with us. Anyway, it was in the newspaper today that starting September of this year all prices will be displayed in both currencies. The article did not mention if the shops are required to accept euros yet, but I can’t see why they wouldn’t. On our trip September 2021, the B&Bs, and tour guides all accepted euros.

--This means prices will likely skyrocket.

What is the basis for this statement? I recall promises of "rounding up" when the EU was created. That's not "skyrocketing." How can you distinguish pandemic costs and inflation from technical economics?

Tim,
I am unable to provide you with the science of believing the conversion from the Kuna to t he Euro will create a "skyrocket" in prices. I can recall when Europe converted to the Euro and shall provide the simplest example creating a Tsunami impact. I know this seems to be a silly example, but was quite real.
We often shop markets for food and had been in Florence prior to Euro conversion where three tomatoes = 1,000 lira. Returned to same market after Euro conversion and two tomatoes = 1 Euro. Hmmm. Was the same vendor so we engaged in a conversation about over all pricing impact and learned his perspective was the increases were creating a strain on the folks making their living at "street level". So we decided to make an effort to engage folks during the remainder of our journey to listen to folks experiences with the Euro conversion impact. The consistent message was the same product/services were all rising in price simply due to. the switch to the Euro.
I completed some college level macro and micro economic courses, managed to pass, but cannot recall much from the lessons. I do have a career in retail and enjoy listening to folks wherever we travel about how they manage their business (this is a great way to engage folks).
Our last international trip was to Croatia and Spain in the Fall of 2019, seems so long ago, and I was able to engage the following in dialogue: a small ship owner, restaurant owner and employees, a pawn shop owner and several produce stand vendors at the Split Green Market. Their consistent belief is the conversion to the Euro is inevitable and prices would rise based upon their dialogue with business owners/family in EU countries.
All of this is unscientific, but I believe in lessons learned at street level. The US dollar, even with its rise and fall, has always enjoyed a good exchange rate into Kuna making Croatia a good value. I doubt it will remain as good a financial value when the Euro arrives.
However, the best value of Croatia is they are wonderful people.

This means prices will likely skyrocket.

Depends what future timeframe you're looking at (short-term? medium-term? long-term?) Keep in mind that it is locals who would be most affected because they purchase most of the goods in an economy (in addition to businesses and government), so I too am skeptical of this statement in the very short-term. It would be a political bomb to not try to manage the conversion in a way that provides at least a bit of a softer landing for a population that has to adjust. Also, parts of Croatia are already expensive (indistiguishable from other parts of Europe) due to wealthy tourists and sheer popularity/ demand - Hvar, Dubrovnik, etc. Massive tourists flocking to Croatia due to fears/ anticipation of spiking prices would cause prices in certain spots to go up as well. What I find most helpful is to shop where locals shop instead of massive tourist centers. When Greece went from the drachma to the Euro, things changed there too - it became more expensive but not solely due to the conversion.

We often shop markets for food and had been in Florence prior to Euro
conversion where three tomatoes = 1,000 lira. Returned to same market
after Euro conversion and two tomatoes = 1 Euro.

The price of tomatoes is not a good example as prices on fruits and vegetables can vary a lot from year to year depending on the weather.

Based on anecdotal evidence of myself and many fellow travelers, the Euro zone became far less affordable than during the eras when each country used it's own currency. I lived in Europe for a while in the 90s and travel to the continent extensively each year ever since.

One reason for the price increases, if you want to hear economic arguments, is that the Euro became a reserve currency. On the other hand, many local currencies were not.

I remember visiting Spain and Portugal in the 80's and then later after they joined the EU, but before the Euro.
The prices were up quite a bit after they join the EU, not just when the Euro was adopted.

I agree with geovafriffith. I lived in Spain in the late 70s and it became much more expensive after joining the EU then switching to the Euro.

"skyrocket" i think is hyperbole. Might it increase some? Maybe. Rounding up if nothing else. They are already in the EU, so EU regulations have already had their impact on the economy. Might be offset a bit by not having to convert local to EU every time something is purchased across the border. Although, if Croatia is anything like Hungary; there is already a lot of commerce going on in Euros in Croatia and has been for years.

Interesting note about Montenegro. When they went through a financial crisis they just tossed their currency out and notified the EU that the Euro would be their currency and the EU needed to deal with that fact. So Montenegro is not in the EU but is "on" the Euro. It appears to be working for them. Cheap country by the way.

The Spanish inflation rates don't look much different from the USA rates for the years after the start of the euro (1999).
Spain: https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/inflation-cpi
USA: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
You'll need to select "25Y" at the top of the chart to start at pre-euro dates.

I was in Greece just after the € had been adopted. At a supermarket, the price stickers in € were placed on top of the price in drachmas. Prices were 10-15% higher compared to the official exchange rate.

I had similar experiences in Portugal. It’s more than just “rounding up”.

Well, instead of having a debate, let's just think about enjoying the food and scenery of Croatia.

I was in Split in Oct for several days and I loved it. It was not as affordable as I initially anticipated, but still cheaper than Italy and France. However, my gut feel was that, once the Euro is adopted, prices would go up.

So, for those who want to visit Europe soon but aren't sure where to go, Croatia is a good, timely pick.

I was in Greece just after the € had been adopted. At a supermarket,
the price stickers in € were placed on top of the price in drachmas.
Prices were 10-15% higher compared to the official exchange rate.

And if you go to Hungary today you will see lots of prices in Forints and Euros and the Euro prices will always be higher. I assume because the rate fluctuates and they dont want to have to change the prices daily, and because they have to take your euros to the bank to exchange them to Forints and in the process will lose some percentage.

Yes, if you pay in euros in non-euro countries it will cost a bit more since there is an exchange rate risk. But that was not the case in Greece after the transition. The exchange rate was fixed at €1=340.75 drachma months before, so there was no risk involved.

I was paying for some accommodation in Euros way back in 2002 in Croatia.
Before the Euro existed they wanted the Deutsche Mark
This was common all over Eastern Europe.
Sometimes rooms are priced in Euros but pay in local currency. This was on the expectation that their currency was weak and liable to loose value. I remember at one hotel where i stopped at start of tour in Bulgaria and also at end. The local currency actually increased in value between the two stops so the second bill was cheaper