Shop hours in Croatia: Sundays, Christmas, New Year 2026/27

Croatian shops close on Sundays and public holidays, and each retailer opens on 16 Sundays a year of its own choosing. The rule comes from Article 57 of the Trade Act (Zakon o trgovini) and has applied since 1 July 2023. Over Christmas and New Year 2026/27 it produces two closed stretches: Friday 25 to Sunday 27 December, then Friday 1 January and Sunday 3 January. Thursday 24 December and Thursday 31 December are working days. Shops at petrol stations, railway and bus stations, airports, ports, hotels and campsites set their own hours.

• Monday to Saturday: each shop may open up to 90 hours a week, spread as the retailer chooses.
• Sunday: shops close, except on the 16 working Sundays each retailer picks for the year.
• Public holidays: shops close. Over the turn of the year that means 25 and 26 December, 1 January and 6 January.
• 24 and 31 December: ordinary working days in law. The chains set shorter hours and announce them in December.
• Exempt: shops at stations, airports, ports, petrol stations, hospitals, hotels, museums, marinas, campsites, family farms and protected nature areas.
• Newspaper kiosks: 7:00 to 13:00 on Sundays and public holidays.

Christmas and New Year 2026/27, day by day

The calendar below follows the Trade Act and the Holidays Act (Narodne novine 110/2019). From Christmas Day to the following Sunday, shops close three days in a row. The second break is shorter. New Year's Day falls on a Friday, Saturday 2 January is a normal shopping day, and Sunday 3 January is closed again. Epiphany on Wednesday 6 January closes the shops once more.

The chains have not yet published their hours for 24 and 31 December 2026 or their working Sundays for December. Konzum, Lidl, Kaufland, Spar, Plodine and Studenac announce them on their own websites. This page adds the hours of each chain around 15 December 2026. Until then, the hours from previous years show the pattern. They are past figures and can change.

• Christmas Eve 2024, a Tuesday: Lidl open until 14:00, Kaufland until 16:00, Plodine until 18:00 and Tommy until 14:00. Konzum, Spar and Interspar worked shorter hours that varied by store, Zagreb.info reported.
• Shopping centres in Zagreb on Christmas Eve 2024: Arena Centar and City Center One from 9:00 to 17:00, Avenue Mall from 9:00 to 18:00, Westgate from 10:00 to 17:00.
• New Year's Eve 2021, a Friday: Konzum open until 17:00 at the latest, Lidl until 16:00, Kaufland from 7:00 to 18:00 and Spar supermarkets until 18:00, Dnevnik.hr reported. All of them closed on 1 January.
• Sunday 28 December 2025: selected Superkonzum, Lidl, Kaufland and Plodine stores in Zagreb, Rijeka and Osijek opened as a working Sunday, Dnevnik.hr listed.

Sunday closing all year

The Croatian Parliament changed Article 57 of the Trade Act on 17 March 2023, in Narodne novine 33/2023. The new text took effect on 1 July 2023. The retailer sets each shop's hours from Monday to Saturday, up to 90 hours a week in total. Shops close on Sundays and on public holidays. The government may order certain shops to open on a holiday by decision.

A retailer may declare 16 Sundays a year as working Sundays. In each of those weeks the shop gains 15 more hours, spread from Monday to Sunday. The retailer keeps a written or electronic record of every working Sunday, and inspectors can check it against the Tax Administration's fiscal data. Fines for a company run from 660 to 39,810 euro.

Small traders, the employers' association HUP, the party Fokus and several citizens asked the Constitutional Court to review the rule. The court turned down all the proposals in ruling U-I-3291/2023 of 14 February 2024, published in Narodne novine 21/2024 on 23 February 2024. Four judges added separate opinions. Article 57 stands unchanged in the consolidated text of the Trade Act in October 2026.

Shops that open on Sundays and holidays

Article 57 exempts shops that sit inside, or form part of, the places below. They set their own hours on Sundays and on public holidays, and they cover most of what a traveller needs on a closed day.

• Railway and bus stations, airports, ports open to public traffic, inland ports, and shops on board ships, planes and ferries.
• Petrol stations.
• Hospitals.
• Hotels, museums, cultural and religious venues, visitor and interpretation centres, nautical marinas, campsites and family farms.
• Declared protected nature areas, such as national parks and nature parks.

The rule also leaves out farmers who sell their own produce at market stalls, occasional sales at fairs and public events, vending machines and distance selling, which includes online shops. Christmas fairs and Advent stalls fall under occasional sales at public events. Newspaper kiosks may open from 7:00 to 13:00 on Sundays and holidays.

Every shop must post its opening hours clearly on the premises, under Article 61. Staff warn customers 15 minutes before closing time. Since June 2026 town councils may also limit alcohol sales in shops between 21:00 and 6:00, under the new Article 57.b (Narodne novine 59/2026).

Working Sundays: 16 a year per retailer

The law sets the number of working Sundays and leaves the dates to each retailer. In 2025 the large chains opened selected stores in the bigger towns. On Sunday 14 December 2025, Dnevnik.hr listed Superkonzum, Lidl, Kaufland and Plodine stores open in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek and Split. The lists for 30 November and 28 December 2025 looked similar.

The four Advent Sundays in 2026 fall on 29 November and on 6, 13 and 20 December. Sunday 27 December and Sunday 3 January are the two Sundays inside the holiday period. Each chain names on its website the stores that open on which Sunday.

Practical tips for the holidays

• Do the big shop by Wednesday 23 December or on the morning of Thursday 24 December. The next regular shopping day is Monday 28 December, unless your chain opens on Sunday 27 December.
• Saturday 2 January is a full shopping day between New Year's Day and the closed Sunday.
• Petrol station shops are exempt, so on a closed day they are often the nearest open shop.
• Shops at airports, railway and bus stations and ferry ports keep their own hours on all four holidays.
• Staying in a hotel or at a campsite: the shop on site is exempt and sets its own hours.
• Check your chain's store finder before you drive. Kaufland, for example, shows the hours of each store on kaufland.hr and in its app.

All 14 public holidays of 2027, with Easter, Corpus Christi and the summer dates, are on our page on Croatia's public holidays 2027. The concerts on the main squares on New Year's Eve are in New Year in Croatia.