From 1 October 2026, parking at Pula Hospital in Croatia is no longer free. The first hour costs nothing, then every additional started hour is charged at two euros. Three hours in the car park will set you back four euros — whether that time was spent at an appointment or simply waiting for one.
The hospital's argument is straightforward: charging should discourage long-term occupation and free up spaces for actual patients. A reasonable goal on paper. The problem, as local business outlet Poslovni points out, is that hospital visits don't run to schedule. Nobody waiting for an examination knows if they'll be called in ten minutes or two hours, so the first free hour may be barely a down payment on the real wait.
There are exemptions, and sensible ones. Dialysis patients park free during their procedure, and oncology patients are exempt for the duration of active therapy. But that carve-out highlights the awkwardness of the whole scheme: the people most affected by unpredictable waiting times — and most likely to be too unwell to worry about a meter — are exactly the ones being asked to keep an eye on the clock.
Reaction locally has been unimpressed, to put it mildly. The critique doing the rounds is that the policy solves one problem by creating another, lumping an extra small stress onto people who arrived sick, injured or anxious, or who are accompanying someone who can't manage alone.
Why does this matter to click.holiday readers? Pula is one of Istria's most popular destinations, and its hospital serves a large summer population of visitors. If you're holidaying on the Istrian coast, driving a hire car, and a minor accident or illness lands you at Pula Hospital, budget for the parking alongside the (usually free or low-cost, for EU citizens with an EHIC) treatment itself. It's a small cost — a few euros — but worth knowing before you park, especially if you're the designated driver for a travelling group with kids or elderly relatives. And a general tip for the region: hospital and town-centre parking across Croatian coastal towns has been steadily moving to paid systems, so check signage wherever you leave the car.
