Northern Croatia

Northern Croatia or North Croatia refers to the northern parts of Croatia, encompassing Zagreb, Varaždin, Međimurje, Zagorje and Koprivnica-Križevci counties, including the cities of Zagreb, Varaždin, Čakovec, Krapina, Koprivnica and Križevci. The region is home to the Kajkavian dialect, which some consider to be a separate language of its own. The region borders Hungary to its north-east and Slovenia to its north-west. Status The term had not been used in official capacity until recently. Until 2012, the region's borders coincided with the NUTS-2 region Northwest Croatia (Sjeverozapadna Hrvatska in Croatian). This NUTS-2 region was then merged with Central and Eastern Croatia (Središnja i Istočna Hrvatska) forming the NUTS-2 region Continental Croatia. As of 2021, the NUTS-2 region of "Northern Croatia" was established again, which contains all of Northern Croatia with the exception of Zagreb, which forms a separate NUTS region. Cuisine The cuisine of Northern Croatia includes dishes of a few local or regional cuisines (Zagorje, Međimurje, Podravina) which have their specific cooking traditions, characteristic for the area and not necessarily well known in other parts of Croatia, as well as dishes that can be found all across the country. The Međimurska gibanica is one of the layer cakes popular in Northern Croatia, especially in the Međimurje region.