James_P

Hi
I found an inexpensive roundtrip flight on KLM from Chicago to Venice $650 roundtrip, all fees and taxes included. We are going to arrive in Venice on a Friday 9/25 and return Sunday 10/4. I have been reading trip reports and there are so many choices. My wife wants to see Lake Bled and my daughter recommended Split. Any thoughts on a reasonable tour that starts and ends up in Venice. I was thinking of taking trains or ferries to get to Croatia and renting a car in Croatia. I am not committed to Croatia, We took a trip to Poland and Romania which was great because these countries do not use the Euro and are inexpensive. Any other Eastern European suggestions would also be appreciated.
Thanks

jeff001

One suggestion would be to take the train from Venice to Trieste and a bus (the station is next to the train station) from there to Pula where you can pick up a car. Drive down the coast doing some island hopping on the car ferries to Dubrovnik. Return to Venice by a more inland route including Zabreb.

James_P

Thanks for the input Jeff. We are just at the initial stages of planning the trip.
Jim

sessa

Croatia is beautiful, and we found it to be relatively inexpensive. Renting a car is very easy. We didn't love Split, but we only spent a day there on our way from Korcula Island up to Plitvice Lakes. Plitvice Lakes was so beautiful - don't miss it!

James_P

My daughter went there in 2006 and was very impressed with Croatia. I would like to fly into Dubrovnik and out of Venice, but there does not seem to be a cost efficient way to do it. I checked Amsterdam. Most of the flights are with BOA and they involve flying through London. Does anyone know of an inexpensive way to get to Dubrovnik? When you have a limited amount of time, it is great not ot have to double back. I also do not have a good idea how long it would take to get from Dubrovnik to Venice via ground transport.

James_P

Hi
I have been struggling with whether I want to travel to Croatia. However, I think I am over-thinking this. When my wife and I were in our 20's in the 70's, we took a 2.5 month trip to Europe. We rented a car and we had a general itinerary, but left a place when we had enough of it and did not pre-book any lodgings. The problem now is that we can only travel for 10 days because of our jobs and because of the short time, you feel that you cannot make any mis-steps. I am thinking that I am going to just book the flight to Venice from 9/24 - 10/4/09 and since it is off-season, we will just wing it with the accomodations and book them when we arrive in the town. My plan is to see Lake Bled taking bus/train/ferry from Venice to Lake Bled (my wife insists we see Lake Bled). Take a bus/train from Lake Bled to Croatia and rent a car and head south along the coast. My question is, I saw in a post that you might need some sort of driving permit for an American to drive in Slovenia. Does anyone know for sure if you need a permit? I find that the older I get the more I plan and the less spontanious I become. This is going to be our wing it trip.

Grassshopper

Hi James, I did a solo trip that included Bled, the Istrian Penninsula and Dubrovnik in about 2 weeks. I took the train to Trieste and bus to Rovinj. After a few days in Rovinj I took the bus to Reijke and an overnight ferry to Dubrovnik. It stopped at Split, Hvar and Korcula. From Dubrovnik I flew to Zagreb and then took the train to Bled. So it's all easily done without a car if you choose to forgo renting one. What I did miss what Plitvice. But from Dubrovnik I did take two great day tours; the wine country and Montenegro.

I think your trip really does sound very nice. Don't miss Croatia and your wife is also right about Lake Bled. September will be perfect!

LittleVicky

I advise you to take the car in Venice for your whole trip and the Vignette (replaces road tolls) for Slovenia, may even be supplied with the car.

lanejohann

we rented a car from zagreb airport
it was a fine drive all the way down to zadar and then across to dubrovnik

LuvToRoam

Croatia is an absolute must see! The country and the people you will meet are simply beautiful. Very easy to navigate the roads, be sure not to get a van though, the town roads are narrow. We have a very, very long trip report if you are interested. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-day-one.cfm
By all means please feel free to contact us direct with any questions you may have. We are researchers, having discovered that going blindly sort of leaves us dangling and missing things we may have enjoyed. We get an international drivers license each year and did have one for our Slovenia trip in 2007 & Croatia in 2008. For $10 it seems better to be safe than sorry should someone request it in addition to the regular USA driver's license.

James_P

Thanks for the responses. I am going to look into the cost of renting a car in Venice. I was led to believe that the car rental companies made it expensive to go from country to country in eastern Europe. Also, does an American need anything other than an American drivers license in Slovenia and Croatia (other than the Vignette in Slovenia)?

James_P

Luvtoroam
Sorry. I see you addressed the drivers license question. I would still like to know whether you actually need one. I have driven in France & England in the last 5 or 6 years and I did not have one there.

lanejohann

we didnt have an international licence

LittleVicky

We normally fly to Venice or Trieste and hire a car from economycarrentals.com (no excess charge) No need for IDL

aleksander57

American driver license is just fine.

Grassshopper

It's free and simple to get an international drivers license at AAA. You don't even have to be a member.

James_P

Actually I am a member. I will probably get one if it is free. I googled this question and it does not seem clear. One entry from Rick Steves 2004 came up and said that you needed one for Slovania & Croatia. I guess the acid test would be if someone got in an accident and got in trouble for not having one. The US State Department website seemed to indicate that you needed one, but it was not clear.

JoyC

It's simple to get an IDP (International Driver's License) but it is not certainly free. It costs about $15-20.

James_P

My wife/daughter proposed flying into Munich and out of Venice. Has anyone had any experience with picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another? I went to economycarrentals.com website, but the website booking form does not seem to accomodate picking up in Germany and dropping off in Italy. I read in Rick Steves that picking up in one country and dropping off in another dramatically increases the cost. Picking up in Munich and dropping off in Munich was $350 for 9 days.

LittleVicky

To do what you propose will cost a bucket full of cash, build your trip around pick up - drop off in one country.