KTtravel

Hello,

I priced a car rental on Auto Europe's online site from Venice to Dubrovnik and it was reasonable. I called today to be certain we would be allowed to take the car into Bosnia.

The person I talked with on the phone said we wouldn't be able to do the one way drop off (even though it was bookable online) and we would definitely not be allowed to drive the car into Bosnia due to theft issues.

We were initially planning to ferry to Croatia but the ferries aren't running on convenient dates from Venice (end of September) and have our car pick-up and drop-off in Croatia. I know we could take other transportation into Croatia but that would be less convenient.

Has anyone done a similar trip?

Has anyone rented a car and driven into Bosnia (Sarajevo?)

Thanks!

neckervd

"We were initially planning to ferry to Croatia but the ferries aren't running on convenient dates from Venice (end of September) and have our car pick-up and drop-off in Croatia. I know we could take other transportation into Croatia but that would be less convenient"

Why should a 4 hrs catamaran (not ferry!) ride from Venice to Rovinj or Pula (never daily, not even in high season) be good and why should a (daily and much cheaper) direct 5 hrs bus ride from Venice to the same places be bad?

KTtravel

Well, our initial plan was a ferry to Rovinj but, when we found the ferry wasn't running, we changed plans to skip Rovinj and drive straight to Plitvice. (I should have explained that.) Initially the ferry sounded more pleasant than a bus ride.

julia_t

I've often driven a rental car from Croatia into Bosnia & Herzegovina, and also taken it on ferries (some rental companies do not allow this).

I always use www.economycarrentals.com and have always been very happy with them and their service. They are brokers so you may not necessarily find yourself with a big name company.

Can't help with drop-off in another country as I've not done that, but have a look at their website and enter your details and see what comes up.

Hope this helps. Click on my name for my trip reports and info about driving to/from Sarajevo and some off-the-beaten track yet worth-a-visit BiH towns.

huddoshols

Several years ago we did drive into Bosnia. We had hired the car just out of Frankfurt though and did return it there after a month. Many of the major companies wouldn't allow us to travel into Bosnia. This was a smaller, family owned company. Maybe try some smaller operators. Good luck, it was worth it.

KTtravel

Thank you julia_t and huddoshols for the suggestions. I am very glad to read there may be some good options. I am off to read your trip report now julia_t!

kja

FWIW, I took a bus between Croatia (Dubrovnik, in my case, but of course there are other options) and Mostar and a train between Mostar and Sarajevo, and found both very comfortable and convenient.

Andrew

You can take a bus from Venice to Ljubljana and then a train on to Zagreb to rent a car. Zagreb is only two hours from Plitvice, an easy drive. I did this a few years ago and dropped the car in Dubrovnik, with a detour up to Mostar for a night. FYI, you will need to make sure any car you rent in Croatia has the right papers to go into BiH - some do not. I had forgotten to ask for this when renting my car in Zagreb. The rental agent told me I was lucky my car happened to have the right papers; it was a Sunday morning and this was the last car they had, so my options were few.