Car vs Public Transport Dubrovnik/Split/Zadar/Plitvice/Zagreb
 

Hello All

We are planning to go to Croatia in May 2012 and have just started to gather information about the country.

Our plan is:

We start our Croatian journey in Dubrovnik, we are planning to stay for a couple of days there, doing the norm sighseeing things. After that we would like to head off to Split for a couple of days, then off to Zadar and Plitvice and finally ending in Zagreb for a couple of days.

I have six questions to start off:

1. Should we hire a car and do these things at our own leasure? or
2. Would public transport be just as good?
3. If public transport is the better way to go - what are the buses like and the timetable?
4. If we hire a car I was wondering what the road conditions are like between these cities.
5. What is the price of petrol in Croatia?
6. Have you any other tips for us re driving around these cities?

I also want to say that after our Zagreb visit we will head off to Djakovo, Osjek, Borovo and eventually getting to my birthtown of Vukovar (have not been back in 35+years) [live in Brisbane Australia now). This leg of the trip will be under guidence of my relatives so I am not very concerned about that as they will give me info regarding road conditions etc...

Sorry it's a long list and hope you lovely travel people can help me work on my itenary.

:)

Im sorry i dont understand

Just me again - well disregard the above comment. I had someone post a link to a web sight that had nothing to do with my question. I would really appreciate your input re above question.

We just spent 13 days in Croatia - I can fill in some blanks

1. & 4. We rented a car in Rovinj and drove to Dubrovnik. We found the roads to be terrific and the signage was excellent (we didn't need our GPS - had a good road map and that was fine). Drivers were for the most part very good - I have read reports that it gets very busy in high season but don't think May is high season. I think you will have much more flexibility with a car. (I wouldn't pick it up until you were leaving Dubrovnik, however)

5. Diesel was about 1.35E/petrol a little higher. We had a VW Golf Diesel which was very fuel efficient.

6. Other tips - stayed in a great apartment in Dubrovnik - highly recommend it - link here

http://www.dubrovnik-accommodation.net/index.html

We stayed in apartment A2 - view is exactly as shown on the website - and the rooms are bigger than they look. Easy walk (down) to town and not bad coming home. We spent hours on the balcony .... I considered staying in the Old Town but am so happy we stayed above the Town so we could see the view all the time. Blog link here - more posts to come - happy to answer questions

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/p...eyond/croatia/

Hello Elizabeth, wow on tha apartment. Have saved it as my fav on my comptutor so I can consider booking it. Double wow of the pics you posted. Thank you so much for answering me. Tell me did you eat Burek when you were in Croatia?

Thanks Apartments split I've bookmarked your web sight as well. Well I have heard that the drive from Dubrovnik to Spit is tricky as there are a lot of hill climbs. Is that true? See What I'm thinking is to take the bus from Dubrovnik to Split and hire a car after we toured Split. My husband says that we will be fine and that he will drive according to the road conditions, but I worry never the less.

Yes there are a couple of places we want to see along the way. And that's why I am having a struggle as I can see the benefits between both transportation modes.

If you are at all uncomfortable about driving a road carved out of a seaside mountain chain, the idea of taking the bus to Split is a good one. The road is good, it is just "airy" for some people, and Europeans in general tend to pass/overtake in places that no American would dare try it. It can make the heart flutter when you come around a blind curve and someone is barreling towards you in your lane.

You also don't really need a car to deal with while you are in Split. So I would rent there. The roads you would be on for your other destinations will be fine.

Very good input ackislander thank you