Driving through Slovenia and Croatia
 

My husband and I are planning a trip in late April / early may to Slovenia and Croatia. Ideally, we would like to fly to Dubrovnik, spend a few days there, and then drive North through Split, into Slovenia and end up in Venice.......has anyone done that drive and what advice would you have? We have two weeks....

The first thing to do is make sure you can rent a car in Croatia and drop it in Italy, and see how much extra that will cost.

Yes that is a concern...but not sure about other options....flights are all very expensive and the cheapest flew into Dubrovnik and out of Venice...

With only 2 weeks, you will need to be extremely selective. You might want to consult several guide books and, on this Board, look at trip reports, and especially planning threads, where you will learn what people considered and why they did/did not do various things.

Check out my trip report..Chapters Eleven through Twenty-Six. Very doable…

http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/Tom_...nice_2008.html

((H))

You can always drive from Dubrovnik to Pula or Zagreb, drop the car there, then take buses/trains up to Slovenia. (Train service from Rijeka or Zagreb, Croatia; to Ljubljana; mostly bus service otherwise.) You can take a bus to Trieste and a train from there to Venice - or a bus from Ljubljana to Venice (Mestre).

Thank you for the tips! Maitaitom, I started reading your blogs and appreciate the help in unjderstanding how we can indeed do this and also all the great suggestions....can you let me know where you picked up your rental car and dropped it off? Also, what car rental company did you use? Thank you!

In 2009, I rented in Zagreb with Sixt (via Auto Europe) and dropped the car in Dubrovnik a few days later. The car was OK. It was a 5-speed not an automatic which was great for me - just keep that in mind as most European rental cars tend to be manual shift by default unless you request an automatic (almost certainly more expensive). I found driving in Croatia easy until I got to Dubrovnik (finding the correct drop-off location was a challenge, as was finding a gas station to fill up!).

You can search with Kayak for cars - they check AutoEurope among others for prices.

"can you let me know where you picked up your rental car and dropped it off? Also, what car rental company did you use? Thank you!"

We picked up our car in Dubrovnik (rented through Auto Europe, I believe, and picked up the car at Avis). We drove Dubrovnik to Trogir to Plitvice to Ljubljana to Lake Bled to Rovinj. Eventually dropped the car in Porec, took a bus back to Rovinj (about an hour) then ferried to Venice the following day.

Driving in Croatia was a breeze.

((H))

Thank you all again! This is great information and especially the line that Driving in Croatia was a breeze! My husband is pretty much a veteran as we have done many, many driving trips including through Turkey...but I had read that it was more challenging given the cross border issues. I like the idea of the ferry to Venice as well. Also was thinking of going over to Hvar...thoughts?

"... planning a trip in late April / early may to Slovenia and Croatia." That would mean that you'll be traveling off-season, so not everything will be open. Plan accordingly.

"Driving in Croatia was a breeze." I would suggest that the ease of driving in Croatia varies with where one drives. I drove though areas where driving was "a breeze." I also drove through areas where it was decidedly NOT a breeze.

kja.....could you tell me a bit more as to exactly where it was a hassle? Also, appreciate the heads up on things being closed....hadn't thought about that. :-(

On some back roads in hilly or mountainous terrain, local drivers (at least I assume they were local) shot around blind corners in the center of narrow roads, or even in the lane for oncoming traffic. There were all too many moments when a combination of my braking and their realignment just barely sufficed to allow us to pass one another. Cars came up behind me way too fast, too, and if there was no place for me to pull over -- and their often was not -- they then passed me in no-passing zones, forcing oncoming traffic into my lane. The major roadways were fine -- very spacious and well graded. Just watch out if you end up on back roads!

Yeah, the Croatian drivers are CRAZY! They'll pass on a two-lane road seemingly without a safe margin between cars, but you soon realize that that's just how they drive there. The first hour, I was a little unnerved; after another hour, I found myself driving like them. In some ways it's SAFER to drive like the locals, because they expect it, and if you are extra cautious it could actually throw them off and make it less safe for everyone.

If you aren't on a 2-lane road and are driving on one of the modern multi-lane freeways in Croatia, such as the one between Zagreb and Split (and most of the way from Split down to Dubrovnik), it's not much different than driving in the US on an interstate highway. I've driven in Israel; by comparison, driving in Croatia was a piece of cake.
Overall I found it fun, and I was nervous about it ahead of time.

We picked up a hire car with Hertz at Trieste and drove it into Slovenia and Croatia and back to Trieste. All worked fine but we had to tell Hertz beforehand that we were taking the car into those other countries, I think it was to do with insurance.

You need to buy a vignette (a sticker that goes on the windscreen) when you enter Slovenia to allow you to drive on the highways. We found a tiny shop immediately over the Slovenian border. Best to read up on options as in our case, they didn't speak English but I knew what to ask for.

We found driving fine but just toured around the Istrian region. Rovinj is really lovely, if you have time I'd recommend staying there. The ferry to Venice comes into Rovinj so that may work with your plans. Here is the website for the company we rented an apartment through, check out the photos, it's such a pretty place.

http://www.portaantica.com/

Kay

I drove on major highways and backroads. I didn't have a problem. Of course, I'm used to driving in California, so I'm used to crazy drivers (including me).

((H))

We did a similar trip last September. Flew into Dubrovnik, rented a car in town and drove to Kotor, Mostar, Plitvice, Motovun, Groznjan, Porec and Rovinj. We dropped the car off in Rovinj and took the Pula-Trieste bus to Trieste then the train to Venice. Here are some observations.
-The roads in Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia are as good as in the US and are very easy to drive.
-We rented from Orex, very efficient and the cheapest, but you can't drop the car off out of the country.
-The Pula bus stops at Rovinj at 7:30 AM and arrives in Trieste about 10:30 AM. The Trieste bus station is next to the train station so it is very convenient to take an afternoon train to Venice.
-If you opt, as we did, to overnight in Trieste there are some decent hotels within easy walking distance of the station.
-Visit Groznjan, you will be glad you did.

Thank you all for all the great information!!

I must admit that I find it difficult to believe that it could be SAFER to drive well over the speed limit on the wrong side of a narrow, shoulderless road while on a blind curve in the mountains than it would be to drive within the constraints imposed by a country’s driving laws – BUT I have no data that speak to that issue. I chose to drive as defensively as possible.

As I noted before, and as others seem to agree, the main roads were very good and driving them posed no problems.

<i>The roads in Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia are as good as in the US and are very easy to drive.</i>

That depends on where you are. I certainly would not call the roads north out of Sarajevo "as good as in the US and … very easy to drive"—especially at night.

I drive a lot around Europe - driving in Croatia is about the same as in Italy, Austria, Slovenia - fast but not crazy on motorways, reasonable on local roads. Care should be taken on islands, where locals DO think they own the road and some tourists try to copy their style. Actually, during the summer season, I'm a bit afraid of tourists who drive way too slowly on motorways - limit and recommended speed is 130 km/h. Keep to it and keep in the right lane when not overtaking, you'll be fine.

Hello again - thinking of changing things around a bit and picking up a car in Croatia (maybe in Split) and driving through Slovenia ending up in Zagreb so we can avoid huge drop off fees.......any advice on Zagreb/

Also, we will be in Split around may 1 - has anyone gone over to Hvar that time of year....how to you get around without a car and would you recommend that as a side trip?

I'm surprised that these things aren't covered in your guide books and think it would be well worth investing in one or two that provide better coverage.

Sorry - I got called away and almost forgot to come back to answer your questions!

"thinking of ... picking up a car in Croatia ... and driving through Slovenia ending up in Zagreb so we can avoid huge drop off fees" -- make sure the car has the vignette that is needed for driving in Slovenia.

"any advice on Zagreb" -- I thoroughly enjoyed about 2.5 days in Zagreb; other Fodorites haven't liked it as much. I enjoyed its museums, public spaces, and unique sites. I would urge you to read your guide books, think about which sites might fit your interests, and come back with specific questions.

"around may 1 - has anyone gone over to Hvar that time of year." -- I believe that ferry schedules for the lines between Split and Hvar change on 1 June. I waited to go to Hvar until then because ferries before then didn't suit my schedule well. Only you can decide whether the ferry schedules (which are more limited in May) suit your needs.

"how to you get around [Hvar] without a car" -- if you need to move around once on the island, you can use buses or perhaps other forms of public transportation. Any good guidebook should give you this information.

"would you recommend [Hvar] as a side trip?" -- It depends on your interests and what you would skip in order to make time for it. I'm glad I spent a few hours in Hvar Town, which many people love, but found it a bit too high-brow for much more than that. Instead, I spent most of my time on Hvar in Stari Grad, which is not well aligned with most people's interests.

My take on Croatia, both from my own trip there and from reading countless posts before and after, is that it is sufficiently diverse to appeal to many people who have extremely different travel aspirations and preferences. And that means that it is REALLY critical that you figure out, for yourselves, what YOU want to see and do there.

Hope that helps!

Re: kja's take on Zagreb, I have been there twice and loved it both times—museums, churches, food, architecture, even what turned out to to be a private tour of the parliament building.

Two of my favorites there were the Museum of Naive Art (http://www.hmnu.org/en/) and the castle ruins of Medvedgrad (http://www.inyourpocket.com/croatia/...-County_70053f), although in the latter case it was due at least in part to there being a medieval reenactment day when we went.

I haven't been in April/May, but in fall the area around Samobar was fun to visit. We enjoyed hiking in the woods to the west of town. Make sure to stop for kremšnita at one of the cafés or bakeries. We got ours at Kavana Lidavić.