My 19 year old daughter is traveling alone in Europe this summer- she wants to go from Italy to either Split or Zadar. What is the best port for her to leave from in Italy? She will be making her way south from Switzerland. Also - can you suggest any good safe hostels in Ancona? Any travel advice on Italy would be greatly appreciated. Lisa

Lisa,
Check out EuropeByAir.com

we were going to use the ferry to get from split to rome, and saved a lot of time and money. all flights are $99.

Lisa - SNAV and Jadrolinja runs these routes from Ancona.

www.snav.it
www.jadrolinija.hr

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Here is a listing of ferry companies. http://www.findcroatia.com/transport...es_croatia.htm There are 3 Italian ports to croatia.I don't know if there is a best port, it depends on where she is and when she wants to get somewhere. I used europebyair - the flight recommened to you. Please know that some segments require 2 coupons and each coupon costs $99. Also you are responsible for paying departure taxes at the time you leave and depending on the country or airport it can be up to $45. It still might be a good deal, just know what you are getting into. Also, have to purchase the coupon in advance of leaving the states but you can change the day and city just by calling when you are on the road. by the way I noticed croatia air has a deal for 25E from 2 different german cities into split.

Learn to manoeuvre around this site: www.skyscanner.net - if you don't define the departure cities or the arrival cities, only the countries, it brings up some places where you didn't even know you could get to.

Then look at a map to see if they're close to where you want to be, and use the train sites like

http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&

and www.trenitalia.it and www.bahn.de

etc. to figure out the ground transportation.

If she's already in Ancona, surely the ferry is the way to go. But then from Croatia she might like to know what flight options she has.

For example, from Rijeka to Munich for Euros 20.92, from Dubrovnik to Stuttgart for Euros 24.44, from Rijeka to Cologne for Euros 56.80 etc.

Or from Rijeka to London for Euros 64.05

Even if she needs to make it a two-hopper via one of the above and then beyond, she may still come in under the fixed and - these days considerably above average - cost of the EuropeByAir deals.

The budget airlines have really changed the scenario - but book early and read the luggage rules and google the airports to know how to get to and from... One-way fares are the norm, unlike in the US where they are based on roundtrip.

WK

Hi Lisa:

My daughter is also traveling alone in Europe this summer. She is making her way South also and will arrive in Rome. She wanted to jump on a flight to Split right away but I suggested to travel north to Venice taking a few days in some of the major cities along the way. Then cross the border into Croatia at Trieste. She too is looking for safe hostels along the way.

As well as Jadrolinija and SNAV, Blue Line run from Ancona to Split, and actually have more sailings (www.bli-ferry.com). Jadrolinija also runs from Pescara to Split. Both Pescara and Ancona have direct trains from Roma; the journey to Pescara starts with spectacular views from the mountains across the coastal plain.