How do I get to Istria from Venice
 

HI! I thought I could rent a car in Venice to drive into Croatia, but this is not allowed per all the car companies I contacted. So please, can anyone share how to best do this? We wanted to start our 10 days in Porec but Pula would be fine.We will spend a total of 10 days this summer in Croatia and would like to travel from Istria to Dubrovnok I am flexible if anyone feels we should begin this trip in an area other than Istria. Thanks so much, Traudi

From Venezia, there are trains every hour to Trieste, taking about two hours. In Trieste, the bus station adjoins the railway station, and has services to Istria. These are timetables. One bus goes all the way from Venezia to Pula. Note that Pula is "Pola" in Italian and that Porec is "Parenzo".
www.saf.ud.it/orariPercorsi/pd-pola.pdf
www.saf.ud.it/orariPercorsi/ts-pola.pdf
www.saf.ud.it/orariPercorsi/ts-pola_estivo.pdf

Hi Traudi.
We went from Trieste to Porec (Parenzo) last January by bus. It took about 1 1/2 hours but that can vary according to the route taken. Don't miss Porec. It is a beautiful seaside town (no beach as such but there are many places to swim in the ocean) very well preserved and very clean. The people are also very eager to help.
Generally food is so much cheaper than EU Europe as they are not part of the EU yet. We call it a hidden gem of Europe...has only really been discovered by the Italians, so avoid it during their summer holiday season.
One tip, before you head back to Italy or western Europe, make sure you spend or change as much kunar as you have to euros as once you leave Croatia it is very hard to change. Italian banks don't want it and money changers will give you peanuts. Enjoy your holiday.. I am envious!

Hi
We tried to rent a car several years ago in Italy and found out that a car rented in Italy can't be brought into Slovenia. We eventualy flew into Ljubijana and rented, drove into Venice from Slovenia and returned. I don't know how this would work out for you. We did the same thing 3 yrs ago when we went to Croatia, we came from Slovenia.

The problem is with one-way rentals.

If you plan to return the car in Venice several companies will allow you to do that.

Steve

Hi
Unless it's changed, we went through autoeurope, which is a wholesaler and they could not find a car rental co. that would let us rent and return a car to the same location. Istria is beautiful.

Hertz, Avis & Europcar all allow rentals from Venice to Slovenia/Croatia ... as long as you return the car to Venice.

I believe they may charge an insurance supplement.

Steve

steve, we are doing the opposite. going from rovinj to venice. dropping the croatia rental car in rovinj and taking A FERRY across to venice. solved my car problem (no croatia rentals allowed in italy/ or, if allowed, big drop-off fees). check-out "venezia lines". they run daily ferries from venice to various towns in istria. 3 hour crossing, $50pp. jack

oops! i meant to address my note to traudi..........

Bodhijack,

Which rental car company are you using? I can't find one where I can drop the car off in Rovinj. We have a car reserved but must return it in Pula. We will be staying in Rovinj so that would be much easier.

Thanks for your help.

IMAGES2, sorry to mis-lead you. actually we also need to return the car to either pula or porec. (both are 30 minutes from rovinj). jack

No problem! I think we can just take a bus back to Rovinj after we drop the car off. I'm sure Croatia will be worth all the little inconviences we've had in the planning:)