I want to drive from Split to Dubrovnik with stop-over at Hvar and Korcular by end of Jul. How frequent is car ferry service from Split to Hvar, then Hvar to Korcular and finally Korcular to DBV? Do I need to make reservation in advance?

First, there is nowhere called "Korcular". It's Korcula, pronounced something like KOR-choola.
From Split, ferries run a least three times a day to Stari Grad on Hvar island (www.jadrolinija.hr). From Hvar to Korcula, you'd need to take Jadrolinija's coastal service from Stari Grad which does not run every day. There are daily services from Hvar to Korcula for people without cars (www.krilo.hr). From Korcula to Dubrovnik, you can use Jadrolinija's coastal service, or the local ferry to Orebic (www.medplov.hr) from where you can drive to Dubrovnik. For people without cars, there are buses from Korcula to Dubrovnik which go on the ferry to Orebic.
I can't see the point in taking a car from Split to Dubrovnik via Hvar: if you need to take a car, you can use the coastal road; if not, it's much easier without a car.

Geoff and other Fodorites,
We are also planning to take a car to the islands in September. I checked the car ferry schedule but cannot find a car ferry that departs from Dubrovnik or Orebic for Korcula on Saturday September 15th. We have a car because we wish to drive in Montenegro prior to Korcula and we also wish to explore Hvar (even though it is small) by car. Please advise...
Thanks so much! Lisa

I know the ferry from Orebic to Korcula is daily. Perhaps you need to enter "Domince" (or some similar spelling) for your destination. That is where the Orebic ferry disembarks on Korcula, a short drive from Korcula proper.

This is a timetable for the car ferry from Orebic to Domince, Korcula:
www.korcula.net/grad/pitanja/q14.htm
The service is run jointly by Jadrolinija and Mediteranska Plovidba, and ferries run hourly from early morning to midnight every day.

Thanks so much!!!! I will try it!
Happy Summer!
Lisa

Hi,

just got back from fabulous trip to Croatia. 15 nights, June 3-18. We're 46 and 51.
Rented car in Zagreb, dropping it at the airport 25 minutes from Dubrovnik. LOVED CROATIA!!!

We ferried from Split to Hvar at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning, arriving Stari Grad at about 10:15 or so. I didn't look at the time.
Bought our tickets a few days before at the kiosk at end of Split Riva, leading to the Ferry "terminals". They told us to get there 1.5 hours prior to departure. We were about car 12 in first of 2 lanes at 6:50 am. There was one other car ferry that day, and our tickets would have been "good" for that ferry had things gone wrong. It was easy. I advise sending a walk-on passenger to grab a seat... some of the lounges had bigger better windows. Some lounges were very very smokey, and a bit darkish.
We stayed on west side of Hvar Town, (klizni rat) beautiful Apartment Bicanic 3 nights, I highly recommend! It was about a 15 minute pleasant walk to town along water front, past the ugly Bodul hotel and apartment complexes (which weren't in sight at all from apartment), then past beautiful Franciscan Monastery, and into town... Gariful's Restaurant was our favorite food, excepting when the Jadrolinija Catamaran landed because of fuel smells... We ate there twice.

The ferry to Korcula -- we bought ticket night before in Hvar Town, at Jad's office near the Riva Hotel. More expensive than Split to Hvar. Space is "reserved" so you only have to get there 30 minutes to an hour before. The car ferry leaves from Stari Grad, about 30 minutes from Hvar town. From what I understand, This ferry was a one time a day, 2 x a week, summer schedule ferry. We took the Tuesday ferry, the other one is Saturday. It departed at 9:00 am. arriving Korcula somewhere around 12:30 (the cafeteria did not open until noon, so take food provisions... the bars were open for drinks...) Fabulous views both sides of ship, I loved being on the decks...

Korcula to Orebic is a 30 minute or less ride. You go out of Domince Port which is just 2 km outside of Korcula Town. You buy your tickets there, and get in line. If you don't make one ferry, you will make the next. A good time to review maps, have a beer, a great cheeseburger or other sandwhich. Talk to the people. It is not a waste of time... Korcula is so beautiful and very worth the trip and time spent there. We were there for two nights -- it felt like forever because it was so good.

From Orebic on Pelejisik Peninsula (spellling???) we drove to Dubrovnik, stopping at a couple of wineries including Dinjak and Grgic (spelling?), then on to Ston for an interesting walk around small town, and up along the walls. We loved the drive along the peninsula, very pretty, arrived in Dubrovnik about 5 pm, staying for 4 nights, and using our car for easy daytrip to Montenegro, and loving having the car for our trip to airport departure -- free parking was no problem for us on the one way road to Ploce Gate. We parked near the Hotel Argentina. Our fabulous view accomodations at Villa Adriatica (right at the gate) was just a short walk from the car.

I built my itinerary around car ferry schedule. The car ferry from Split to Stari Grad, Hvar is daily, but from Stari Grad to Korcula, it is not. There is a possibility of Sucaraj, Hvar to Drvnik (spelling?) on Mainland, then from there to Korcula, but I don't know which ports..you might have to go to Orebic on the peninsula? Knowing the names of the ports is the only way to get schedule info on line! Pull up a Michelin Map for reference while navigating the ferry schedules. www.viamichelin.com

Thanks for the info. Where can I find the car ferry schedule between Hvar and Korcula? If my itinerary does not fit the schedule, how long will it take from Hvar to Korcula, via Drvenik and Orebic? Is the car ferry from Hvar to Drvenik daily? Where can I find the schedule?

The service from Stari Grad (Hvar island) to Korcula is the Rijeka-Dubrovnik coastal service run by Jadrolinija (www.jadrolinija.hr).
The service from Sucuraj (Hvar island) to Drvenik is also run by Jadrolinija, with six or more trips every day.
From Drvenik, there is a ferry to Korcula run by Mediteranska Plovidba (www.medplov.hr).
All transport links to Korcula are summarised here:
www.korcula.net/grad/pitanja/index.html