Venice to Croatia - land or sea?
 

Any recommendations for travelling from Venice to the coast of Croatia (around Rovinj)?

We have a small child and therefore want to get between the two places in the most efficient manner. We will have a hire car so we can either drive (how long would this take approximately?) or catch a ferry.

Suggestions? Advice?

Thanks very much.
Rachel

Hi, Rachel.

I'm looking for the same....I'm hoping to be in Venice in late October and then would like to go to Dubrovnik. There apparently is no direct ferry, although there looks like there is one from Venice to Split. I do not think there are any trains to Dubrovnik. No one has answered my question, yet...will pass on if I get any replies.

Richard

I've been looking into this too-- it seems easier to take a train south and then cross over, depending on where you want to go in Croatia. Have you looked at ferry schedules?

We spent September in Croatia, and from Rovinj wanted to get to Venice. The ferry stopped running the weekend before we wanted to leave.

So we took a bus from Rovinj to Venice (no changes). It was about five hours. We had our then 3 year old with us. It wasn't a big deal.

If you want to go to Dubrovnik, though, I'd look at whichbudget.com for airlines that fly between Venice and Dubrovnik. We flew from Zagreb to Dubrovnik on Croatian Air to save time and it was cheap and worked out great.

I would just rent a car in Venice and drive there. Cars make exploring Istria much easier.

As far as the Dubrovnik quesiton, I second the suggestion on whichbudget.com. A ferry from Split or rijeka is quite easy as well. Driving to dubrovnik is not easy with the windy roads, but you do go through some very interesting sites from a historical perspective.

Thanks for the whichbudget.com site....I've added that to my favorite travel sites. It doesn't look like you can fly from Venice, however, to anywhere in Croatia from this site. Looks like the only place you can fly into Croatia is Split, but not from Venice. So I'll check into the car. I've also been looking at Ferries, but looks like I'd have to go down to possibly Ancona, Italy to catch one to Split. I also saw on one site that a bus goes from Venice to Dubrovnik...looks like 15 hours. Thx again.