Hello Fodorites!

My wife and I are planning a trip to Venice and Dubrovnik from April 25th (land in Venice on the 26th) to May 5th. My wife wants three nights in Venice and then it is off to Dubrovnik.

What is the best way to get from Venice to Dubrovnik? We are okay with spending a day in transit, but would prefer to get to Dubrovnik "sooner than later".

I priced flights from Venice to Dubrovnik (via Vienna) for $670 a person (on Expedia). That seems the easy way to go, but a few hundred more than I would want to pay.

A second route I found -- and one that I would greatly appreciate insight on -- is taking an overnight train from Venice to Zagreb (its about a 7 1/2 hour trip that leaves Venice at 9 something and arrives in Zagreb at around 4:30a) and then a flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik which was running $170 on Expedia. Can anyone advise on how long it would take to get from the train station to the airport (there is a 6:30a flight we can take)? Also, any idea if cabs would be available at the station at that hour?

Should we take a later flight and spend a little time in Zagreb? We are okay with doing some sight seeing while we are there. Cars fo hire?

Also, does anyone have recomendations for private drivers to take us into Montenegro from Dubrovnik?

Thanks for any and all insight.

you should be able to find a cab to the airpot . I don't remmenber how long it takes but you can make the flight for sure.
It would an idea to spend some time in Zagreb -it is a nice spot (easy to walk around , the sation is right in town).

We arrived in Zagreb at the train station (although in the afternoon!). The train station is right smack in town. You can buy tram tickets at the news stand in the station (will they be open?) and take the tram to the bus station. Croatia airlines have buses that go to the airport every 30 minutes (what time do they start?) for about $3 per person. At that time of morning though, a cab is the most likely option.

Another option is to try to reserve a hotel in Zagreb with 24 hour reception so you can check in early, rest up, and take a bus tour to Plitvice Lakes. Spend the night in Zagreb. Catch the flight the next day.

OR take a bus from Venice to Rovinj (Istria, about five hours). The next day you could take a bus to Pula (1 hour) and a cab to the airport. Croatia Airlines is showing flights at only 123E for two people!

Having done both, I would vote for the Plitvice Lakes option. Instead of the bus tour, you could also rent a car and make the drive yourself, but it's a long round trip (5 hours at least).

Take a look on the Croatia Airlines site to see where they fly to/from. Their prices are very good, but vary a lot day to day.

You two seem to like travel to the major tourist cities, and if so then the least cost/least time option might be a bus trip to either Pula or Zagreb, connecting to the airports, then a Croatian Airlines flight to Dubrovnik.
Which bus destination might hinge upon the bus arrival/flight departure times - but I'll leave that homework for you. FILS bus line travels that route daily, I think, and both FILS and Croatian Airlines have websites in English. Good luck and have fun.
...even though I refrained from trying to coax you to visit around Istria, Plitvice, or other towns along the coastline, I will still suggest a day trip from Dubrovnik to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro..Kotor and Perast are lovely gems, and the scenery of the "Boka" is unparalled [most appreciated by a drive up the winding road above Kotor to Lovcen or Njegus.

Italian Rail have a restaurant car express from Venice Santa Lucia at 1105 to Bari at 1853. If you would like a day in Bari you can take a sleeper from Venice at 2122 to Bari at 0706, or for a day in Brindisi you can arrive there at 0833, then come back from Brindisi at 1833 to Bari at 2000.
The basic second class fare from Milan to Naples is 51 euros, so Venice to Bari or Brindisi will be similar. Thus the day express journey will be about 60 euros, and the journey in a three berth sleeper will be about 90 euros.
Jadrolinja Line have a web site and sail from Bari each Sunday at 2200, to reach Dubrovnik at 0700. Berths are 70, 80 or 100 euros.
Ben Haines, London
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Thanks so much for the replies.

Visiting the Plitvice Lakes sounds interesting. I will have to read up on that, especially with the train station being the middle of the town and convenient to other forms of transport.

Ben -- thanks for information on the Bari Ferry. You have given us another strong option to consider and one that I think my wife will like.

Michael -- We love to visit outside of the big cities and are planning a trip to Kotor and will add Perast to that list. I have read too many good things about Kotor to pass them up. Any suggestions on hiring a private driver? We don't want to take the bus tour.

Jadrolinija (www.jadrolinija.hr) will still be running winter schedules in April: there is, I believe, just one sailing a week from Bari to Dubrovnik, on Wednesdays, and two sailings weekly from Rijeka to Dubrovnik. Rijeka can be reached from Venezia by train to Trieste then bus.
There are nightly sailings from Ancona to Split by Jadrolinija or Blue Line (www.bli-ferry.com). Ancona can be reached by train from Venezia, and from Split to Dubrovnik is a scenic bus journey.

There is a Bari-Dubrovnik sailing scheduled for 30 April by the AZZURRA (www.azzurraline.com).

if you decide to do the overnight train to Zagreb and then fly into Dubrovnik, you can get flights for $99 (one way) on europebyair.com

If you have time, Zagreb is worth spending the day.

I have been booking a hotel for our stay in Venice in Oct and found most desirable and recommended properties are BOOKED! So, if you don't have your hotel suggest that you book soon. We are going via ship from Venice to Dubrovnik.

You probably have already made your plans, but after much searching, I stumbled across a flight from Bologna to Zagreb on TAP (Portugal airlines). Bologna is a 2 hour train trip from Venice. The TAP plane leaves once a day at 12:35 and gets into Zagreb about one hour later. The cost IF YOU BOOK IT ROUND-TRIP is $167 Euros per person. If you try to book one way, it's much more expensive. (Obviously, one just doesn't use the return.) From Zagreb, Croatia airlines has what appear to be $38 flights to Dubrovnik. We are spending 4 nights in Venice and either driving or taking a train to Bologna on May 5th. We'll spend the night in Bologna at Albergo Drapperie (85 Euros) and fly to Zagreb on the 6th.

Thanks so much Genoise...we actually hadn't made our plans and will investigate this option.