Our family of 4 (maybe 5 if our oldest son can go) is about to get frequent flyer tickets to Zagreb. Can anyone tell me what the best way is for us to get to Dubrovnik from there? Croatia Air seems to be very expensive. The bus ride is very long. Should we rent a car? Via Michelin says the drive is 6 hrs. 46 min. Any idea why the bus ride is almost twice as long? Will we want a car if we are doing Dubrovnik, an island, and Split? Or do we rent a car for the drive and then get rid of it? Thanks!

I just booked round trip from Zagreb to Dubrovnik on Croatian Air's website for traveling in September. I did not think it was expensive (about $300 USD for two people). The interesting thing is the same route cost about $400 per person on Expedia.

We drove from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. En route, we stopped overnight at Plitvice National Park which we enjoyed immensely, and which I think your children would enjoy. Then we drove to Trogir (easy parking) for a couple of nights and went into Split as a day trip from Trogir, then on to Dubrovnik. We drove to the island of Korcula from Dubrovnik, but you could visit an island before you get to Dubrovnik. We kept the car (parked in the apartment parking lot) while in Dubrovnik, then drove back to Italy where we returned the car. If you drive to Dubrovnik I would think you would need to keep the car for the return trip, even though you won't need it in the city itself. We enjoyed having a car for the freedom it gives you to go where you want, when you want.

Autoeurope lists a midsize, manual transmission car with a/c starting at $860.61 for a 2-week period in October. When adding the cost of gasoline ($9-10 per gallon in most European countries), flying might be cheaper in the long run.

I would take the car to Split at least or further to Dubrovnik, most folk get rid of the car in Dub as parking is a nightmare. Do not miss Plitvice on the way.
Check out www.economycarrentals.com also.

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

crckwc1--How long is the drive from Zagreb to Plitvice? That is definitely a stop we want to make. Did you take your car over to Korcula or leave it on the mainland? If you took it over, were you glad to have a car there?

azhou--I will check the Croatia Air website. I had checked Kayak, which also lists the price as $400.

I am planning way ahead, as we are not planning to go until June 2009. Reading the posts about the crowds on the Dalmatian coast, Dubrovnik especially, I thought it might be better to get there immediately and then head north up the coast. But maybe it would work better to go the other direction.

Digbydog,

Last month we drove Plitvice to Ljubljana via Zagreb. It is just about exactly two hours between the park and Zagreb. Plitvice is utterly amazing!

Thanks for the quick reply. My biggest problem is that the more I read about Croatia and Slovenia, the more I want to see!

Just so you know Croatia is very simple to navigate and drive. Having driven in many countries it is one of the easiest.

You'll just have to make sure you return for more trips! Are you planning to spend any time in Istria, my favourite part of the country?

I hope to visit Istria. Unfortunately, I want to see everything, and I am just going to have to cut things out. I am just so excited to be going even though it is almost a year away!!

Sorry I'm late answering. Maitaitom's driving time between Zagreb and Plitvice is in line with our time -- about 2 hours. About Korcula, we did take the car over on the ferry, but we didn't use the car - just parked it and walked into the town. Since our time was limited we didn't drive around the island. You would want a car if you plan to explore all over the island, but as I said, we just saw Korcula Town and probably could have parked the car on the mainland and gone on the ferry as pedestrians. I'm not sure about parking at the ferry, though.

we drove from zagreb to dubrovnik
had a night and half day at plitvice
then drove on to zadar for lunch
overnighted in trogir
and stayed in dubrovnik
( parked the car up near the supermarket but stayed in the old town)
we had some time in montenegro
then drove to split

Keep in mind that not every Rental firm will allow you to take the car on ferries.

Little Vicky, if we have a car but don't take it on a ferry, is there parking available at the ferry? Does Economy Car Rentals allow cars on the ferry?

Yes, ECR allows cars on the ferries. We found it to be quite an experience the way they cram the cars onto the ferries. The ferry to Korcula wasn't bad, but the one up to Split was crazy b/c there were lots of big trucks, too.

As someone mentioned, driving in Croatia is very easy. I would suggest renting a car for the drive from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, but then look into taking a one-way flight from Dubrovnik back to Zagreb to catch your return.

Plitvice is amazing - don't miss it! Driving in Split was crazy, so just make sure you have a good map. Also, we enjoyed driving around Korcula island - it was very scenic. You do not need a car in Dubrovnik, unless you are doing a day trip to Monetengro which I recommend. I would ditch the car, though, if not. Parking is limited and confusing.

Thanks Sessa! We will be arriving in Croatia June 7. Are we better off heading to Dubrovnik first, figuring it will be a little less crowded the earlier in June we go and saving Slovenia for the end?

After doing some more reading, I am wondering whether we will want a car on the Dalmatian coast. We are thinking of visiting Split, Dubrovnik, and Hvar or Korcula. Although it would be nice to have a car on the islands, it looks like only a few car ferries run each week so will we have trouble getting over to the islands if we don't time it exactly right? Are we better off taking a passenger ferry from Split to an island and then another ferry to Dubrovnik, then renting a car as we leave Dubrovnik?

That's a tough call. We really liked the flexibility of having a car, but I have heard that public transportation is great in Croatia. I think the ferries to Dubrovnik can take a 1/2 day or so so it just depends on how you want to spend your time. We were lucky that the car ferries worked with our schedule considering we were traveling in the off-season. I would think the car ferries would be more frequent in June.

How long do you have for your trip? I know what you mean about wanting to see everything. We had 10 days and started off with plans to just do Dubrovnik and Montenegro, but we slowly added Korcula, Split, Trogir, Plitvice, Sarajevo, Medjugorje, and Mostar! It was totally worth it. I am just now starting to put together a scrapbook from our March trip, and it makes me want to go back and see more!! I posted a trip report which you can find by clicking on my name. Happy planning!!

Sessa, I enjoyed reading your trip report. You said that the ferries from Orebic to Korcula go about every hour. Are those all car ferries? I checked the Jadrolinja website and it says there is no line between those places.??? Did you plan ahead to make sure there was a car ferry from Korcula to Split on the day you were going? We would like to have a car. I just don't want to get stuck without a car ferry. Did you feel like you had the right amount of time in Dubrovnik? If you had to choose between a day trip to Kotor or Mostar, which would you choose?

Digbydog - Here is the link to the local ferry service from Orebic to Korcula. This is a car ferry, and you can see that the ferries run very regularly.

http://www.korculainfo.com/ferries/o...cula-ferry.htm

We did plan ahead to make sure there was a car ferry from Korcula to Split on the day we wanted. For this ferry, we had to drive from Korcula Town to the town of Vela Luka on the other side if the island. It was a very easy drive, though. We actually selected Korcula over Hvar because of the ferry schedule and ease of getting to Korcula from Orebic. We were happy with our choice.

We spent 5 nights in Dubrovnik but really only had 2 full days. We found this to be sufficient. Could we have tolerated more time there? Of course, but there was so much else we wanted to see and do. As you read from my trip report, our highlights in Dubrovnik were walking the walls and lounging at Buza Bar!

Kotor and Mostar were so different. We admittedly didn't spend as much time in Mostar as we would have liked since it was just a stop on the way from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik. However, I think my husband and I both enjoyed Bosnia more than Montenegro from a historical and cultural perspective. Kotor and the surrounding areas are beautiful, though, so it just depends on your family's preference.

I hope I have answered your questions. I wish we were going back next year!