Croatia Travel Blog

Zagreb should soon attract more visitors as Easyjet has announced new routes to Croatia’s capital. Starting November 1, the low-cost carrier will fly four times weekly from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and will fly five times weekly from London Gatwick to Zagreb.

Germanwings, Wizz Air and Norwegian are other budget airlines that fly to Zagreb and Croatia Airlines, the country’s national airline also handles the routes from London and Paris but Easyjet’s entrance into the market should help drive down fares. That may not be good for Croatia Airlines which is already losing money but it will be good for Zagreb tourism and other sectors of the Croatian economy.

Just to recap, Easyjet already flies from Rome, Milan, Geneva, Paris Orly, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Liverpool and Berlin to Dubrovnik and from Split to Rome, Milan, Geneva, Basel, Paris, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Bristol, Amsterdam and Berlin.

See more on cheap flights to Zagreb and cheap flights to Croatia.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor inaugurated a 28km dual carriageway section of the Istrian Pula-Kanfanar motorway which should greatly improve driving times to and around the Istrian peninsula. The Y motorway project is the largest in Istria and represents a strong governmental commitment to improving the Istrian infrastructure.

The project has been a joint venture with France’s Bouygues Telecom which is fitting as Istria is the most accessible part of the Croatian coast for French tourists. The modern motorway should do a lot to increase French travel to Istria. Another 50km section of the Y motorway is due to open in about a year and an additional 18km section will open by the end of 2011.

See

• a road map of Istria
• more about Istria
• driving in Croatia

Island-hopping in Croatia is not a simple matter because ferry service between islands in Croatia is much more limited than services back and forth to the mainland. Southern Dalmatia can be particularly irritating to travellers with a limited amount of time who want to see several islands.

Hvar and Korcula islands are among the most beautiful in southern Dalmatia and now it is much easier to travel between them–if you have a car, that is. Now you don’t have to wait for the coastal ferry that connects the islands only a few times a week. You can take the car ferry from Sucuraj on Hvar Island to Drvenik on the mainland and then catch the new car ferry that runs from Drvenik to Domince on Korcula island. The new ferry eliminates the need to take two ferries to reach Korcula from the mainland: one from Ploce to Trpanj and the other from Orebic to Domince. Whew.

I know, I know. Why don’t they just run a daily car ferry between Hvar and Korcula? The ways of Jadrolinija are most mysterious. Ours is not to reason why; ours is to catch the ferries and get on with the holiday in Croatia.

See

• the ferry schedule from Drvenik to Domince;
• the ferry schedule from Sucuraj to Drvenik;
• a pocket ferry guide with the schedules of all local ferries in southern Dalmatia.

It’s just gotten easier for visitors who want to travel the northern Croatian coast by boat. LNP has just started their summer catamaran service that connects Pula in Istria with Mali Losinj and Zadar, stopping at Unije and Ilovik islands en route. The service began on 2 June and continues until 30 September. The catamaran runs twice a week except in July and August when it runs up to five times week.

The same company runs the ferry between Lopar on Rab Island and Valbiska on Krk Island. Service is all year but more frequent in the summer. See the schedules and booking information.

The summer season has barely started and Croatians visiting the coast and islands are outraged by the high prices of food. Accustomed to paying 5KN (€0.70) for a single scoop of ice cream in Zagreb, visitors were shocked to discover that the same little scoop costs 9KN (€1.25) in Rovinj. According to Vecernji list newspaper, it wasn’t only ice cream that seemed  expensive to seaside visitors. Readers reported paying 15KN (€2) for a cup of black coffee in Hvar, 70KN (€9.60) for a pizza in Rijeka and found that a seafood dinner ran about 170KN (€23) on the coast as opposed to 120KN (€16.50) on the continent. And that’s not even considering Dubrovnik which is generally even more expensive. When questioned, merchants offered the excuse that a short season leaves them no alternative but to grab as much money as they can as fast as they can.

With that kind of attitude, a short season may well become no season at all if tourists find they can get better value elsewhere.

See more on travel costs & prices in Croatia.