Croatia Travel Blog

Within a few days of each other, Jadrolinija, Croatia’s national ferry company and Croatian Railways announced the immediate ban on smoking in all public areas.

Jadrolinija had previously confined smokers to the bar-lounge area but now only the outside deck is available for smoking.

Croatian Railways had also had limits on smoking areas but now there will be no smoking anywhere, including the restaurant area. Plus fines for defying the ban can reach 1000 kuna, a hefty price to pay for indulging your nicotine habit.

The two transport companies acted several months in advance of a new Croatian law banning smoking in all public indoor spaces.

See more about smoking in Croatia.

Posted under Croatia Ferries & Croatia Train Travel & Croatia Travel & Life in Croatia | 1 Comment »

Jadrolinija’s local ferry schedules valid from October 2008 to May 2009 have finally been published. It’s been a long, long wait and the result is. . .not too different from last year! As usual, it appears that Jadrolinija is moving ever closer to the goal of having a different schedule for every day of the year–at least it seems that way. There’s weekend exceptions, holiday exceptions, Sunday exceptions–you have to read it carefully!

Jadrolinija runs most, but not all boats out to the Croatian islands. To get all the local Dalmatia boat schedules –Jadrolinija and other companies–I recommend my downloadable Pocket Ferry Guide. Everything you need to know is compiled into one .pdf file. You get the schedules, explanations of how to read the schedules, booking information and the contact information for local ticket agencies. It’s invaluable! Click here to find out more.

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For those of you waiting for the updated edition of my hugely popular downloadable Pocket Ferry Guide, I must ask you to wait just a little longer. A spokesperson for Jadrolinija, Croatia’s national ferry company, confirmed this morning that the fall and winter schedules may not be published for a week or so. Apparently, the Transport Minister needs to confirm the schedules and this has not yet been done. Until those local schedules are official, I cannot publish my new ferry guide. But you can plan your trip anyway! Remember that all inhabited Croatian islands have ferry connections to the mainland all year. We are just waiting to find out the exact time of the ferries and whether there will be, say, three or five per day. So you will not be stuck on an island! Also, some ferry schedules have been published. See the following schedules:

• Jadrolinija’s coastal car ferry connecting Rijeka, Split, Hvar, Korcula and Dubrovnik
• The “Nona Ana” catamaran, connecting Dubrovnik, Mljet and Sipan
• The “Krilo” catamaran, connecting Split, Hvar and Korcula.

Do subscribe to my blog to find out as soon as the Jadrolinija schedules are published so you can get all the schedules in my convenient, downloadable pocket ferry guide.

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The Jadrolinija company, solely responsible for running the coastal ferry route that runs from Rijeka to Split, Hvar, Korcula and Dubrovnik,  has issued the timetable valid through  the end of the year but not beyond! It’s curious. Usually, the timetable is issued from October through May but not this year. In any event, there’s no change from last year. Click here for the coastal ferry schedule.

Also published are Jadrolinija’s international schedules from October through December of ferries between:

• Dubrovnik and Bari
• Ancona and Zadar
• Ancona and Split

What has still not been published are the local ferry timetables for the fall and winter 2008-2009. Last year the schedules came out in mid-August, but now we’re still waiting and waiting. I will post a notice here when the timetables are up on the Jadrolinija site and shortly thereafter will compile them into my popular Pocket Ferry Guide.

So, stay tuned!

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Every trip to Croatia I learn something new and, I hope, useful to others. I’ve always known that Jadrolinija ups their prices for the June to September ferries but it never really hit home because I usually travel to Croatia off-season.

Naturally I expected to pay a healthy price to cross the Adriatic (from Ancona to Zadar) and to take the overnight coastal ferry–the Marco Polo– from Korcula to Rijeka. I took an inside cabin with private facilities for both legs and was extremely comfortable.  I highly recommend taking a cabin on the coastal ferry even if your journey is only during the day; the lounge areas and lobby of the Marco Polo can be quite noisy and it’s hard to find a place to stretch out. Cabin passengers have their own little lounge area. Nice!

Getting back to prices, I discovered that taking a car onto a ferry to the islands is so expensive that it can be a much better deal to rent a car for a day while you’re on the island. The only time it makes economic sense to ferry out your car is if you’re staying a few days. But if you do need to rent a car upon arrival, make sure it’s not a Sunday when many local travel agencies that rent cars are closed. 

Read more about:

• Ferries in Croatia
• Jeanne’s Croatia 2008

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