Croatia Travel Blog

Archive for the ‘Croatia Ferries’ Category

Porec

(SEE 2012 UPDATES)

Venezia Lines has been running seasonal passenger ferries to Istria for many years and the tradition continues in 2011. Ferries from Venice to Porec, Pula, Rovinj, Rabac and Mali Losinj start in early April and run to the beginning of October. As usual, the ferries are more frequent in the summer and taper off in the shoulder season. The main change this year is that there is no longer a route from Venice to Piran in Slovenia but all else remains in place.

The Venice-Istria route is particularly useful for Croatia travellers this year as there are now direct flights between Venice and Dubrovnik. That means that you can take a catamaran to Istria from Venice, rent a car, and travel down the coast to Dubrovnik before catching a flight back to Venice.  I highly recommend this itinerary if you’d like to incorporate a trip through Croatia into your Italian holiday. Driving from Venice is not feasible as most car companies do not allow a pick-up in Venice and a drop-off in Dubrovnik. Notice, however that most Venice-Istria routes are in the late afternoon.

See the Venice-Istria schedules here and book online.

Ready to start planning your holiday in Croatia? Now you can. I’ve just updated my popular Dalmatia Ferry Guide to include all timetables through May 31, 2011. And, this time I’ve included all ferry prices to help you manage your budget. Find out more.

In gathering the prices, it struck home just how expensive it is to bring a car on a ferry in Croatia. It’s easy to spend $50 one way just for the car, let alone the passengers. It made me wonder how islanders manage to afford visits to the mainland.

Visitors love Jadrolinija’s coastal ferry. It sounds so relaxing to travel the Croatian coast from Rijeka to Dubrovnik via ferry and you can–later. The ferry that once ran all year is now limited to the summer months only. At least, that’s the story for now. Last year, Jadrolinija started the coastal ferry service in late April but there’s no word whether it will begin that early this year.

That’s why I recommend that my customers take advantage of the free update that comes with the purchase of my Dalmatia Ferry Guide. Once you buy the guide, you get an email with a link to future updates. So you start planning your trip and then download an update before you go to get the latest information. Which is why it’s important to Subscribe to Croatia Ferries News and get the latest updates delivered to your email box.

See more about ferries in Croatia.

Croatia’s state-run ferry operator, Jadrolinija, has just published their autumn ferry timetables. Astute observers will note that ferries are far less frequent in the off-season than they are from June to September.

With my downloadable Dalmatia Ferry Guide you get all the Jadrolinija ferry schedules between Split and Dubrovnik plus the schedules of other ferry companies in an easy-to-understand pdf format. I include explanations of how to read the ferry schedules (it’s not so evident) and booking information for each ferry.

Sure, you can find the information elsewhere but you have to compile and decipher it yourself. Who has time? And if you miss a ferry it could ruin your entire holiday.

At only €4.99, my guide is a great value plus you get free updates to the schedule through May 2011. Find out more.

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.