Croatia Travel Blog

Tennis fans in Istria should make a beeline up to the coastal town of Umag, where the Croatia Open is taking place. Anyone with the remotest interest in tennis has noticed that Croatia churns out top players with awesome regularity. Many of them are now playing on the clay courts of Umag, including Ivan Ljubicic and Ivo Karlic. Other top-ranked players on the courts this year include last year’s winner, Carlos Moya plus clay-courters Guillermo Canas, Fernando Verdaso and Nicolas Massu.

For more information and tickets, see the Croatia Open Umag site.  For accommodation and visitor information, see my Umag Travel Guide.

Posted under Croatia Travel & Events & Istria | No Comments »

Ustica Lines has just posted the news of their new passenger ferry route from Trieste to Portoroz (Slovenia), Porec and Rovinj. The service will run from April 24 to September 21 and services are frequent. The catamarans will be zipping back and forth from Trieste twice daily from Tuesday through Sunday. As yet, there is no online booking for these routes but that should change. Check the timetables at Ustica Lines

There hasn’t been a ferry service from Trieste to Croatia for quite a few years. The former Adriatica Navigazione handled the route for a while and Ustica Lines also ran a Trieste ferry for a year or so.  Fortunately  the regional government of Friuli-
Venezia-Giulia is subsidizing the route to the tune of 1.38 million euros.

The new ferry line gives more choices for visitors who want to use northern Italy as a launching pad for their Croatian vacation. In addition to the catamarans, there are also buses from Trieste and Venice to Istria, trains to Zagreb, and the convenient, comfortable catamarans from Venice to Piran, Porec, Rovinj, Pula and Mali Losinj.

See more about Getting to Croatia and Ferries to Croatia.

Posted under Croatia Ferries & Croatia Travel & Istria | No Comments »

What could be nicer than starting in Venice and then meandering down the Croatian coast? The medieval Venetians liked it so much they decided to stay a few hundred years. If you have somewhat less time to visit Croatia, you’ll appreciate the fast passenger ferries that whisk you from Venice to a number of Istrian towns and as far south as Mali Losinj. (See schedules and online booking)

The Venice to Istria catamarans have been operating for several summers now and it’s good to see that the 2008 timetables show more frequent ferries and the routes are starting earlier (from the beginning of April) and ending later (October 18 is the last run). Pula and Rabac are especially well-served this year.

As the boats from Istria often leave in the morning, it’s also convenient to take a day trip to Venice from Rovinj or Porec.

The only problem with these routes is that they make poor starting points for visiting the southern Croatian coast. There was once a ferry connection from Pula to Mali Losinj to Zadar but there’s no word if or when it will start again this year. And the popular Venice to Split ferry of a few years ago seems to have been relegated to the mists of history.

See more on: Venice to Istria ferries and Ferries to Croatia and how to travel to Croatia.

Posted under Croatia Ferries & Croatia Travel & Istria | No Comments »

Not all airlines have posted their summer timetables of flights to Croatia but some flight patterns are emerging. Overall, Croatia Airlines, Croatia’s national carrier, has the most international flights to the most destinations (in addition to having a monopoly on domestic routes). British Airways has apparently pulled its Gatwick-Split route although it still runs flights from Gatwick to Dubrovnik Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Also in a cutting frame of mind is Easyjet which no longer has a Bristol-Rijeka flight and Wizzair which has also shaken off Split but maintains its Luton-Zagreb route. Here are some other routes:

• Easyjet flies
  • from Bristol to Split Saturdays starting April 26 and Wednesdays starting May 21
  • from Gatwick to Split daily from April 21
• Ryanair flies
  • from Dublin to Zadar Wednesdays and Saturdays from April 2
  • from London Stansted to Zadar Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays from March 31
  • from London Stansted to Pula Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from April 1.

  Thomsonfly flies

  • from Gatwick to Dubrovnik Sundays startingMay 4
  • from Luton to Dubrovnik Sundays starting July 6
  • from Manchester to Dubrovnik Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from May 2
  • from Birmingham, Doncaster-Sheffield, Gatwick, Luton and Mancester to Pula Tuesdays from May 6

See more on:

• Flights to Croatia
• Flights to Split
• Flights to Dubrovnik
• Flights to Pula
• Flights to Zadar
• Flights to Rijeka
  
• Flights to Zagreb

Posted under Croatia Flights News & Croatia Travel & Dubrovnik & Istria & Zadar & Zagreb | No Comments »

FlyGlobespan has enjoyed such a stunning success with their flights to Pula this year that they’ve announced a new Edinburgh to Dubrovnik flight for next summer. Starting on May 24, the route will run every Saturday throughout the summer. Prices start at a measly £67.99 one way. The announcement is welcome news in Croatia where officials are still reeling from Ryanair’s pullout from winter service on the London-Pula and London-Zadar routes at the end of this month. Some say that the Irish low-cost juggernaut pulled a fast one on the tourism officials in Pula and Zadar who subsidised the opening of Ryanair’s Croatia routes. Apparently, clever Ryanair negotiated a contract allowing them to pull out without returning the €500,000. It was probably a bad deal all around for Pula and Zadar. It’s not clear that the Zadar-bound stayed in town; the Pula flights appealed mostly to Istrians looking to visit London cheaply and who comes on Ryanair anyway? People that don’t stay in expensive resorts, eat at pricey restaurants and take organised tours. Better luck next time.

See more on

• Getting to Croatia

• Dubrovnik

• Pula

• Zadar

Posted under Croatia Flights News & Croatia Travel & Dubrovnik & Istria & Zadar | 1 Comment »