So, here I am in this terrestrial paradise and awaiting visits from friends... To make this task a little easier, I have decided to indicate all the possible ways of getting here, so I don't have to keeping on writing it out in emails. Click on the means of transport that interest you and you will see your options.
Click below if you want advice of what are the best means from the geographical area you are coming from.
There are two ways to drive from northern, western or eastern Europe to Dalmatia. One is along the coast (from Rijeka-Istria south) or from Karlovac-Zagreb.
About the coast route: It is an absolutely beautiful scenic drive, very reminiscent of the Highway 1 along the Californian coast or the highway along the Italian Riviera. The road was built by a Napoleonic general at the beginning of the 19th c. and its curviness attests to this. Why do I give you all this info? To warn you that if want to get to Dalmatia quickly this is truly a miserable road for anyone mildly sensitive to car sickness... Also, during the summer the traffic is intolerable. So, until July, this is a great road if you don't mind curves or you don't mind taking lots of stops. I really discourage it from mid-July to August because of the traffic. Time (with minimal traffic): Rijeka-Zadar = 4 hours.
About the Zagreb-Karlovac route: Luckily the toll highway between Zagreb and Zadar is almost totally complete, so while once this was the most painful drive I had ever taken (I had vomited on several occasions and I grew up on mountain roads) now it is really quite harmless. You do have to pay the toll (I think circa 15euros), but it is worth it. It is quite pretty when going through the Velebit mountains, as well. The only problem here is traffic during mid-July-August... everyone is expecting it to be packed with Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs and Germans.... we shall see. Time (with minimal traffic) Zagreb-Zadar= 4 hours.
First of all, you need to forget the idea of a European (French, German or Italian) train network in Croatia... Trains started being built here much later than western Europe, and when train building became a national initiative, that initiative was a Yugoslav one, thus trying to connect the big Yugoslav cities (Ljubiana, Zagreb and Belgrade) and not the Croatian cities with each other. That being said, there are three train options to get to Croatia from northern and/or western Europe, and one train option to get to Dalmatia.
Trains to get into Croatia: The best train connection is from Ljubiana to Zagreb. It is fast (if you take the Intercity) and fairly inexpensive. Next, you can take the train from Budapest... I haven't taken this, but I have heard it is ok, a bit slow, but ok. I strongly suggest, however, avoiding the train from Italy to Zagreb... This train is absolutely miserable at night (lots of theft stories) because they wake you up at every border crossing, which of course all happen in the middle of the night. It also is a 9 hour trip from Venice to Zagreb (instead of the 4 or so hours it takes by car)... plus it is not that cheap. Please do me a favor and avoid this train. To get to Dalmatia from anywhere in Europe by train means you have to first go to Zagreb or Karlovac and then change to take the train to Split (info below).
Trains to Dalmatia: I love this train. It is a night train and if you are organized and make a reservation for a couchette, you will get a good night sleep in a nice, clean compartment leaving after dinner from Zagreb and arriving for breakfast in Split. Do not take this train if you want to go to Zadar, but if your destination is the islands or Split, this is a nice, fairly economical way to go if you have somehow arrived in Zagreb. Trains leave everynight.
About comfort of trip, buses traveling in Croatia from Rijeka, Karlovac, Zagreb or any northern or western European city are usually clean and pretty nice. The buses from Belgrade or Bosnia are pretty old and uncomfortable (this isn't prejudice... it's just the way it is). About the car sickness factor and buses traveling to Dalmatia, I sincerely recommend that anyone even mildly sensitive bring with them those pills against travel sickness... I never thought I was sensitive until I took these buses, and now I refuse to get on another one without a sandwich and those pills in hand. This being said, bus is the most common means of long distance travel within Croatia. There are buses up and down the coast almost every hour. Buses from Zagreb and Rijeka are incredibly frequent. If you are trying to save money, buy a roundtrip ticket (that way you save 20%). To find bus info, you need to call the bus station either in your town (if you plan to take the bus from outside of Croatia) or call the bus station in the town you plan to take the bus from... I will try to start adding these telephone numbers as I get them. If you want me to find out a specific bus schedule to come visit me, email me and I'll try to figure it out. Below are the approximate travel times and costs of trips I have taken to get to Dalmatia: (prices and times depend on which company you take... I just take whichever company leaves at the time I want).
Zagreb-Zadar: circa 4.5 hrs., circa 100 kuna each way (about $18)
Rijeka-Zadar: circa 4.5 hrs., circa 100 kuna each way (about $18)
Zadar-Split: time: 4hrs., circa 85 kuna each way (about $16)
This is a very pleasant option if you are organized and are traveling from Italy. Organized because you have to make a reservation for some kind of sleeping accomodation on the boat (do not do the deck chair thing unless you are absolutely starving poor or you want to remember what a miserable, sleepless, smoke-filled night is really like). Italy because except for the boat from Rijeka, the only long distance boats that arrive in Dalmatia that I know of are from either Ancona or Bari, Italy. But the boats are clean, they leave in the late evening and arrive in the morning and all the ports in Dalmatia are either in the center of town or very close by. So, if you are traveling from Italy, this is a great way to go. Boats do not leave every evening, buy a round-trip ticket if you can (as you get a discount that way), and make a reservation well ahead of time if you are coming any time from mid-June to September.
For all time, reservation and price information see: Jadrolinija
For train info to get to Ancona or Bari from another part of Italy, see Trenitalia
So, unless you get really lucky finding a cheap ticket to Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split or Zadar with some sneaky travel agent or cheaptickets or something, you will not find a cheap ticket into Croatia with a normal airline company. That leaves these options:
Here we go. First, unless absolutely necessary, don't come with more than 15kilos luggage (circa 35lbs.)... Why? because the cheap flights into Croatia have stupid weight limits. I am putting the following options in order of comfort (and thus from more likely to be expensive, to more likely to be cheap... but who knows)
There is really only one thing to say here... Take the Boat! If you want, you can reserve for space for your car and then have your car here for day trips... But no matter what, if you are coming from mid-June on to September, you absolutely have to make a reservation before hand. For this info, see the boat section on this page.
You have three options here.
I am going to put these options in terms of comfort... you decide what you want to do.