The Ultimate Croatia Road Trip Itinerary: Zagreb to Dubrovnik
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When I made the decision to study abroad in Spain in the fall semester of 2019, I knew I had to sneak some travel in beforehand (I still wanted to spend Christmas with my family so I knew I couldn’t travel after). So two weeks before my program, my family and I flew to Croatia to start our road trip that would take us from Zagreb all the way to Dubrovnik. Renting a car in a foreign country, hitting five cities, three countries, and two national parks in 10 days...who let me plan this lol that is AMBITIOUS. Turns out is was low-key perfect? And for that I give myself a solid well done pat on the back because dangggggg
We traveled in the beginning of September, and honestly anticipated shoulder-season prices but NO. Apparently we were still there in high season, and there were at least three cruise ships there each day. High season prices ain’t it, chief. Plan accordingly. I definitely said I was 18 everywhere so that helped me get the child prices into different attractions, (shhhhh).
First things first: In order to do a road trip, you need a car, duh. We rented through enterprise, and it was a super easy process. Our rental for ten days (which was a large van, super ugly but super comfy with plenty of room so I can’t be too mad) was around 400 dollars, including the one way fee. Ive heard that holiday auto has the best price if you’re underage, because their premium for young drivers is less than other companies (but still heftyyyyy). You’ll need an international drivers license as well, so get that before your trip. We filled up with gas twice, one time about three-quarters of the way through the trip, and the other right before we had to return the car. Gas was expensive, about 80 dollars for a tank, (for a large van) but considering we only had to fill up one and a half times, it’s definitely do-able. The roads from Zagreb to Dubrovnik were well-maintained, with the exception of a little google maps mishap that we had in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
So when you do a road trip through Croatia, as many people do thanks to the lack of easy public transportation, your two options are to either start in Zagreb or Dubrovnik, as those are the only cities with accessible airports. We kinda thought that Dubrovnik would be more impressive than Zagreb and we wanted to end on that note, so we started in Zagreb. I was really happy with the way that turned out.
* Make sure you book accommodation with guaranteed parking, whether it be an airbnb or a hotel, you do NOT want to brave parking alone. Wanna know why? We tried it. Our airbnb host told us where to park on the street, watched us park, said that we were okay, and then we went to drive to Krka national park two days later and our car was gone. It got T O W E D. A tow truck literally ~scooped~ our van and didn’t even leave a note. We thought it got stolen, which led to a heated phone call with the host (who knew exactly where our car was, does something smell like fish to you bc it does to me, also why we switched from using Airbnb to Vrbo), a very expensive Uber ride, a very expensive bill for them to hand over the ugly van that had at this point become family, two hours of trying to find parking, and a veryyyy late dinner that had us all stressed out and hangry. Is this a good enough reason for you to double check your accommodations parking? Because I think it is lol
ANYWAYS. Without further ado lets get into the actual itinerary!!
The Ultimate Croatia Road Trip Itinerary:
Zagreb to Dubrovnik
1 day and 2 nights in Zagreb
The way our flights worked out, we landed in Zagreb on a Friday night. We settled into our SUPER cute Vrbo, took some Benadryl to try and beat the jet lag (a valiant attempt but it didn’t work and I’m still exhausted). The next day we woke up, had a lazy start, and hit the town. No need to wake up early, the crowds here aren’t nearly as overwhelming as in the other cities. It is definitely worth your while! It is super gorgeous, has amazing food, and is a very peaceful and calm start to your whirlwind trip.
The only reason we spent another night here was to be close to...
1 Day in Plitvice National Parks (2.5 hours away from Zagreb)
Okay, not going to lie, This was one of the main reasons I dragged my whole family to Croatia. Last summer we did a lot of European cities, which is SO fun, don’t get me wrong. But there is a point where you’ve had your city fix for quite some time and you just want to see nature. Before this trip, I googled where the best national parks in Europe are, and Croatia is where it’s AT OKAY? Plitvice did not disappoint. Buy tickets way ahead and get up as early as possible! We bought our tickets for arrival between 7:00 and 8:00. We got up at four, hit the road by 5:30, and arrived at the park at 7:55, five minutes before the end of the time slot we bought our tickets for. It was a CLOSE one, but we made it.
From there, we continued our ultimate Croatian road trip to Split around 3, arriving around 6.
1.5 days and 3 nights in Split (3 hours away from Plitvice)
1.5 days and 3 nights you might think? That makes no sense. It will, I promise. Our first full day in Split, we wandered the old city, walked the promenade, ate some bomb pizza, and slept like ROCKS. Not to worry, I have covered each city individually, as there is too much to pack into one blog post. We took a morning day trip, and then spent another afternoon in the city, just shopping and enjoying Croatia. This city is like an open-air museum and it is simply stunning. You can’t miss it!
But we did come here for the nature, after all:
1 day in Krka National park (1 Hour away from Split)
A lot of people have to choose between Plitvice and Krka, but omg you can’t miss either. Plitvice is more impressive, but you can swim in Krka. (2021 update: I’m not sure that they allow swimming anymore, but it is still beautiful to see!) They cancel each other out and to quote Road to El Dorado, “Both. Both is good.” We only saw the main falls, because to be completely honest we weren’t interested in another 20,000 step day, but I’ve heard good things about the rest. Once again, go early. We returned for another half day in Split, and ate another ice cream, which put us at 4 cones in as many days. #nice
1 Day in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2 hours away from Split)
Buckle up, because its a long day of driving. When driving from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, we took every opportunity we could to see every incredible place laying in our path. We took our time getting to Mostar and even though the city was small, and there were lots of guided tours, there isn’t much to do. Somehow it managed to be one of my favorite stops. Despite the lack of actual attractions, we spent SO much time there, and could not bring ourselves to leave.
When we finally did, had quite the adventure. Instead of following the signs to Dubrovnik, we put our FULL faith in google maps (a freaking mistake, lemme tell you) and we set out through the mountains of remote Bosnia. Windy, one lane roads, herds of sheep and cows, and not seeing a single other car for nearly two hours had us mildly concerned, but to be completely honest we got through the border in .2 seconds so maybe the route we took was faster because of the short border control line? We later found out that it was the home of old war frontlines and people don’t drive that way because of forgotten land mines. So maybe follow the signs.
But Mostar was absolutely beautiful, please don’t pass it up. Ill write a post about it, but we loved it and you will too. Moving on.
3 days and 4 nights in Dubrovnik (2 hours away from Mostar)
Finally! We arrived in to our Hotel in Dubrovnik, the city that everyone comes to Croatia for, and for good reason. Dubrovnik felt like nostalgia, like a summer that seems to never end. We walked on medieval walls, swam in the Adriatic Sea, kayaked at sunset, and jumped off of progressively higher things. Everyone was genuinely kind, and we made friends from all over.
One thing I had to get over quickly was the amount of people also there to experience the same things. Because its a popular cruise ship destination, there were masses of people, even though they’ve cut down on the amount of people allowed in the city. It’s so easy to get frustrated with all the tourists but you have to remember that you're one of them as well. Be happy that they have the opportunity to experience something incredible as well! Embrace it, you all have something in common, and people-less pictures aren’t everything.
When you book accommodation, book as close to old town as you can. The only thing i didn’t love about Dubrovnik was our Hotel. We booked it because of the insane view from the rooftop terrace, but with that view came a good 45 minute hike up and down a mΟuNtAiN, and it warranted a lot of complaints out of all of us. Not a huge deal in the long run but also not worth the pretty view. You can get that other places. It was a long road from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, but it was WELL worth all the hours spent in the car.
Day trip to Kotor, Montenegro (2.5 hours away from Dubrovnik)
Was this day trip entirely worth it? Not gonna lie, I might’ve included it to get my country count up by one, and it was a long drive for what it was. It was stunning, don’t get me wrong, but my family has had the privilege of seeing similar things before. It was a little pricey, but we ended up making the most of it. In the future, I’d love to see more of Montenegro, like the national parks and everything the south of the country has to offer. If you have time and have exhausted Dubrovnik’s options (tricky thing to do), take a trip to Kotor! It truly is stunning, I think I was just exhausted and could’ve used another beach day (except i was so sunburnt this wasn’t exactly an option).
FLY OUT!!
You made it! Renting a car, driving in a foreign country, driving all the way from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, hitting three different countries and many more cities in 10 days in no easy feat, but it sure makes for an unforgettable trip. Many thanks to my family for giving in to my peer pressure despite the expensive plane tickets, they made my crazy dreams and high expectations all come true and work out in the end.
So if this trip was 10 days and I left two weeks before the start of my program, what did I do with the other 4 days? Stay tuned to find out ayeeeee
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Are you looking for an epic Croatia Itinerary that includes the iconic cities of Split and Dubrovnik but also don’t want to miss out on the north of the country and the epic Plitvice Lakes? Follow along with this Croatia Road Trip Itinerary that will take you from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, and everywhere in between.