Croatia: Getting there & around

Flights connect Zagreb to a swag of European cities. Croatia's international airport is 17km (11mi) southeast of Zagreb. The departure tax is usually included in the price of the air ticket.

Buses run between Zagreb and several cities in Hungary and Germany, as well as to Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Brussels (Belgium).

Trains connect Zagreb to Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovenia and Serbia-Montenegro, while many ferries link Croatia to Italy.

Travellers with their own vehicle can use four border crossings between Hungary and Croatia, 29 between Slovenia and Croatia, 23 between Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia and seven between Yugoslavia and Croatia.

Croatia Airlines has regular flights from Zagreb to Brac, Dubrovnik, Pula, Split and Zadar. The country's excellent bus network is far-reaching and reasonably priced. Trains are cheaper and more comfortable than the bus, but also slower except for the new high-speed train between Zagreb and Split.

All the usual car rental chains are represented in Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik and most Istrian towns. Driving is on the right side of the road. The spectacular Adriatic highway from Italy to Albania runs along the steep slopes of Croatia's coastal range, and is one of the most exciting drives in the world.

If you can get where you're going by ferry, then do it - cruising among the islands of the Adriatic certainly beats sitting on a bus, no matter how cheap or fast it is. Jadrolinija coastal ferries ply the waters between Dubrovnik and Rijeka, stopping at Split and Korčula.