Best Airline to Croatia?

Flying to Croatia from the US is not cheap (or fast). If the total price of the one-way Dubrovnik-Zagreb (likely on Croatia Airlines) plus round trip on Turkish Houston-Zagreb is cheaper than other alternatives, then you have your answer. Compare that combo versus an open jaw on other airlines like United, etc. Is there a long layover in Istanbul prior to Zagreb on Turkish Air?

Just beware that Croatia is quite long, and driving from Zagreb to Dubrovnik with many stops will take a really long time - so hopefully you have at least 10 days (probably much more) to spare on this vacation and the number of places you want to see is manageable. It's really hard to see both north and south on one trip unless you have a lot of time. Most people pick a region and see that one region more thoroughly. Having a car doesn't help when you want to island-hop either.

We flew into and out of Vienna, for other reasons, but took a train to Ljubljana and then flew from Dubrovnik to Vienna for quite cheap on Niki. So wherever you end up coming from Houston, you might check Air Niki - affiliated with Air Berlin.

Houston to Zagreb isn't like New York to London, with lots of choices. So if the route you listed has decent prices and layover times, go for it. Do also look for "open jaw" flights - Houston to Zagreb and Dubrovnik to Houston. To find these, use the "multi city" option on Kayak, Google Flights, etc. Don't look for two one-ways, as that's often much more expensive.

If your question is whether Turkish Air is a good airline, my experience with them was excellent. The flight attendants are pleasant, there's some legroom, and the food is FAR better than you'll get on most other carriers - even in coach. Here is another thread about Turkish Air, and in my post there you'll see links to more threads. You'll see that most people have similar experiences to mine: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/turkish-air

Agnes does make an important point. One potential issue with Turkish Air is long layovers - check carefully.

I can not say which is the best airline to use, but we flew out of Zagreb to Istanbul and then to Chicago on Turkish air 2 months ago. The trip was easy and uneventful. Actually, we started in Dubrovnik on Croatian air to Zagreb (first flight out). Croatian air is in alliance with Turkish air so our bags would have been checked thru, too. We didn't have long layovers, but we did have to go thru a random security check from Istanbul to Chicago. It looked like every US bound flight had random security checks. I have to say one very positive thing about Turkish air. The flight attendants are constantly monitoring and cleaning the toilets. After the 11 hr flight, the toilets were as nice as when we started the flight.

Thanks for the tips! Yes I was weary of Turkish Air. I almost wish there was a way I could extend a layover in Istanbul

The "best" is what you can afford with times/transfers you like. Turkish Airlines is fantastic, but that low fare involves a longer flight and layover in Istanbul. I know some people make it work where they get a couple days there to make it worthwhile, but I would just pay more. I always found open-jaw flights to be no more than round trip. Overall itinerary depends on how many days you have, but you have a good plan for using Croatia Air between Dbv and Zag.

depending on when you get to Zagreb, they are working on a new airport terminal. In my opinion, it is NEEDED! Prices at the Zagreb airport for snacks/drinks are pricey. I think the new terminal opens in the spring, but I'm not sure about that.

Domestic Flights on Croatia Air can be relatively cheap and make it so that you don't have to backtrack with the car. We were able to get a one-way Zagreb -> Dubrovnik ticket last year for under $100 pp. If a round-trip to Zagreb is cheaper than the open jaw, go with that. Otherwise, the open jaw plan will save you from having to double-back on yourself.

If you do wind up going in and out of Zagreb, it would be easiest to spend your first days acclimating and seeing the Zagreb area. Then take your flight to Dubrovnik and work your way back up with the car. In general, I don't like to schedule a flight during a trip that is near the beginning or end. You don't want to be in a situation where you have a missed flight because a different connection got cancelled/delayed for some reason.

Do you actually want to go to Zagreb, or are you just doing that for the airline? United (and its partner, Lufthansa) seems well connected from HOU to FRA. From FRA you can connect on Croatian Airlines - also a United partner. I flew this all on one ticket (an award seat, even) so it's quite doable. We went Seattle-Frankfort-Ljubljana (that leg on Adria Airlines), the return from DUB-FRA-SEA. FRA is v-e-r-y well connected with that part of central/eastern Europe.

Zagreb is kind of out-of-the-way from the rest of Croatia that most tourists crave...if it's not your real target, why go there? If Zagreb is interesting enough to you to warrant the extra time/expense of getting between there and Dubrovnik, great. But if your actual destination is Dubrovnik (and other things along the coast) then you might do better focusing on DUB as your flight destination.

BTW, United, Lufthansa, Croatian Airlines, Turkish, Adria (and many more) are all partners in "Star Alliance" - oodles of options, and starting from HOU (a United hub) would set you up well for them. If you do end up going through IST on Turkish, and you have a long layover, see if you can get the free city tour or hotel night that Turkish usually provides.

We are flying to Amsterdam for a short Holiday and then taking TRANSAVIA ( a Dutch economy airline) to Dubrovnik from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. With baggage in the hold, tickets were about $130US. But don't expect freebies like on a US Carrier. Take your water bottle on board with you and if you want to eat anything, then take it with you. Doesn't bother us as all airline food is not good.

There are direct flights from Houston to many major European hubs. There will be direct flights from those hubs to Dubrovnik. Making this trip with one stop should be no problem.