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Car rental, Budapest or Zagreb?

We will want a car between Zagreb and Salzburg for several days. We will be traveling from Budapest and are considering the train but want to make sure renting a car in Zagreb won't be difficult. Advice?

Posted by
3551 posts

There are alerts for car renters in Croatia as thefts are freq.,break ins etc.
If u can find a rental co they will put a lg surcharge on for Croatia and surrounding countries. Since the likelyhood of find garages for overnight parking are few, have u considered public transit , then pic up a car after Croatia?

Posted by
5687 posts

Renting a car in Zagreb is easy. Finding a car company that has branch offices in Salzburg is more difficult. Try the websites of the big international car companies like Hertz, Budget, Sixt. And expect to pay a hefty one-way drop charge. Compare total price including the daily rate, the insurance, and the drop charge.

In that case, you might as well check the prices to rent it in Budapest instead of Zagreb and see how much different they are. (Plus make sure a car you rent in Budapest is allowed to be driven in Croatia - which is in the EU now so that may be a tad less complicated.) I'd guess your one-way fee will be high no matter where you rent - but it's worth checking. You can weigh taking the train to Zagreb (and spending a few days without it - no need to park it?) vs. needing to park the car in Zagreb while you are there - against any price difference.

Posted by
470 posts

Driving from Budapest to Zagreb is a lot faster than the train (3.5 vs 6 hrs). However, consider your itinerary - where would you be dropping off the car? Would you be returning to Budapest, Zagreb or will you leave out of Salzburg? International one-way rentals can be prohibitively expensive.

Driving a Hungarian rental into Croatia, Slovenia and Austria should not be an issue. You may be charged extra for the privilege of driving abroad, but that is it. Get acquainted with the driving rules in the three countries, especially regarding tolls, vignettes, etc. to avoid any expensive mistakes.

Posted by
265 posts

I realize that we won't need a car in Zagreb, we are there for 2 nights, but we have 4 full days in Isteria, which I understand is better by car. We then will have 2 nights in Ljubljana, also don't need car, but headed for two days to Julian Alps. Then north to Salzburg.

I'm now looking at returning car to Ljubljana and taking train to Salzburg but time difference is significant and train cost might not be that much cheaper than the drop off fee.

Posted by
5687 posts

Take trains all the way, but rent a car for a few days in Ljubljana.

Are you going to Plitvice Lakes National Park, two hours from Zagreb? (If not, highly recommend it.) You can do that without a car, but it is easier.

Posted by
5687 posts

As a compromise, you could rent the car in Zagreb and return it in Slovenia. Sixt for example might not charge a big drop fee for that. But a car is kind of a burden in Ljubljana, too, if you are staying there.

If you wind up staying over in Bled, you might be able to rent the car in Ljubljana and return in Bled and take the train from there to Salzburg - saving you a little time.

If you drive between Ljubljana and Bled, try to take the scenic detour via the town of Skofja Loka (worth a stop) - the drive from Skofja Loka through the hills to Bled via Jamnik and Kropa is really beautiful. Try to drive that way if you have the time.

Posted by
17629 posts

The best suggestion is to plan trips around transportation corridors and low cost air connections so you can get the most out of your time and investment. That would mean skipping Budapest.

There is a flight from Budapest to Venice for about $100, from there its a 2.5 hour train ride to Trieste where you could rent a car and tour the Istria peninsula, returning the car in Trieste before moving on to Zagreb by bus.

Posted by
5687 posts

Oh, I skimmed through that too fast - missed the part about Istria.

You can rent the car in Zagreb, drive to Istria, and drop the car there, take a bus or train (from Rijeka) or otherwise a transfer service like GoOpti to Ljubljana, rent a second car there just for the Julian Alps, etc. Or take bus or GoOpti from Istria to say Koper, rent the second car, and return it in Bled or Ljubljana.

Or - pay the one-way drop fee (e.g. Sixt) from Zagreb to Slovenia, a lot smaller than the drop fee between Croatia and Salzburg I think.

Flying to Venice from Budapest means skipping Zagreb and Plitvice Lakes National Park(?), if that was on the agenda too.

Posted by
470 posts

How about taking a train from Budapest to Zagreb, then taking a train to Ljubljana and renting a car there for the Slovenia AND Istria portion? Ljubljana is actually closer to Istria than Zagreb and you would eliminate any issues with international rentals, as you'd be picking up and returning the car in Slovenia. Without Plitvice, it makes perfect sense.

With Plitvice, it's better to rent in Zagreb, visit Plitvice and Istria, return in Istria, take a bus across the border to Koper or Portoroz and rent another car there for the Slovenian leg, do the Slovenian leg backwards by going from the coast via the Vipava and Soca Valleys straight into the Julian Alps and end in Ljubljana, where you can return the car upon your arrival and not have to worry about parking.

From Ljubljana or Bled you can catch direct trains to Salzburg. They aren't too fast but it's not too bad, at least you have the scenery. If you wanted to drive around in Austria, too, consider taking a train to the first town across the border in Austria, Villach (or alternatively Klagenfurt) and rent another car there for the Austrian leg of your trip. Whether this makes any sense depends on your itinerary, of course.

Posted by
265 posts

Thanks everyone. Great help. I rearranged our itinerary to rent the car in Zagreb, tour isteria, and go straight to Bled, tour Alps and return car in Ljubljana. Sixt had no drop off fee and we have eliminated the hassle of either keeping an unwanted car while in Ljubljana or having to drop and re rent.

We know we are going a bit far afield but have over a month and are spending several days in all of the cities. We fly into Prague and back out in Vienna.

Posted by
5687 posts

Are you sure there's no one-way fee from Zagreb to Ljubljana? I checked a few different dates on the Sixt website and see a one-way drop fee of $114.08 USD - not bad, probably worth it to save the hassle of switching cars given their low rates otherwise, but not $0.

Sounds like a great trip!

Posted by
265 posts

You obviously are much more familiar. The quote I have is $250 for this. I've been checking several rental sites so don't remember.

Thanks for your help.

Posted by
470 posts

$114 is a very manageable fee, if there's four of you it's not much of a premium over four bus or train tickets across the border, not to mention the time saving. Sounds like a great plan.