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Driving from Zadar to Dubrovnik - coastal highway (D8) vs toll road (E65)?

Posted by (Lansing, MI, USA) on

We will be driving from Zadar airport down to Dubrovnik in mid-June and I was wondering about drive time/traffic regarding our two main options: either the toll road (E65, where available) or the coastal highway (D8).

We want to see as much cool stuff as possible but not at the risk of spending all day on the road. It's quicker and the cost difference for 2 people in a car vs bus is negligible. This is the coastal (almost exclusively D8 route) I had in mind: (google maps).

Basically I was wondering if the old road is more of a hassle than it's worth. I've read that traffic isn't so bad since the toll road opened but then again I don't want to spend all day on the road. Sure we want to see cool coastal stuff but we've been to Croatia before and traveled the coast by bus and ferry so between our other we're entertaining both routes.

thanks in advance for any experience you could share.

Posted by
470 posts

It's scenic from Split onward, but traffic can be horrendous in places like Omis or Makarska, where there is basically just the one road serving the area, despite the lack of transit traffic. Add one to two hours to Google Maps' estimated driving time to account for the slowness of the road and traffic you might encounter and you'll get the right picture. Driving in June will definitely make things easier, how much easier I cannot judge, I've only ever been to that part of the coast during July/August.

Posted by
6113 posts

The motorway will be quieter and slightly quicker. June will be busy as the schools start their summer holidays mid June.

Omis has always been the bottleneck for my journeys. Several times I have sailed through here but seen miles of traffic queuing in the opposite direction and I got caught in traffic once which added c 30 minutes to the journey. But, it's a holiday, not a race.

Posted by
19 posts

Thank you kindly Dejan and Jennifer. Based on the info you provided and a little more other research I think we'll take the coastal highway most of the way. If we leave early enough to make it down to Dubrovnik before 3pm I think we may be able to miss some of the traffic.

Sounds like using the D8 instead of the full length of E65 will add some time to our trip but nothing crazy (fingers crossed!). I think it will be worth the extra time as long as we can still deliver the rental car and get settled in town before it gets too late.

Thanks again - we're really excited about this bit of the trip!

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