Public transportation in Croatia

Croatia, for sure. Number of bases, etc., will depend on how much time you have and where you wish to go. The country gets "skinny" so sometimes it's best to move in a line versus day trips. Train is minimal, but the bus and ferry system in Croatia is fantastic (don't worry about buses, all were comfortable). Region matters though--for the interior and parts of inland Istria, you would have more difficulty, but it's not impossible.

You might want to cross-post in the Slovenia forum as well. I have been to Croatia 4x using public transport but not Slovenia.
I don't think anywhere on Earth can compare with Switzerland's train system, but I am sure you can enjoy Slovenia without renting a car (with perhaps some occasional private drivers), but that is only based on reading.

I’m afraid the train system in this region is a cold bath compared to Switzerland. It hasn’t had that generational investment or demand to develop that level of infrastructure. Busses do a good job of connecting most places, and in season the schedules grow to accommodate tourists. Quality can be a bit of a mixed bag, but I found Flixbus to be mostly comfortable, affordable and easy to book online. Distances in Croatia can be significant though, so you could be looking at bus rides that are several hours long.

Along the coast, and especially in season, the ferry system is excellent and should be your preferred mode of travel.

Transportation is imho one of the primary challenges here, without a ton of options. With that in mind, some tours can help fill the gap. There are a host of day tour options running out of Ljubljana that cover basically anything you’d want to see in the countryside. It’s a lovely town to boot, so basing here for a stretch is not a terrible idea.

I am thinking we should have a base for several days and then hire a guide or do tours. I might look into Rick Steve’s’ tour and maybe I will end up enjoying tours . Thank you for the info!

I will say this: I traveled in many countries using public transportation, but rented a car for the first time in Slovenia. I found Ljubljana has good public transportation, both for the city and nearby areas. But car was a great convenience in Julian Alps and Logarska Dolina. Sure, there is public transportation in parts of Julian Alps, but frequency and timing may not work out for efficient sightseeing. That's where a car or a private driver is useful.

Croatia has excellent transportation in Zagreb, decent ones to Plitvice national Park from Zagreb (and Split). Dubrovnik too has good bus and ferry system. I flew from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. Flix Bus is also a good option to connect some of the cities.

I rented a car for my month in Croatia and Slovenia, so can’t speak to public transportation. However, if you decide you are interested in a private tour, I can personally recommend Dijana Krkotic, reachable at
[email protected].

She created a 4 week trip for me to Montenegro and Bosnia in 2023 and she also does Croatia.

If you just want to visit major cities and do day trips, public transport can suffice, but
in both Croatia and Slovenia, getting to the rural/less populated areas is going to be
potentially inefficient without a car. From experience, it is not easy to find current bus
schedules online in many cases, so you'd have to figure it out on site.

As noted, Flixbus can get you between cities. As noted, train travel is kind of a throwback.

Dubrovnik doesn't even have train service. And buying tickets is a bit of a task
(hint, I found out you buy Slovenian train tickets at the Austrian rail website).

So unless you want to do multi-day tours, I think that renting a car is the best way to
see various areas of Slovenia. There is enough to see that a day tour just won't cut it.

Without commenting on the quality of a private tour guide, I'll say that the cost of a car
rental is pretty small compared to the cost of a tour, any tour. You can read older posts
on car rentals; there are a lot of local firms and they seem to be good. I rented from
Sixt, and had no issues.

We still don't know what parts of either country you wish to visit, but maybe looking at the tour itineraries would help you decide.

My husband and I just returned from 2 weeks in Croatia, and we are about your age. We used public transportation for all our travels there. We started in Zagreb, then to Plitvice Lakes, then Split, Hvar, Korcula and Dubrovnik. The buses and ferries were comfortable and easy to use. I highly recommend the websites Getbybus and Getbyferry. (We used trams to get around Zagreb, but otherwise walking made the most sense.) Enjoy your trip!