Rent a car? Take ferry? Take bus?

I don't like long bus rides, but Croatia has a decent bus system, and there are a lot of daily buses between Split and Dubrovnik. Not really a big deal - the buses are OK. If there's catamaran service, I'd probably take that instead, just because I don't care for buses, but that's my personal preference. I would never rent a car just to drive between Dubrovnik and Split unless I was desperate or had a weird schedule.

Try GetByBus.com or BusCroatia.com for bus schedules/info. Note that the buses in Croatia charge you a few Kuna per big piece of luggage to store it under the bus, so have some cash on hand.

If you have the time, though, consider renting a car to drive from Dubrovnik or Split all the way north to Istria, drop the car, then take a bus, shuttle, or catamaran from there to Venice. (Best to drop the car in Croatia - expect a steep one-way drop off fee to drop the car in Venice instead.) Coastal traffic in the summer may be busy, though. I enjoyed driving in Croatia on a couple of trips - it was very easy, the roads are good, but I did not drive in the summer, so I didn't have to worry about traffic. There's also a border crossing into and right back out of Bosnia ("Neum Corridor") when driving from Dubrovnik to Split, because Bosnia has a tiny bit of the coastline. (You avoid this if you take a ferry.) The border crossing by car is routine for Americans, generally, but it adds a slight complication to the rental car (because technically you are leaving the EU and a cross-border fee may apply.), and you need to tell the car company you are doing this.

Alternately, you could fly from Split or Dubrovnik to Venice - but you'll have to check for direct flights on the days you'll be traveling and see if they fit your schedule. Really depends how much time you have, what you want to see in Croatia, etc. You could also take a ferry from Split to Italy and take the train north to Venice. The one bus ride I would NOT prefer to do just because it's so long is a bus all the way north from Split to Istria and and from there to Venice.

Thank you!!

What bad things have you heard about the buses? The buses are good, reliable, frequent and cheap. A ferry is a ferry no matter where in the world they are and part of the journey time is manoeuvring in and out of port, which takes time. However, Dubrovnik to Split is a catamaran not a ferry, which is quicker!

Bus or boat both take c 4 hours port to port allowing for time getting on/off. The bus is a nice ride, so I would opt for bus - there are many of these a day compared to one Krilo catamaran which runs in the afternoon/evening.

I hope you have allowed a week for the Dubrovnik- Split element of your trip.

How long do you have? There are ferries from Rovinj or Pula to Venice or you can fly. Inseem to recall that the Split - Venice flight doesn't run every day.

Thanks for the great info! We heard that the buses don't always show up on time and take WAY longer to get where they are going than what they post.

have you heard anything about edream airline? They have a non stop flight from split to venice - seems to good to be true.

Take the bus from Dubrovnik to Split and another to Zadar, then take the catamaran to Pula. The catamaran from Istria to Venice is expensive, I prefer to combine bus and train to Venice.

Thank you! In order to spend more time in Split, we have decided to fly from Split to Venice