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rental car for 11 days - pick up in Zagreb and drop off at Zagreb airport

Posted by (Seattle, WA USA) on

Greetings,

We are planning on renting a car for much of our time in Croatia for our upcoming vacation in August '25. We are spending our first 2 days in Zagreb, then plan on picking up a rental car and driving south to our desinations for the next 11 days - we then plan on returning the car near the airport the night before we fly out. Any advice on rental car companies and logistics would be appreciated. My primary question is whether it's possible to pick up the car near where we are staying in central Zagreb and then return the car at/near the Zagreb airport 11 days later, or would we need to return the car to the same location that we picked it up? Also, is some sort of international driver's license needed, or would a standard driver's license from the USA suffice? Thank you.

John

Posted by
947 posts

In Germany and Italy we have used Eurocars... But there are others of course. Best to have the international license even if you don't really need it. AAA Auto Club can issue one. CHECK with whomever you book with for THEIR requirements. Also check on possible tolls on Croatian auto ways - I have never driven there but some countries (Austria, Switzerland I think) require tax/toll passes.

Posted by
5243 posts

You will want to do your own research, but as Kenko suggests, I did a quick AutoEurope search. There appear to be several companies with both in town and airport locations. Randomly picking Sixt, the cost was $300 higher to pick up at the bus station in town and return to the airport. I then checked the Sixt website directly and the same appeared to be true. For me, I would have to factor in the cost of getting to the airport from in town plus hotel cost differences, if that factors in between near the airport or in town on your last night. But yes, it is possible.

That is not to say that there may not be an exception, but I think you will have to put in some research time to see.

However I also checked prices on UniRent and there does not appear to be a difference. It looks like they do a Meet and Greet at the airport, which probably means they don’t have an office there. I am a very small sample from 4 years ago, but I rented from UniRent in 2021 - picking up in Dubrovnik and returning in Split. The process was smooth. (except the part about driving in Split. Ha! That remains a favorite memory.)

Posted by
63 posts

We rented a car from Nova at Dubrovnik and dropped it off in Zagreb city. Their office in Zagreb was a little hard to find because the sign was very small, but we were able to walk to our hotel after dropping the car. You could check their website for costs, including a drop off fee, which was minimal for our trip. We had international drivers license, you'll have to look online to see if they're still needed in Croatia.

Posted by
21 posts

Thanks so much for all of the replies - it has been very helpful.

John

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