car rental slovenia/croatia

We rented a car for a day in each of Slovenia and in Croatia to get to places we wanted to see, and then took a combination of train and bus to mainly get around both countries. Worked well for us.

I have been pricing rental cars for use in Slovenia for four days in May, and they are very reasonable compared to other countries. So far I have found the best rate with Economy Car Rentals. I also used them several years back in Croatia. I have never been to Slovenia before, but have driven from Split to Dubrovnik, and personally would want a car so I could stop where I wanted for pictures, lunch etc. If you do rent a car in Croatia and drive the coast, Makarska between Split and Dubrovnik has a lovely harbor for a picnic lunch.

Your itinerary will determine whether renting a car for part or all of your trip would make sense. If your itineray is limited to Bled, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Split, Hvar, Korcula and/or Dubrovnik, then it can be done with a combination of bus, train and boat. You may also find some inexpensive flights within Croatia. Trains connect Ljubljana, Zagreb and Split, but that's about it. If you want to visit Plitvice, Istria and/or other places in Slovenia, then a car is very convenient as public transit options are limited. I've rented from a Croatian company called Uniline, which has more locations than many other companies, has pick-up service (like Enterprise) and charges no drop-off fees for rentals of 3 days or more. I've also rented in Slovenia for a trip that included Croatia. I found that I could take a Slovenian rental into Croatia, but not vice versa. Roads in both countries are generally very good, and I had no problems with any of my rentals. If you rent a car, I recommend either taking along or renting a GPS with European maps.

I agree with everyone that it depends on your itinerary. We rented a car to drive from Split to Plitvice and then dropped it off in Rovinj. Then a couple days later we rented a car for one day to drive around the hill towns and dropped it off in Opatija before catching a train to Slovenia. We rented another car to drive from Ljublijana to the caves, then onto Lake Bled, and then to do the driving tours in the Julian Alps and Logarska Dolina. Everything was so beautiful and worth renting a car. The roads are very good and easy to navigate with a map and a passenger.

We rented a car in Spring 2010 in Split and dropped it off in Opatija with no drop off fee. We rented from Sixt after comparing rates with a number of other companies. Sixt allowed us to take the car into Slovenia without any extra costs. But if we had dropped it off in Slovenia the fee would have been about 200Euros. As noted in another post, if you want to get to small towns on the mainland or tour around Istra Peninsula a car is required. To get to Split from Dubrovnik (where we started our trip), we took the bus as there as a direct one and not any spots we wanted to stop at. From Split, we took the ferry to the Hvar Island - a real beautiful spot with a few ferries each day from Split. From Opatija, we then took the train to Ljubljana which was great. When we had the car, we went into Slovenia and toured the coastal area and the caves.

Yes it is worth it and no the trains are not adequate. Unf there is not a great rail system in Croatia like there is the rest of EU. So it is either a car/bus/ferry that will get u there. We rented a car in Bled, Slovenia and dropped it in Dubrovnik, Croatia. And that means we did pay the hefty drop off fee unfortunately. This is obv not for everyone but here was my thought process: We wanted a car for driving to the Julian Alps in Slovenia. We also wanted a car to get to Plitvice parks so we would have a place for our luggage and also not be at the mercy of "irregular" bus schedules. So I could have rented a car just in Bled and left it there, trained to a nearby Croatian town and gotten a diff car OR just keep my car and save the time and hassle of all those connections and rental agencies. Had I tried the other option I am sure we would have lost more than half a day getting that all arranged. I am glad it worked the way it did for us but we had to make that tough call about spending the money.