We are taking Rick's Eastern Europe tour that ends in Lake Bled. Then we would like to get down to Dubrovnik for a night or two before flying home. It seems complicated. Does anyone know if there are now flights from Ljub. to Dubrovnik (in May)? Otherwise, are the connections good, taking a train from Bled to Zagreb and flying from there? We are also considering driving. A previous post suggested there might be a steep drop off fee, but I don't see that when I try to get car rental prices on-line. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Johns Island, SC
172 posts
The drive is great, but the drop off fee is about $250.00. We rented at Lub and dropped off at Split.
We just got back. You can see details of our trip in a spreadsheet that I posted, along with pictures, at my personal blog;
Posted by
dallas, tx, usa
1358 posts
I have rented cars in Europe for 20 years. Never consider a drop charge without talking with an agent. Dont rely on info you find on the internet.
Use the agency's toll free number and call to ask your questions.
Posted by
OP
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
25 posts
Yikes! that is a huge drop off fee!!! I'll look at your trip report for sure. Thanks guys, if we do rent a car I'll be sure to haggle.
Anyone have info on flights?
Posted by
Chicago/Rural WI
811 posts
Hi Jo-Anne,
One more thing to keep in mind if considering renting a car is it is a long (albeit pretty) drive - about 8 1/2 hours without stops. If you could extend your trip and maybe drive halfway to Split one day then on to Dubrovnik the next it would at least pare down the daily driving quotient (and Split is a pretty cool town).
As far as airfare goes, you will probably get the lowest airfare rates by flying from Zagreb to Dubrovnik rather than Ljubljana to Dubrovnik. Using Expedia.com, I just put in random dates in May from Ljubljana to Dubrovnik and all the results came back the same: $473 USD/person on Austrian Airlines, connecting in Vienna. Then I put in from Zagreb to Dubrovnik and the airfare is $174 USD/person, direct flight on Croatia Airlines. Of course, you would have the additional fees of getting to Zagreb and then transfering to the airport, but it can't possibly cost more than the $299/person airfare cost difference (flying out of Ljub vs Zagreb)!
One thing we found when booking flights to Croatia last year (from Frankfurt) was that using Expedia.com saved us lots of money versus going to the Croatian Airlines website directly (their airfares were quoted much higher).
Hope some of this mish-mosh of information helps, and have a great trip - it is an awesome part of the world!
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
I took the Eastern Europe tour a couple of years ago and recall that at least one person flew from Ljubljana directly to Dubrovnik at the end of the tour. I think it was a charter flight rather than Adria. Don't recall whether it flew every day, but he said the price was good. Next fastest option, as others have suggested, is train to Zagreb and then Croatia Air to Dubrovnik.
Posted by
OP
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
25 posts
Thanks all. I have noticed myself that Expedia is cheaper than the airlines' sites. I haven't used it before but thought we'd take the plunge for our flights to Europe. Regarding Ljub. to Dubrovnik, I did see somewhere that sometimes there are direct flights in the summer months, that is July and August, but we would be going in late May, so if that doesn't change this year, we are out of luck.