Anyone drive from Venice then on over to Slovenia and into Croatia? We don't want to back track too much so we were thinking of flying into Venice, doing this drive, then take the ferry from Split to Ancona with the car.
I know we have to check with the car rental company to enter different countries and take the ferry.
Also, what's the best route from the Plitvice Lakes to Split by car?
Thanks!
Hi Tanya,
A few years ago my wife and I did a similar itinerary. We flew into Venice then took the train to Ljubljana, rented a car there for a few days, then train to Zagreb and on to Split. Then ferry down the coast ending up in Dubrovnik where we flew out of - great way to go without any backtracking.
In hindsight, we would have loved to have done a lot of this by car. The roads are very good in Slovenia and Croatia and the traffic is light. Also, the lakes are difficult to get to without a car. If you have ever driven in a foreign country you will probably find these countries to have easy driving. The Italians of course are a bit crazy on the road, but you won't be in Italy too long.
Are you sure that you can find a car rental company that will allow you to do what you want to do? If not, you could do what we did and rent a car in each country. We actually tried to change plans mid-stream and rent a car in Zagreb to drive down to Dubrovnik but they were all sold out.
If you want any more tips from our trip I would be happy to talk with you.
Cheers
Driving to Split is easy. You head south on the road that runs past the park (E-71) and connect with the new A-1 motorway at Gornja Ploca. I believe there's a short stretch where you take a road to the right off E-71 to reach the motorway. The route will be easy to spot on any decent map.
Thanks everyone for your replies! We've decided to rent a car in Venice with Hertz (expensive, but they have the proper paperwork for leaving Italy into Slovenia/Croatia).
We will take the overnight car ferry back to Ancora from Split.
