Getting to Istanbul and Croatia

Hi Lizz. For flight options, try web sites whichbudget.com or skyscanner.com. Enjoy your trip!

Dubrovnik's airport is small, you might have better luck flying into another Croatian city and taking the bus. There's major airports in Zagreb (but that's the furthest away), Zadar, and Split.

"I am having a hard time finding flights from Prague to Istanbul and then from Istanbul to Dubrovnik that are both cheap and short" Unfortunately, all the talk of "budget airlines are ubiquitous in Europe" has created the impression that any two cities in Europe are connected by frequent and cheap flights. As you have learned, this is not the case. Just as in the US, some routes have good connections, and some don't. And some city pairs can be connected cheaply, and others can't. I'm posting this not so much for you, as for other readers who plan a trip and lock in destinations before checking transit connections. Dubrovnik, in particular, is a popular destination that is not easy to get to from other places (small airport, no train station, limited boat service to other countries, and hours by bus from even "close" places like Split). Yes, do look at Skyscanner and Whichbudget to see your options, and remember that not all routes fly daily. You may find that you have to either allow more time for a connecting flight instead of a nonstop, or pay a lot more than you planned, or both.

When will you be there? And looking my sources I don't see too much where the problem is: Turkish (TK) flies direct between PRG and IST. Aerosvit and Aegean both have flights with one connection on the way to IST. That starts at $155 one way. For IST to DBV (Dubrovnik), Turkish and Croatia Airlines both have direct flights. Germanwings has a flight with one connection. I'm seeing flights available at $195 one way. These are for dates in October, so your prices may vary but the flights are there.

There are many low cost airline currently in Europe. I would suggest you to try this metasearch to find options - http://www.trabber.com/us/ You might also want to check train, as you can not miss for example Vienna. Ciao.