Many, many people drive to Croatia for their vacation each year. Most commonly people drive from Italy, Slovenia, Hungary or Austria to the Croatian coast but there are an increasing number of visitors from Bosnia-Hercegovina and Montenegro who come with a car or camper. Border crossings into Croatia are generally no-fuss affairs but the queues can be long in the busy summer season.
Find out more about driving IN Croatia
The most practical route goes from Trieste (Italy) to Koper (Slovenia) and then into Istria.
Trieste-Pula 111km (See distances from Pula to other Croatian towns).
See more on travelling from Italy to Croatia.
the most direct route from Ljubljana to Zagreb goes via Bobovica
Or you can take the quickest route from Slovenia to the Croatian coast by heading toward Rijeka via the Postojna caves. Stop and visit!
Ljubljana-Zagreb 140km (See distances from Zagreb to other Croatian towns)
Ljubljana-Rijeka 124km (See distances from Rijeka to other Croatian towns)
See more on travelling from Slovenia to Croatia.
Your best route passes Graz then Maribor in Slovenia and lands in Zagreb
Vienna-Zagreb 378km (See distances from Zagreb to other Croatian towns)
You'll enter northern Croatia near Letenje and then drive to Zagreb.
Budapest-Zagreb 351km (See distances from Zagreb to other Croatian towns)
you can drive directly to Zagreb, crossing the border near Klasnice
Or you can drive from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik, passing Mostar
Sarajevo-Zagreb 418km (See distances from Zagreb to other Croatian towns)
Sarajevo-Dubrovnik 279km (See distances from Dubrovnik to other Croatian towns)
Here are some other distances from European cities to Croatia:
Amsterdam-Zagreb | 1339km |
Athens-Zagreb | 1495km |
Belgrade-Zagreb | 398km |
Bratislava-Zagreb |
431km |
Brussels-Zagreb |
1400km |
Munich-Zagreb | 549km |
Paris-Zagreb | 1393km |
Prague-Zagreb | 670km |
Venice-Zagreb | 381km |
Venice-Pula | 278km |
Don't forget to get a good regional road map to help you navigate the roads. Make sure it's up to date as Croatia's motorways are in the process of being enlarged and upgraded. (See more getting around Croatia by car). I recommend maps.com for high quality up-to-date maps of Europe. See more on maps of Croatia.
To enter Croatia by car you'll need a "green card"--proof of insurance. If you drive a rented car into Croatia make sure that your insurance contract covers travel to Croatia. Some contracts exclude Croatia and other "Balkan" countries. See more on Croatia car rental and more on auto insurance in Croatia.
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