If you drive to Dubrovnik, chances are you'll be coming by the coastal road that stretches north to the Peljesac peninsula and Split and south to Montenegro. (see a road map of Dalmatia) The winding coastal road is extremely scenic (if hair-raising at times) but there is a new motorway under construction that will avoid all the hairpin turns. Although scheduled to be completed around 2008 the project has bogged down in a territorial dispute with Bosnia-Hercegovina. Currently, the road should be completed by 2028.

Driving from Split to Dubrovnik

From Split, it should take you about 3 1/2 hours to Dubrovnik, perhaps less now that the new Peljesac Bridge is open.

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Driving from Zagreb to Dubrovnik

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Driving to Zagreb is a long haul. Either you backtrack along the coast to Split where you can take the motorway (7 hours driving time) or you drive up through Bosnia-Hercegovina and enter Croatia from the east to take a highway from Osijek to Zagreb (8 hours driving time) . It's quicker and not much more expensive to take a flight from Dubrovnik to Zagreb. See flights to Dubrovnik and my driving distance chart for road distances from Dubrovnik to other Croatian cities.

Driving from Hvar to Dubrovnik

But Hvar is an island! Here's what you do: drive to Sucuraj on Hvar's southeastern tip and take the ferry to Drvenik on the mainland (see the Drvenik-Sucuraj ferry schedule). Then drive down to Dubrovnik. You can make it in about four hours.