New flights to Croatia in 2017

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We’re pleased to say that there have been many, many direct flights from the UK and Ireland to Croatia for years…but that doesn’t stop new routes being announced all the time! Here we check out new flights to Croatia in 2017 to make planning your trip that little bit easier.

New flights to Croatia in 2017

New Easyjet flights to Zadar, Dubrovnik and Pula

Despite already having a very strong presence in the country, Easyjet announced a handful of new routes to Croatia for 2017. For the first time, they will fly to Zadar – flights from London Luton will start on 27th May (to 30th September) and operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

They’ve flown to Dubrovnik for a number of years, but this year they will also operate flights from Manchester and Belfast Airports. From Manchester, they will fly twice weekly (Wednesdays and Saturdays) from 22nd July, whilst from Belfast it’s also twice-weekly (Tuesdays and Sundays) from 14th May.

Bristol Airport – already connected to Dubrovnik and Split – will now also see flights to Pula with Easyjet this year. This route will start on 27th May (to 30th September) and only operate once a week, on Saturdays.

Unfortunately, Easyjet have dropped their Newcastle – Split route

New Ryanair flights from Bristol and Glasgow to Zadar

Zadar is very firmly Ryanair‘s base in Croatia and to their long-established routes from London Stansted, Manchester and Dublin, they will also start flying from Bristol and Glasgow. Bristol – Zadar has already started for the season (to 28th October 2017), flying on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Glasgow – Zadar will also fly twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) but only in peak season – this route starts on 3rd July to 28th August.

Ryanair have dropped their London Stansted to Osijek route in 2017, meaning Osijek is no longer connected to the UK.

Jet2.com new flights from London Stansted to Pula, Split and Dubrovnik

London is of course very well connected to almost all of Croatia’s airports, but a few more flights just adds to the choice available to travellers! Jet2.com will fly from London Stansted to Pula from 24th April (Sunday initially; Wednesdays and Sundays from 1st May); to Split from 26th June (Sunday initially; Wednesdays and Sundays from 3rd July); and to Dubrovnik from 24th April (initially Saturdays only; Tuesdays and Saturdays from 1st May; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 22nd May).

Jet2.com will also start flying from East Midlands Airport to Split from 24th April to 1st October 2017 (once a week, on Sundays) and from Glasgow to Dubrovnik from 24th April to 22nd October 2017 (on Sundays).

New Monarch flights to Zagreb

Croatia’s coastal airports see new routes introduced all the time…so it’s very pleasing to see that capital city Zagreb will also get some new connections this year! From the 28th April, Monarch will fly thrice-weekly from London Gatwick (on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and twice weekly from Manchester (on Mondays and Saturdays) to Zagreb. The latter route is certainly very welcome as it is the first non-London connection to Zagreb for quite some time. It was also recently announced that these routes will operate year-round – very pleasing to hear.

British Airways to fly to Pula in 2017

There aren’t many flights from London Heathrow to Croatia, but British Airways is seemingly doing its best to change that! Already flying to both Zagreb and Split from that airport, they will also fly from London Heathrow to Pula in 2017 – twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays) from 1st July to 30th September.

Aer Lingus introduce a Dublin to Split route

Already operating flights to Pula and Dubrovnik, Aer Lingus will now fly from Dublin to the central Dalmatian city of Split in 2017. From 27th May to 28th October, they will fly twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Other flight news

Norwegian appear to have dropped their Gatwick – Pula route for 2017, although will still fly to Split and Dubrovnik.

Thomson have dropped their Newcastle – Dubrovnik route.

Croatia Airlines have sold some of their London Heathrow slots; however, they are currently leasing some of these slots back so for the time being, continue to fly to Zagreb eight times a week.

Happy flying!

Istria

Visiting Croatia in September

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Although the summer holiday crowds have gone home, many travellers come to Croatia to visit this month. That’s no surprise – there’s a lot to be said for visiting the country in late summer/early Autumn. But what’s it like visiting Croatia in September?

Rovinj
Rovinj

Getting to Croatia in September

Travellers shouldn’t have any problems in reaching Croatia in September – most airlines that operate flights from the UK and the rest of Europe continue their summer schedules well into September, if not into October too. (Some even to early November!) Take a look at our Flights to Croatia from the UK & Ireland to see the full operating dates of all routes from these two countries to Croatia.

Getting around Croatia in September

Likewise, most transport options – with buses and ferries being those that travellers will most likely use when visiting Croatia – still continue with high season or special ‘summer’ schedules in this month too. For example, Jadrolinija – the largest ferry operator in Croatia – continues its high season schedule until the end of September. Kapetan Luka – operator of the very popular catamaran service that travels from Split to Brac, Hvar, Korcula, Mljet and Dubrovnik (and return too, of course!) still continues to operate this service daily in September. (Note: it changes to being a three-times a week service in October.)

Some seasonal bus routes may have stopped operating at the end of August, although most of these of are of the kind that take (domestic) holidaymakers from inland Croatia to the coast. Check out our Bus Travel in Croatia section for help in planning bus routes.

Visiting Croatia in September - Plitvice Lakes

Accommodation in Croatia in September

Not to sound like a broken record…but since absolute peak season is now over, accommodation should be slightly cheaper in Croatia in September. But seeing as it’s still a busy month, it’s not the time for bargains! Check out our Accommodation in Croatia section if you need some help with planning and booking where to stay.

Weather in September in Croatia

This is a big one – what’s the weather like during the ninth month of the year? Well, traditionally, summer temperatures and conditions normally do stretch out well into September if not beyond. This is one reason that many choose September as the month to visit Croatia – especially as the summer holidaymakers have gone. Sea temperatures will also be warm, given waters have been heating up for a number of months!

Southern and Central Europe was undergoing something of a heatwave in early September, with temperatures reaching into the 30s Celsius. However, mid-20s C is a more normal temperature for this time of year – and it looks like this sort of weather has returned to Croatia and will stay.

The Croatian Meteorological Service website is a great website to check out weather forecasts (although I’m sure you already have your own favourite weather website or app!) – but do be sure to take a look at their current sea temperatures page.

What’s on in Croatia in September

Plenty!

Korcula is the location of the 4th Korkyra Baroque Festival, 5th to 12th September.

The 20th Split Film Festival – an international festival of new film – will be taking place in Croatia’s second city from the 12th to 19th September.

The 9th Giostra Festival will take place in Porec, 9th to 11th September 2015. Over the three days of the event, around 250 participants celebrate costumes, culture and events from the 18th century.

If you’re in Istria towards the end of the month, look out for the Parenzana Bike Race (25th – 27th September), a World Cycling Federation event. Or if you’re feeling active, join in on the recreational ‘race’ on the Sunday!

The Food Film Festival will be held in Zagreb from 11th to 20th September, combining two wonderful items – food and film! Films with a gastronomic focus will be shown. Also in Zagreb is the 48th International Puppet Festival (14th – 19th September) and music and food event RujanFest (literally, ‘SeptemberFest’) from 11th to 20th of the month.

Nightlife and festivals in September in Croatia

Outlook Festival, held in Fort Punta Christo near Pula from the 2nd to 6th September concludes the festival season for Croatia for the year…so if you planned to attend one of these gatherings, you’ve kind of missed the boat!

Most of the island clubs (such as in Novalja) also normally close for the season at the end of August. But if clubbing’s your kind of thing, we’d advise sticking to one of the larger cities or towns in the country – such as Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik.

Enjoy your September visit to Croatia!

Venice to Split

Getting from Venice to Split

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One of the questions we get asked a fair amount these days concerns ferries from Venice to Split, or vice versa. We assume that many travellers’ ‘end point’ for travels in Italy is Venice, and they then want to make the leap to Croatia…by going directly to Split!

We can categorically say that there are no ferries from Venice and Split. Ferries used to operate in the past, but nothing resembling this route has operated since 2005. Back then a company sailed from Chioggia (close to Venice) to Split – a journey that took 12 hours. So if you were hoping that you could travel between the two places by ferry, with a quick 3-4 journey time…you’re out of luck! (Also, look at a map! The two cities aren’t that close!)

Venice to Split
The Grand Canal in Venice

So if you are looking to travel from Venice to Split, what are your options?

Flights from Venice to Split

By far the quickest way is flying…of course. Volotea operate early morning flights twice a week (Monday and Thursdays until 1st October 2015), with a flight time of just one hour. You can take advantage of some pretty cheap flight deals if you book early enough.

In case this helps some of you (depending on your other travel plans in Croatia), there are also flights from Venice to Dubrovnik in summer. Croatia Airlines fly on Thursdays and Sundays (flights operate in the early evening), with a flight time of 1 hour 20 minutes.

Travel down the Italian side of the Adriatic

The alternative would be to travel down one side of the Adriatic to get to Split. We normally suggest doing so on the Italian side, as you can travel by train from Venice to Ancona and then get one of the overnight ferries from there to Split. Check out train timetables – and ticket booking – on the Trenitalia website; train journey time is around 4 hours, including a change in Bologna, or there are also a couple of direct trains a day between Venice and Ancona that take 3 hours 30 minutes. (So, not much difference!)

There are several companies that run ferry services between Ancona and Split, and the journey time is 10/11 hours. See more details on our Travelling from Ancona to Croatia page.

In peak season (July/August), some of the ferries stop off at Stari Grad on Hvar en route to Split.

Travel down the Croatian side of the Adriatic

There are no direct public transport options from Venice to Split, so the best way is to take a train from Venice to Trieste (journey time approximately 2 hours; many trains per day – again, see timetables at Trenitalia) and then a bus from here to Split.

There’s a daily bus that departs at Trieste at 1.45pm and arrives in Split at 10.30pm. Some days, there’s also an overnight bus that gets into Split just before 4am. Both of these buses are operated by Autotrans – you can look up full details on their website, which also offers online ticket booking.

Driving from Venice to Split

You can of course rent a car in Venice and drive all the way to Split. However, we’d recommend against trying to do this as a one-way rental – one-way car hire across a border in Europe is ridiculously expensive!

If you do fancy driving most of the way, we would recommend taking a bus (or possibly catamaran) into Croatia and then picking up your hire car here. One-way car hire within Croatia is certainly possible and not all that more expensive (if at all).

Take a look at our Travelling from Venice to Croatia page for details of buses. We’d suggest taking a bus to Pula to pick up a car as that’s the nearest large town; however, you can also find car hire offices in Porec and Rovinj.

If you do end up driving from Venice to Split (perhaps you’re returning to Italy after Croatia), the distance is about 650km. Factoring in what may be a busy border crossing (Slovenia – Croatia) in summer we wouldn’t recommend you attempt the journey in one day!

Note: Don’t forget that a vignette is need to drive on motorways in Slovenia.

Pula to Split is around a 5-6 hour drive if you take the inland motorway route; if you drive the scenic coastal route, the journey will be longer.

Trains from Venice to Split

Errr…don’t bother! There are most definitely no direct trains between the two cities; if you did attempt the journey, you’d find yourself having to travel via Zagreb (which, geographically, is quite a detour). There’s also not even any direct trains from Venice to Zagreb, adding to the pointlessness of this option.

Other options for getting from Venice to Croatia

Don’t forget that catamarans from Venice do operate to locations in Istria – Pula, Rovinj and Porec. There are also several bus options from Venice to places in Istria too.

Take a look at our Travelling from Venice to Croatia page for full details of these.

Flights to Croatia

New flights to Croatia for 2015!

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Happy New Year to all! The start of a new year – and a bout of the winter blues – normally always means the start of summer holiday planning. So what better time to look more closely at new flights to Croatia for 2015?

One of the most updated sections of the Visit Croatia site is our Flights to Croatia from the UK and Ireland page, which we regularly add to all the time as new routes and schedules get announced. We’ve had the page detailing 2015 flights up since around mid-summer 2014 (as flights always seem to get announced super-early!), but let’s finally put together all the information to see what’s new for 2015.

Flights to Croatia

New flights to Croatia for 2015

Although there are now many, many flights to Croatia in summer, there’s plenty of new routes that have been announced for 2015! Even London, which already has flights to every (major) airport in Croatia, gets a few new routes.

For starters, British Airways have introduced a new London Heathrow – Split route. They will be flying twice a week from 3rd May to 20th September.

Easyjet are to introduce no fewer than four new routes to Split for 2015 – from London Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Belfast airports. These routes will all start in June, operating through until late September/early October. They also have another new route for 2015 – London Gatwick to Pula.

Jet2.com have introduced two new routes – East Midlands to Pula and Edinburgh to Split, with each being operated on Sundays. As with all their flights to Croatia, these will fly from mid-May to the end of September.

Thomsonfly  have introduced new routes to Dubrovnik from Bristol, Newcastle and Glasgow, plus a new route from Manchester to Split. All the Dubrovnik routes will fly on Thursdays, and will operate from 7th May to 22nd October. Manchester to Split will fly on Fridays from 1st May to 16th October.

The airline are also expected to start a service from Bristol to Pula, although we are currently awaiting further details of this.

Cancelled routes for 2015

Unfortunately, there are a few routes that have been scrapped for this year. Easyjet no longer fly to Zagreb, although luckily this airport is still served daily from London by both British Airways and Croatia Airlines.

Monarch no longer fly from Birmingham to Split, or from Manchester to Dubrovnik.

Flybe no longer operate their route from Birmingham to Dubrovnik, and now no longer have any flights to Croatia.

Changes in flight schedules

Easyjet‘s flights from London Gatwick to Split start at the same time of year (end of April), although daily services start a little later, in mid-May. However, their daily services to Dubrovnik from the same airport start earlier this year, also in mid-May.

They’ve upped flights to Bristol so there will be at least two flights a week throughout the season – although there’s three flights a week, as last year, during peak season (mid-June to mid-September).

Outside of August, Ryanair will fly to Pula twice a week (they flew three times in June and September 2014) and their five flights a week to Zadar will only operate in August.

Thomsonfly have upped the frequency of all existing flights to Dubrovnik (from London Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester) to twice a week.

Jet2.com have also upped the frequency of flights from Manchester to Pula to twice a week.

As you can see, there’s plenty of ways of getting to Croatia from the UK and Ireland this year. Do take a look at our Flights to Croatia from the UK and Ireland section for full details of all flights to the country, including by destination and departure airport.

We hope you enjoy your flight to Croatia in 2015!

History of Pula

Travel question: Travelling from Ljubljana to Pula

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Hi there, not sure if you’re able to help us at all but my friend and I are coming to Croatia this August for a festival in Pula. We are landing from London in Ljubljana, Slovenia at 19:00 on 27/08/13 and need to get to Pula to our apartment. We want to know if there is a relatively cheap/safe way of us travelling this distance at this time. The apartment owners are aware that we need a late check in but we want to arrive there at a reasonable time. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated. O. H-S

Ljubljana to Pula
The Arena in Pula

Unfortunately, I have to say that you will find it difficult to travel from Ljubljana to Pula at that time of the day (well, evening). There is a direct daily bus from Ljubljana to Pula at that time of year, but it runs at 9.30am. (See the timetable on the FILS website – scroll down for the seasonal, summer line.) I believe a one-way ticket should be about 200 Kunas, or the equivalent in Euros.

The alternatives I would suggest also don’t really work at that time of the day. I would have suggested getting a train from Ljubljana to Rijeka, but the two a day are at 6.35am and 3.10pm. (From Rijeka to Pula there are several buses per day.)

Another possibility would be to take a train to Zagreb (if you did this, it would be best to take a taxi from Ljubljana Airport to Kranj, which is about 15 minutes away, rather than travel to downtown Ljubljana, about 30-45 mins away), and then a bus to Pula.. There are several trains per day from Kranj (or Ljubljana) to Zagreb but again, these all run before your 7pm arrival time.

(If you wanted to look up train timetables, the Die Bahn website is the best place to do this.)

These above options are all relatively cheap and safe (travelling in Croatia/Slovenia is very safe, just use your common sense with personal possessions, of course!) but, obviously, the most important issue is that they don’t get you to Pula the same day! Aside from renting a car (which isn’t an especially cheap option, and not everyone wants to drive) I’m afraid the best thing I would suggest would be to stay in Ljubljana one night and then get the bus direct to Pula the next morning. I’m assuming you’re attending Outlook so the bus will still get you there in time for the opening concert on the 28th. (Not sure if you’ll be able to amend your booking in Pula by a day.)

New air route for 2012 – Newcastle to Dubrovnik!

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British low-cost airline Jet2.com announced a few days ago that they are to add a second brand new air route to Croatia for 2012! Following the news that they are to commence flying from Manchester to Pula next year, the airline is also to establish a route flying from Newcastle to Dubrovnik – the very first route to Croatia from this northeastern English city. (Welcome to Croatia, oh people of Newcastle!)

The Newcastle-Dubrovnik route will operate once a week, on Saturdays, from 4th June to 7th October 2012. This brings the total number of the Jet2.com routes to Croatia to seven – they operate flights from Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast to Dubrovnik, and also from Manchester to both Pula and Split. All their flights operate once a week, bar the Manchester to Dubrovnik route which flies twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.

Newcastle to Dubrovnik flights are available from £41.99 one-way including taxes, and holidays from Newcastle to Dubrovnik are available from £399 with Jet2holidays.

The great news for people travelling from the UK is that there are now numerous flights to the country from a variety of airlines, many of which have already announced their schedules for summer 2012. Take a look at our Getting There By Air 2012 page for full details!

Split Airport

2011 to be a busy year for Split Airport

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Following my previous posts this month on how 2011 looks to be a promising year for Zadar Airport and on Split looking forward to a great season, here’s a post that combines those two – looking at how Split Airport is also looking to have a good year!

Split Airport
Landing at Split Airport

Today’s Slobodna Dalmacija reports that this year, the city will be connected by air to 75 cities in 21 different European countries, with routes established to 10 more cities this year than in 2010. 11 low-cost airlines will be operating flights to Split this year, whilst there will be 50 regular or charter airlines also flying to the city. New figures show that there should be a total of 11,500 take-offs and landings at the airport, which would mean a total capacity of 1.48 million seats on all of those flights. These numbers have been established from currently confirmed routes, although during April, an additional 10 companies may also confirm operation of seasonal flights.

The largest growth in new airline companies operating routes comes from Russia (and the Ukraine), with there to be as many as ten airlines operating flights to Split. For the third year running, Aeroflot has flights from Moscow to Split – the only route from Moscow to the Adriatic. (The airline recently pulled out of a planned new air route to Dubrovnik this year.)

Scandinavian cities will also have great links to Split, with there to be 20 cities with air routes to Split this year. Croatia’s national airline, Croatia Airlines, will also have routes from 17 European cities to Split.

Amongst the new routes that are to be introduced this year include Adria Airways‘s flights from Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana and Condor‘s flights from Frankfurt. The article also mentions a Spanair route from Barcelona and a Finnair route from Helsinki, plus a service from Ancona in Italy (just a short hop over the Adriatic!) by Italian airline Belleair – though I must admit, I had trouble finding any additional info on these routes! Nevertheless, these may be something to keep an eye, as airlines do sometimes announce new routes relatively late – and are in the process of announcing their Summer 2011 timetable.

More info on flights to Split from the UK and Europe: Getting to Split

Source: Slobodna Dalmacija

Zadar Airport

2011 already looks to be a successful year for Zadar Airport

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Today’s Slobodna Dalmacija reports that records are already falling for Zadar Airport. Next month, 183 flights are expected at the airport, up from 124 for the same month in 2010. This is a significant jump, and relatively remarkable considering that April is still some months off high season.

Zadar Airport
Zadar Airport

A large part of this increase flights is down to Ryanair. This April, they will operate 83 flights, compared to last April’s 39. Although they operate routes from “only” seven European destinations, they are to increase the frequency of some of these routes this year – such as upping their flights between London Stansted and Zadar to five times a week from last year’s three. (This route begins operating on 27th March 2011.)

Croatia Airlines will also return to operating international flights from Zadar, with two flights per week to both Zurich and Munich, flying from May to September.

The director of Zadar Airport, Katica Pupic Bakrac, suggests that traffic through the airport may be up by between 20 to 28% on last year. In 2010, 275,000 passengers passed through the airport.

See our guides to Flying to Croatia from the UK and Getting to Zadar (which lists flights from European cities) for travel planning information.

Source: Slobodna Dalmacija

Croatia Airlines Airbus 319

Zagreb Airport looks forward to 2011; could a direct route to New York be on the cards?

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This morning’s Vjesnik has a report on the progress of Zagreb Airport during 2010, and its plans for the coming year. Airport director Tonci Peovic states that by the year end, 10,000 more passengers will have passed through the airport than 2009, which adds up to a total of 2.07 million passengers for the entire year. However, this increase was about 40,000 less than expected, mainly due to a number of airlines cancelling their flights during the ash cloud crisis in Europe in April this year.

Mr Peovic expects that passenger numbers will rise by 5% during 2011, and is proud of the fact that the airport has agreed routes with three new airlines – Spanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Easyjet, the latter of which has or will start three new routes. (Easyjet commenced flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle in November, and will start services to London Gatwick and Dortmund in February 2011.) National carrierCroatia Airlines has also added new routes from Zagreb, to Hanover and Athens, during 2010.

Perhaps the bit of news of most interest to our North American readers is that Mr Peovic says negotiations for establishing a direct route between Zagreb and New York (perhaps solely during the summer months) has nearly reached a conclusion. This would surely make reaching Croatian destinations far easier for those travelling from the U.S.!

Source: Vjesnik

Low cost airlines help Zadar Airport grow

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Yesterday’s Slobodna Dalmacija featured an interesting article on passenger numbers at Zadar Airport, with 2010’s seasonal flight timetable coming to an end this past weekend.

This article reveals that this year, 270,000 passengers passed through the airport, which adds up to a very healthy 28% increase on 2009 – and a massive jump from 2006, when only 65,000 passengers travelled through.

64% of travellers arriving at the airport flew with Ryanair, which has links from eleven European cities in England, Scotland, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Italy and Norway to Zadar. Germanwings flights from four cities accounted for 17% of passenger traffic at the airport.

In total, 80% of passengers at Zadar Airport arrive with low-cost airlines, which has helped the airport considerably over the years; only six years ago, the airport was threatened with the possibility of closure due to low usage. Benefits to the area are easy to imagine – and, in fact, a study was conducted last year that showed how 80,000 tourists arriving with Ryanair and Germanwings  earn the local economy €40 million.

Low-cost flights to Zadar Airport are due to start up again on 28th March 2011, though routes are yet to be confirmed. Lufthansa, however,  has stated that it will increase the number of flights it operates to the Dalmatian airport up to three flights per week.

Source: Slobodna Dalmacija