Motorways in Croatia

If you’re exploring Croatia with a hire car – or perhaps with your own car, if you’ve driven to the country – you will likely be using the motorway network to travel around the country. (Or the highway network for our American friends!) This section will take a look at motorways in Croatia, where in Croatia you travel around using them, how to use the toll system and more.

In 2023, the World Economic Forum placed Croatia 12th (out of 141 countries) for best road infrastructure in the world.

Motorways in Croatia

Motorways in Croatia

Motorways – or highways (or autoceste in Croatian) – in Croatia were largely constructed in the 2000s, after Croatia’s independence in the 1990s and the homeland war that ended in 1995. There were, however, small parts of motorway already in existence in the country, with small sections constructed in the 1950s, and in the 1970s and 1980s.

One such section is part of today’s A3. This used to be the “Brotherhood and Unity Highway”, a road (not a motorway) that stretched from Austria all the way down to Greece and connected Ljubljana in Slovenia with Zagreb, Belgrade in Serbia and Skopje in North Macedonia – four of the capital cities of the republics that made up Yugoslavia.

Today, in Croatia, there are eleven motorways, and all are designated as ‘A’ roads on the overall road network.

You may also find some of the motorways labelled on maps with an ‘E’ designation. This means they are part of a European route, which is a long stretch of motorway that travels through several countries. (For example, Croatia’s A1 motorway is part of the E65 European route that starts near Malmo in Sweden and ends in Chania in Greece. That’s a long route!)

The eleven motorways are:

The longest motorway is the A1 route, stretching as it does from Croatia’s capital all the way to Ploce in southern Dalmatia over a distance of 476km. There are plans to extend the motorway, as would be logical, to Dubrovnik. Construction on this final part should start in 2026 and may be completed by 2029.

However, one positive is the Peljesac Bridge, which opened in July 2022. Although not officially a motorway (as it is a single-lane road in both directions), the Peljesac Bridge allows drivers to bypass the section of Bosnia (the ‘Neum corridor’) that they previously had to drive through, completely avoiding the need to go through any passport controls. You no longer need to go through Bosnia! The Peljesac Bridge will be part of the A1 extension down to Dubrovnik when that is complete.

Motorways in Croatia - A6 motorway
Part of the A6 motorway that passes through the Gorski Kotar region of Croatia

Tolls on Motorways in Croatia

NOTE: In early 2027, the motorway toll system in Croatia will undergo a major overhaul. There will no longer be machines on entry and pay booths on exit, with electronic number plate recognition in operation instead. You will be able to pay for motorway usage via an app or at certain retail points. The new system is named Crolibertas, and you can find out more details about it on its website. We will update this section closer to this new system going live!

Croatia’s motorways currently operate on a toll system. Upon entering the motorway, you obtain a ticket from the machine. When exiting the motorway, you present the ticket to an attendant in the booths and your toll cost is calculated depending on the distance you have driven. There are different categories of prices depending on your type of vehicle – motorcycle, car, a car with a trailer, bus, lorry and so on.

Some example toll costs are shown below – these are prices for a standard car (prices as of January 2026):

  • Zagreb to Rijeka: €10.10
  • Zagreb to Zadar: €17.60/€18.20 (depending on the exit)
  • Zagreb to Sibenik: €22.10
  • Zagreb to Split: €26.40
  • Zadar to Split: €8.10
  • Zagreb to Ploce: €33.80
  • Split to Ploce: €7.40
  • Zagreb to Osijek: €17.70
  • Zagreb to Lipovac (Serbian border): €18.60
  • Zagreb to Varazdin: €4.10
  • Zagreb to Gorican (Hungarian border): €6.40
  • Opatija to Kanafar (near Rovinj): €8.60
  • Umag to Pula: €6.30
  • Opatija to Pula: €10.40

Tolls can be paid in cash or by card.

You can look up prices of tolls on the Hrvatske Autoceste and Bina Istra websites.

Croatian Motorway toll
A toll on the Croatian motorway

Alternatives to Croatian Motorways

If you don’t wish to drive on Croatia’s motorways for whatever reason (perhaps to avoid toll costs), then you can, of course, make your way on Croatia’s non-motorway roads. You’ll find suitable routes throughout the country, although your journey time will of course be slower due to lower speeds. In particular, if you’re travelling up or down Croatia’s coast, you may well prefer to take the Jadranska magistrala (also known as the Adriatic Highway, or the D8 road in Croatia) coastal road. The Jadranska magistrala does indeed hug the coast (there are stunning views!) instead of the A1 motorwa,y which is slightly inland.

There are no car ferry options for travelling along Croatia’s coastline. The famous Rijeka – Dubrovnik car ferry no longer operates.

Rest Stops

Because almost all of Croatia’s motorway network is relatively new, the rest stops along the motorways also tend to be quite modern and new and therefore pleasant to stop at. At each rest area, you’ll likely find a small shop selling the usual snacks and drinks, magazines, car accessories and so on whilst some stops may also have a cafe, bakery or restaurant with a little outdoor seating area. Some may even have a small kids’ playground!

You can use the map on the Croatian Autoclub website to search for petrol stations on motorways – the pop up windows then also show rest stop facilities.

More info

You can find plenty of information on motorways in Croatia on the Hrvatske Autoceste website. Autocesta Zagreb – Macelj provides info about that one motorway, whilst Bina Istra runs the two motorways in Istria.

The Via Michelin website is also a very valuable resource for trip planning (on motorways or not!). As well as suggesting different routes (if you’d prefer non-motorway alternatives), the website estimates costs – toll plus fuel costs – for your drive.

Learn more about driving Croatia’s roads in our Driving in Croatia guide!