Well, transit here aint all that different from anywhere else. And yet, of course, it’s got some quirks. Being a slightly less than diligent planner, I’ve been schooled a bit in things I probably should have known, and a few I still can’t fathom. So, to save any other subpar planners out there, here are a few tips on getting from A to B in Croatia.
First lesson/reminder has been to ask, ask, ask. I usually get a different answer from each person I ask. Actually, that’s true been true of just about everything in Croatia, but especially with the buses. In one town, I had five people point me to five completely different bus stop locations in the space of three blocks. I finally found an actual bus - at yet a different spot. That bus wasn’t on any schedule I’d seen, print or online, and no one seemed to know about it. But when I asked the driver where I should wait he said: “Sure, I take you.” I asked when, and he shrugged and said: “now.” (Me) “How much?” (Him) Shrug, “70 kuna,” shrug again, “50.” So I went. … I was the only one the bus for the next hour and a half. Seemed like a pretty straightforward thing - driver makes a little pocket cash on an unofficial run. But then he stopped and picked up a few more people who were clearly waiting. So how did they know about the bus?
Anyway, there are multiple bus companies in Croatia. And while they generally all go through the central bus station in the bigger cities, it’s, again, better to ask 10 people. For example, it turns out Split has a completely different main bus station for routes leaving the city and the “city” buses, which incidentally do go to other cities that must be, what? close? Also, even though they are completely separate companies, there’s often just one company kiosk looking like the sole official bus company at the city station - but they can only sell you tickets on their line. So where do you buy tickets for the other buses at the same station? .. just keep asking
Luggage on Croatian buses is sometimes an extra fee and sometimes not. Seems to have more to do with whether the driver feels like getting out of his seat. I thought it might be a scam so I tried to pay at the “official” ticket window and was told: no, you can only pay the driver for luggage and we (i.e, the company ticket office) have no idea whether or how much it costs. So, just like anywhere else … be nice to your driver, eh.
Renting a car is pretty straightforward and you can find good deals. Roads are pretty good and the main toll roads are about 1 kuna / kilometer. But if you’re renting watch out for the one way drop off fee. $150 in country was the going rate when I looked.
Ferries are a whole different ball game. The official company, Jadrolinija, has its own site, and the agencies or consolidators that pop up in online searches don’t have all the smaller routes (and charge more). But the site is funky. You can eventually find the posted schedule for any line, but won’t necessarily be able to buy. On our last ferry ride, the online schedule had shown no sailing the day we needed. But then I did a search to buy a ticket, and of course that day came up. I then tried to book online and got a note to call or email. Refreshingly, I actually got a personal response by emailing, and the person kept answering my questions. Turns out that you can’t book online too close to sailing. But the smaller ferries without cars are called catamarans (they are in fact catamarans, and apparently it’s bad form to call them ferries when speaking to a live person but of course they are still listed as “ferries” online) and you can have both on the same route. But the cats don’t seem to allow online booking, and some of the non-catamaran ferries only take reservations for cars, and so may show fully as fully booked even though you can still walk on.
Overnight ferries, especially too or from another country, are again a whole different world. Those you can and should book ahead if you want an actual cabin to sleep in. If you miss that, the options will be either just general space on deck, or a reserved “reclining” seat. But the recliners are already in an ever so slightly reclining position. I.e., they do not move. Also, the room with the reclining seats is (in summer) ungodly hot and the lights stay on. Not surprisingly we were almost all alone in our “reserved” reclining seats, until about 2:00 am when a few drunks wandered down and and took a seat to snore away for a few hours. No reservation needed for that I guess.
Colleen wrote about this before, but turns out that what everyone else does is to buy a general seating ticket and then head to the bar, which has couches. It’s loud (it’s a bar on a night boat after all). But people aren’t bashful about claiming an entire couch and sleeping in the midst of the shouting 14 - 24 year olds. In fact, the smart ones all rushed up to the bar to stake out their couches before we could figure out what was happening. So, lesson learned. If you can’t get a cabin, treat the overnight ferry like the day after Christmas sale at Fry’s. Get there early, shove your way to the front of the line, and when the doors open, sprint like hell for the bar, and guard a couch like a junk yard dod. Then drink yourself silly so you can sleep through the young hooligans.
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