What to travel to Croatia? We x -ray trains, planes, coaches and cars

Family by car, instantly by plane or maybe by bus, and soon also by train? There are more and more ways to get from Poland to the Croatian coast. We checked how much you have to pay for the trip to Croatia with individual means of transport, and also, which is associated with the choice of each of them.

In 2024, again over 1 million Poles went on vacation to Croatia. We came primarily to Dalmatia and Istria, a holiday rest over the Adriatic, organizing most often on our own.

Although until recently, Poles usually chose a long -hour car journey, an extensive air connection network is becoming more and more. For several years, the Adriatician can be reached by a cruise bus, often directly and from the next vacation Poland with Rijeka will connect a direct train.

In our analysis, we focused on the costs of traveling from four Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Krakow) to three popular Croatian resorts: Zadar, Dubrovnik AZ attention to a railway connection, also Rijeki.

We took into account two scenarios. In the first to Croatia, two adults travel. In the second, two adults with two children between the second and fourteenth year.

We assumed that our tourists in Croatia would stay from seven to ten days. In the case of air and bus travel, we took into account the cheapest combination of flights and connections available on the pages of carriers on May 21, 2025. We assumed that the trip should take place in June.

In the case of traveling over the Adriatic car from Warsaw, Wrocław and Gdańsk, we took into account two (among many) possible routes: through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia, and a route running through the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. For travelers from the nearest Dalmatia of Krakow, we also checked the route only through Slovakia and Hungary.

We will no longer dwell over the car travel at the moment. We described detailed conclusions and calculations regarding a car travel to Croatia as much as possible in the article “Car to Croatia cheaper than a year ago. How much will we pay for highways and fuel?”

If not by car and plane, what?

The car and plane are the most popular means of transport on the way from Poland to Croatia. Soon, at the beginning of the holiday, the Rijeki country, located in the northwest, will be available by train EC Sobieski, which until now ran on the Gdynia-Vienna route.

Trains from Warsaw will go to the Adriatic on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 13:44. They will appear on the spot the next day at 10:03. You will be able to return to Poland by train on Mondays, funds, Fridays and Sundays. The return road will also take 20 hours. Along the way, they will stop, among others in Katowice, Vienna and Slovenian Lublana.

There will be two wagons with compartments and a crisp. Tickets are to cost from 193 PLN. The exact rates will be known only in June, when ticket sales start. The first train to Croatia will leave the Warsaw Wschodnia station on June 27.

For several years, you can also go to the Adriatician by bus. Flixbus supports connections. However, it is not possible to get to Croatia from every Polish city and everywhere without a change. This situation applies to, among others connections from Gdańsk.

However, by bus – with or without a change – we will reach not only to Rijeka, but also Dubrovnik and Zadar, as well as a pool, trogir and to the island of KRK.

Travel to Croatia – cost comparison

So how does a car journey fall from flights and bus travel? According to the Bankier.pl simulation, traveling by plane will be very competitive to driving a car if two adults are chosen by the Adriatic. If we consider only the cheapest combination of flights, a couple traveling from Wrocław to Zadar will pay up to 70 percent. (nominally by PLN 500) less than when traveling by car.

The choice of aircraft will also come out much cheaper than the bus. Differences in the case of road to Zadar range from 42 percent. (approx. PLN 550) In the case of people going from Warsaw to even 68 percent (approx. PLN 780) in the case of traveling from Wrocław.

In the case of families with children or a larger group of friends traveling together in one car, this means of transport becomes much more economical.

In the case of travelers from Warsaw to Zadar, a car journey will be 17 percent. (approx. PLN 260) cheaper than when you reach the Adriatic Airplane.

Flying from other analyzed cities, taking into account only the cheapest available connections, they will pay from 26 percent for traveling by plane. (Krakow) to 39 percent (Wrocław) Less than if they went on a car.

The ticket is not everything, and time is money

Driving a car, on the one hand we will be on the spot faster. The flight in the analyzed directions lasts from 1.5 to 2 hours. In turn, traveling by car lasts from about 12-13 hours on the Krakow-Zadar route to even 19 hours, going from Gdańsk to Dubrovnik and taking into account only the ride itself, and assuming that nothing unexpected will happen along the way.

Long, in the case of connections that require transfers – even over 30 hours, you need to book for a journey by going to Croatia by coach.

Until the flight, however, you have to add access to the airport and the time needed for check -in before the flight, but also the passage from the airport to the place of accommodation.

The choice of aircraft, however, will allow you to be more rested and not lose time for regeneration after travel, especially in the case of the driver. On the other hand, when driving a car, we choose the time of starting travel, in the case of planes we are doomed to flight schedule. And these often take place at not very favorable times.

For example, one of the planes from Warsaw to Zadar arrives at 23:00. Some flights, in turn, start in the early morning, which means that at the airport you have to appear even before 6:00.

However, you can not fly everywhere by plane. From the airport Lech Wałęsa in Gdańsk we will not fly to Dubrovnik and Rijeka. In turn, we will not get to Rijeka directly from Warsaw, Krakow and Gdańsk.

Equally important, choosing a car will allow you to choose the date of travel easier. If you want to fly to Croatia as cheapest, we will be forced to juggle a calendar and adapt your vacation date to the connection network and applicable rates.

In addition, the prices we provide apply to travelers with small hand luggage. The cost of larger hand luggage is an additional PLN 120 – 150 one way. In the case of traveling buses, the price included 7 kg-kilo hand luggage and 20-kilo main luggage. For additional luggage (20 kg) you need to pay PLN 11, the larger-the 30-kilo suitcase was valued at PLN 17.

The choice of car travel, although often, especially in the case of two traveling people, is the most expensive option, but it will allow accommodation in smaller and therefore often cheaper towns. It will also save funds that in other cases would have to be allocated to rent a car on site. Traveling by your own car will also allow you to stop and visit the towns passed along the way.

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