Ferries

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Coastal Croatia has no useful rail line, so getting between Dubrovnik, Split and the islands means a bus or a ferry. FlixBus and Arriva run Dubrovnik-Split for around €21-23 in about 3h50, roughly 15 times a day; the Jadrolinija or Krilo catamaran covers the same route for around €50 in 4.5-6 hours. Split-Hvar runs around €25 by fast catamaran, 50 minutes to 1.5 hours. The Pelješac Bridge, open since July 2022, lets road traffic skip the old Neum/Bosnia detour entirely. Croatia Getting Around: Why There’s No Train to Book Here’s the thing that trips up almost everyone planning a Dubrovnik-Split-Hvar trip: you pull up a map, see two major cities 230 km apart, and go looking for the train. There isn’t one. Croatia’s rail network is real, but it’s a Zagreb-centric inland system — it never reaches the Dalmatian coast south of Split, and it definitely doesn’t touch Dubrovnik. If you’ve booked coastal Croatia the way you’d book Spain or Italy, expecting a high-speed rail option to just show up in the search results, you’re going to be scrolling for a while. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Greek island ferries to the Cyclades leave Athens from two ports — Piraeus (the main hub, most routes) and Rafina (smaller, closer to the airport, strong on SeaJets’ Andros-Tinos-Mykonos network). Athens to Mykonos runs around 2h40min by high-speed catamaran from around €53-58, or around 5h50min on a conventional ferry from around €44. Athens to Santorini runs around 4h50min-6h10min fast from around €90, or around 7h45min-9h10min conventional from around €46-50. Book 2-3 months ahead for July-August sailings, since cabins and fast-ferry seats sell out first. Greece Ferries: The One Piece of Planning That Actually Matters Here’s the thing nobody tells you before your first Greek island trip: the flight into Athens is the easy part. The ferry is where the real decisions live, and get it wrong and you’ll either overpay for a boat you didn’t need or spend a July afternoon watching your “fast” catamaran get cancelled for wind while everyone around you shrugs like it’s Tuesday. It is Tuesday, and it happens more than the brochures let on. ...