If you’re looking into getting to Cres, you’ll find that the nearest airport to the island is Rijeka Airport – which is actually on the island of Krk!
See our Getting to the Kvarner Riviera page for full details of flights to Rijeka Airport from the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Pula Airport is the second closest airport to Cres – see out Getting to Istria page for flights to this city.
Getting to Cres from Rijeka Airport
It is actually possible to travel direct to Cres from Krk Island (where Rijeka Airport is located). However, if you’re flying into Rijeka Airport, it may sometimes be a bit complicated to travel direct to Cres if you’re relying on public transport. The airport on Krk is towards the north of the island, near the town of Omisalj.
If you reach the town of Omisalj, there are a few direct buses a day to Cres. Alternatively, you could travel from Omisalj to the town of Valbiska on the southern tip of Krk. (All bus timetables can be found on the Arriva website.)
From Valbiska, there is a local Jadrolinija ferry route to Merag on the island of Cres. There are many ferries per day running on this route, and journey time is 25 minutes.
Getting to Cres from Rijeka
There is a daily catamaran service that runs from Rijeka to Cres Town on Cres, run by Kapetan Luka. Journey time on this route is 1 hour 20 minutes, and the catamaran travels on to Mali Losinj. In the summer months, it also makes a stop at Martinscica (further south on Cres) on some days.
Other ferries to Cres
There are also very frequent daily ferries from Brestova on the mainland. Brestova is about 26 miles/42km west from Rijeka – in fact, very near to the town of Rabac. The journey time of these ferries is only 20 minutes, and this route is also operated by Jadrolinija.
Getting to Cres from elsewhere in Croatia
There are several buses per day from Rijeka to Cres, run by Rijeka-based bus company Arriva. This route sometimes stops (depending on which bus it is) at Opatija, Omisalj, Malinska, Valbiska and Merag along the way, with all buses going on to Osor and Mali and Veli Losinj on the island of Losinj.
There are also daily buses from Zagreb to Cres Town, with a journey time of 4 and a half hours. Once again, see the Arriva website for timetables.
If travelling from elsewhere in Croatia, we would recommend travelling to Rijeka first and then travelling on to Cres by either bus or boat.