Slovenia to Croatia

These days, there’s a good number of options available for travelling direct from the UK to Zagreb (with Croatia Airlines, British Airways or Ryanair – see our Flights to Croatia section for more details) so using Slovenia as a way of reaching Croatia is a little unnecessary. However, if you’re looking to combine these two neighbouring countries into one holiday, it is very simple to travel from Slovenia to Croatia!

Travelling from Slovenia to Croatia

Flights from the UK to Slovenia

There are also flight connections from airports elsewhere in Europe to Ljubljana.

Transferring from Ljubljana Airport to Ljubljana

Upon landing at Ljubljana Airport, it is likely that you will depart the airport by bus. You will either make your way to downtown Ljubljana (a 30 – 45 minute journey) or to Kranj (a 15-minute journey). It is, in fact, advisable to travel to Kranj – it is only 15 minutes from the airport, and you can catch trains to Croatia from here.

For timetables for buses from the airport to Kranj or Ljubljana, see the Ljubljana Airport Transport page.

Travelling from Slovenia to Croatia by Train

There are several direct trains per day from Kranj to Zagreb, with a journey time of approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes.

There are also several direct trains per day from Ljubljana to Zagreb, journey time approximately 2 hours 50 minutes.

See timetables from Kranj or Ljubljana to destinations in Croatia on the Die Bahn website. 

Travelling from Slovenia to Croatia by Bus

Bus services to Zagreb

Pleso Prijevoz now run a service from Ljubljana Bus Station to Zagreb Bus Station. (There is also an additional stop in Slovenia at Novo Mesto, home to a large shopping centre.) Upon reaching Zagreb Bus Station, you can then also use the Pleso Prijevoz buses to the airport for free.

There are numerous other daily bus services from Ljubljana to Zagreb – it’s best to look up schedules on the Zagreb Bus Terminal website. Journey time is about 2 hours 20/30 minutes.

Bus service to the coast

FILS run a twice-weekly service from Ljubljana (via Portoroz and Koper) to Porec and Pula. This route operates daily in high season (July and August) and it also makes more stops along the way – including in Rovinj.

There are also a number of other summer-only (i.e. July and August) services from Ljubljana to places on the Croatian coast, including Porec, Rovinj, Rijeka, Zadar, Sibenik and Split. These are run by Slovenian bus company Arriva.

Arriva also have summer services from Maribor in north-eastern Slovenia to Opatija, Rijeka, Krk and Crikvenica; Zadar, Pag Town and Novalja; and Sibenik.