From Riga to Croatia by car

I have already written quite a lot about traveling to Croatia, but here I will summarize how to get there by car from Latvia.

Even though we have been flying everywhere for the last decade, we have mostly driven by our car to Croatia. We have also seen other cars with Baltic and Polish license plates in Croatia, so we are by no means the only ones and this information may be useful to someone else.

The usual route is as follows: Riga – Warsaw (Poland) – Bratislava (Slovakia) – Graz (Austria) – Maribor (Slovenia) – Zagreb (Croatia). This is also the option offered by Google Maps. What happens after arrival to Zagreb is entirely up to you, depending on where else you have decided to go. There are people who prefer to drive through the Czech Republic, but staying overnight in the Czech Republic (not to mention Austria) can be quite expensive.

If you are going to relax by the sea, then you should take into account that it is practically impossible to visit all the regions of Croatia at once. The country is stretched from north to south and there is a highway that connects it all. But once you get off the highway, driving is very slow.

I would say that there are three main regions in Croatia that are worth visiting – the north, the Istrian peninsula and the island of Krk, the south of Dalmatia, including Dubrovnik, the Peljesac peninsula and the island of Korcula, and central Dalmatia – Split, Trogir, other smaller towns and seaside villages.

From Riga

We started driving at the time when it was a habit to drive through Poland during night. Now a lot has changed in Poland, so you can drive through it during the day. Driving at night has the advantage that it is possible to drive a longer first part of the distance. On the first day, we usually tried to drive at least 1200 kilometres.

In any case, it will take at least ten hours to get to Warsaw from Riga, so if you leave around midnight, you will be in Warsaw around ten in the morning. We usually chose hotel or apartment somewhere in Slovakia. You still have to drive quite a long distance from Polish capital, about 500 kilometres, which is at least 6 – 7 hours. It should be noted that it is also necessary to stop to eat, relax and stretch.

We usually took thermoses with hot water and dry soups with us, so that we didn’t have to only eat dry snacks. Although, we usually got off at least once in Poland to have a late breakfast or lunch at one of the roadside restaurants.

Night in Slovakia

We used the accommodation to stay at night because we were traveling with children and it would have been quite cruel to ask them to spend the night in the car. After driving more than 1000 kilometres, you need to sleep in a normal bed. You must also remember to replenish the hot water supply for next day’s soups before departure!

We usually looked for hotels (guest houses) in Slovakia on the Internet somewhere between Zilin and Trencin, a little off the highway. When it comes to the motorway, remember that in Slovakia (as well as in the Czech Republic) you have to buy a vignette. Inspections are not frequent, but if you are caught without a vignette, you may end up with paying quite large fine.

Now it is possible to buy a Slovak e-vignette online in advance, you can pay with payment card or PayPal. Even in Austria, to drive on the motorways, you need to buy a vignette; Austrian vignette for 10 days (minimum time) costs 9.6 euros (summer 2022).

Slovakian vignette for ten days costs 15.8 euros, but if you choose to drive through the Czech Republic, you can save a little – for 10 days there, a vignette costs 12.5 euros, but other costs, if you stop, will probably be higher.

Night in Zagreb

The last section of the route from Slovakia to Zagreb is practically only driving on motorways. Google Maps offer to drive through Hungary as the main route, but I don’t recommend it, because the roads are rather boring and driving through Hungary just doesn’t excite me (we’ve tried it ourselves).

Since you can get to Croatia (Zagreb) in about seven to nine hours from Slovakia, we did not rush to leave early in the morning. Accommodations usually offer breakfast and you also want to slow down a bit before leaving. And the main thing is that it is not even possible to go anywhere further than Zagreb during that day, unless your destination is the island of Krk or the Istrian peninsula.

In that case, you can pass Zagreb going through Slovenia in the direction of Rijeka. It will take up to 10 hours in total then.

If the destination of your trip to Croatia is central or southern Dalmatia, then staying overnight in Zagreb is worth it. Both in the city and its outskirts, there are many hotels for good price. It should only be noted that they are all very busy during the summer season; the hotel should be booked well in advance when the trip is being planned. This also applies to all other hotels in Croatia during the summer period.