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Croatia by Car in 9 Days — Zagreb, the Lakes and the Coast to Dubrovnik

Croatia
9 days62 stopsmid-range prices

9 days · 62 stops · moderate pace · 7.5 h a day

34 of 38 venues clear · 4 field notes · checked 27 Sep 2026 · the field log

Nine days driving Croatia top to bottom: Plitvice and Krka at opening time, four walled towns, and the Pelješac Bridge into Dubrovnik.

≈ €1,254 per person

the whole trip · in EUR

indicative, 18 Oct 2026 · Rates By Exchange Rate API

Copies all 62 stops into a trip of your own, on your dates.

≈ €1,254 / person for the tripRates By Exchange Rate API
moderate pace · 7.5h/dayBest May–Jun, SepBest inMay–Jun, SepGood forfirst-timerscouplesroad-trippers✓ CHECKED 21 DAYS AGO4.3editorial score · traveller ratings replace it at 3
4.3/5
Editorial pick
Value
4.0
Location
4.4
Activities
4.4
Food
4.4
Pacing
4.2

Scored by our reviewer at publish time — traveler ratings replace it at 3.

Croatia's classic north-to-south drive, from Zagreb down through the Lika uplands to the Dalmatian coast and on to Dubrovnik, arranged so that the two things that go wrong most often on this route cannot: Plitvice and Krka are both walked at the first entry of the day, before the coaches, and the road into Dubrovnik crosses the Pelješac Bridge, so it never leaves Croatia. Between them are four walled towns worth their own night or afternoon, Zadar at sunset, Šibenik, Trogir and Split in the evening after the day-trippers leave, plus the Rastoke mills and the oysters of Mali Ston on the way. The car runs from day 2 to day 7 and is dropped in Dubrovnik, where it is only a cost; the budget includes a per-person share of a one-way hire, fuel and tolls for two travellers, and a solo driver should add about 260 euros. Everything is in euros, which Croatia has used since 2023. Pick your start day off three Monday closures: day 1 cannot be a Monday (Lotrščak Tower), nor day 5 (Konoba Vinko and Pjat), nor day 6 (Konoba Trs and Konoba Matejuška), so start on a Tuesday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Prices were checked in September 2026 at the June-to-September rates, which is when Plitvice, Krka and the Dubrovnik walls each charge 40 euros; in May and October those three drop sharply and the sea is still swimmable, which makes late May, June and September the months to go.

Day by day

day 1 of 9 · 8 stops · €58

Day 1 — Zagreb on foot: Kaptol, the Upper Town and the noon cannon (overnight: Zagreb)Zagreb on foot: Kaptol, the Upper Town and the noon cannon (overnight: Zagreb)

09:00
Zagreb Cathedral
sight · 40 min · free · Katedrala Uznesenja BDM, Kaptol 31, Zagreb
Katedrala Uznesenja BDM, Kaptol 31, Zagreb
Free, open daily 08:00 to 19:00, and worth going first for a reason that is only a few months old: the 2020 earthquake brought down the tip of the south spire and shut the building for six years, and it reopened to visitors only in April 2026. Both spires are still wrapped in scaffolding and the exterior works are expected to run towards 2030, so what you are seeing is a cathedral in the middle of being put back together, which is more interesting than it sounds. On a Sunday, Mass is at 10:00, which is the other reason this stop is at 09:00 rather than later. Shoulders and knees covered.
09:45
Dolac Market
sight · 45 min · free · Tržnica Dolac, Dolac 2, Zagreb
Tržnica Dolac, Dolac 2, Zagreb
Two minutes west of the cathedral, up a flight of steps from Ban Jelačić square: the red umbrellas on the open terrace are fruit and vegetables, the covered hall underneath is meat and dairy, and the row of women selling fresh cheese and cream (sir i vrhnje) from their own farms is the part to see. Buy a paper cone of cherries or figs for the morning. It runs Monday to Friday 06:00 to 14:00, Saturday to 15:00 and Sunday only to 12:00, and it is thin by early afternoon on any day, which is why it is here and not later. Cash is easier than card at the stalls.
10:45
Lotrščak Tower
sight · 75 min · €3 · Kula Lotrščak, Strossmayerovo šetalište 9, Zagreb
Kula Lotrščak, Strossmayerovo šetalište 9, Zagreb
3 euros. Walk up from Dolac by Radićeva, the steep lane off the top of Tkalčićeva, and you pass through the Stone Gate, the last of the Upper Town's medieval gates, with a candlelit shrine inside where a painting of the Virgin survived the fire of 1731 and people still stop to pray; two minutes on is St Mark's Square, where the tiled roof of St Mark's Church carries the arms of Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia and Zagreb (the church itself was damaged in 2020 and is not reliably open inside). Then cross to the Strossmayer promenade and be there just before noon: the Grič cannon inside the tower has been fired at exactly 12:00 every day since 1877, and it is loud enough to make half the promenade jump. Then climb for the best view over the Lower Town and the green horseshoe of parks. Closed on Mondays, open Tuesday to Friday 09:00 to 20:00 and weekends from 11:00, which is why day 1 of this plan cannot be a Monday. The funicular that drops from beside the tower to Ilica is one of the shortest in public service anywhere, a 66-metre ride, and costs 0.66 euros if you want it later.
€3
12:15
Museum of Broken Relationships
sight · 75 min · €9 · Muzej prekinutih veza, Ćirilometodska 2, Zagreb
Muzej prekinutih veza, Ćirilometodska 2, Zagreb
9 euros for adults, open every day 09:00 to 22:00 from June to September and to 21:00 the rest of the year. Two Zagreb artists started it in 2006 with the leftovers of their own break-up, and it is now a collection of objects donated by strangers, each with a short caption written by the person who gave it: an axe, a wedding dress, a toaster, a prosthetic leg. It sounds like a gimmick and it is not; the captions are what you remember, and it is the most human hour on this whole trip. It is one minute from the tower, so it slots straight in after the cannon.
€9
14:00
La Štruk
food · 60 min · €15
La Štruk, Skalinska 5, Zagreb
A small courtyard off Skalinska, the stepped alley between Tkalčićeva and Dolac, that serves only one thing: štrukli, the Zagorje dish of thin dough wrapped round fresh cheese and either boiled or baked with cream. Order the classic baked one first and a sweet one to share. Around 4.6 on Google across roughly 9,400 reviews and 4.4 on Tripadvisor, open every day 11:00 to 22:00, and about 12 to 15 euros a head. Queues form at 13:00; at 14:00 you usually walk in.
€15
15:20
Mirogoj Cemetery
sight · 90 min · €1 · Groblje Mirogoj, Aleja Hermanna Bolléa 27, Zagreb
Groblje Mirogoj, Aleja Hermanna Bolléa 27, Zagreb
Free, open 06:00 to 20:00 from April to September and 07:30 to 18:00 the rest of the year. Getting there: ZET bus 106 leaves from the Kaptol stop beside the cathedral and reaches the gates in about ten minutes; a 30-minute ticket is 0.53 euros from a Tisak kiosk or the ZET app, validated on board, so buy two. It is also a 25-minute walk uphill through the streets north of Kaptol. Hermann Bollé, the same architect who rebuilt the cathedral after the 1880 earthquake, designed the entrance as a long ivy-covered neo-Renaissance arcade with green cupolas, and inside it the graves of Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims and Protestants lie side by side, which in the Zagreb of the 1870s was a deliberate statement. Walk the arcades first, where the sculpture is, then the lime avenues behind. It is a working cemetery, so keep voices down near funerals.
€1
One night near Ban Jelačić square
lodging · Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, Zagreb
Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, Zagreb
One night in the Lower Town, within ten minutes' walk of the square, so that everything today is on foot and you collect the car tomorrow without having driven in the centre at all. Mid-range doubles run about 90 to 150 euros. This plan assumes you land the evening before or early on day 1; the airport bus to the main bus station takes about 30 minutes.
19:30
Stari Fijakerbook ahead
food · 90 min · €30book ahead
Stari Fijaker, Mesnička 6, Zagreb
The old-Zagreb dining room: dark panelling, black-and-white photographs, waiters who have been there for years and a menu that has not been chased by fashion. This is where you eat the inland food you will not see again once you reach the coast: turkey with mlinci (baked pasta sheets soaked in the roasting juices), sarma, buncek, venison stew, and baked štrukli if you did not have enough at lunch. Around 4.6 on Google across about 4,700 reviews, 12/20 in Gault and Millau, open every day from 11:00 to 23:00 (22:00 on Sundays). About 25 to 35 euros a head; book in summer.
€30book ahead
day 2 of 9 · 7 stops · €330

Day 2 — Collect the car, lunch among the Rastoke mills, and sleep beside Plitvice (overnight: Plitvice)Collect the car, lunch among the Rastoke mills, and sleep beside Plitvice (overnight: Plitvice)

09:00
Collect the hire car in Zagrebbook ahead
travel · 45 min · €260book ahead
The car runs from this morning to day 7 in Dubrovnik, six days, and it is the single biggest cost in the budget. Book a one-way rental with the drop-off in Dubrovnik stated up front: the one-way fee on this route runs about 200 to 300 euros and several suppliers add it only at the desk. A compact car for six summer days plus that fee comes to roughly 450 to 650 euros, costed here at 260 euros each for two people sharing; solo travellers double it. Collect from a city office rather than the airport if you slept in town. A small car is the right car: the coastal old towns have tight streets and tight car parks. Croatia has no vignette; motorways are tolled at booths by distance and cards are accepted, and the whole route below costs about 15 euros in tolls per car.
€260book ahead
09:45
Drive Zagreb to Rastoke (A1 to Karlovac, then the D1, 105 km, about 1 h 30)
travel · 90 min · €7
Take the A1 south from Lučko and leave it at Karlovac (2.80 euros toll), then follow the old D1 state road south through Slunj. Fuel on this whole trip is costed at about 0.06 euros per kilometre each for two sharing: a small petrol car at roughly 6.5 litres per 100 km, with Eurosuper 95 at about 1.73 euros a litre in September 2026. The D1 is two lanes, winding in places and full of slow trucks; do not plan on averaging more than 70 km/h once you leave the motorway.
€7
11:15
Rastoke
sight · 75 min · €6
Rastoke, Slunj
A hamlet of wooden watermills built straight onto the travertine where the Slunjčica river falls into the Korana in two dozen small cascades, and in effect a preview of Plitvice at one-tenth of the scale and the crowd. Part of the promenade is free, walked there and back. The full circuit on the Vodene tajne path, over the new bridge under the Jareb mill and down into the Korana canyon, costs 5 euros, sold at card-only web kiosks on site or through the town's web shop; nobody takes cash at the gate. Park in zone 1 at the top of the village for 2 euros an hour, or in zone 3 in Slunj itself for 0.40. Some of the mills are private houses with their own separate entry fees, so do not assume the ticket covers every door.
€6
12:45
Restoran Petro
food · 75 min · €25
Restoran Petro, Rastoke 29, Slunj
A log-built restaurant on the water at the bottom of the village, and the one place in Rastoke to eat: trout from the Slunjčica, grilled whole or smoked in a salad, served with polenta ground in the mills next door, then apple strudel. Around 4.1 on Google across about 3,100 reviews and roughly 4.0 on Tripadvisor, open daily 09:00 to 21:00, about 20 to 30 euros a head. Ask for a table by the river. Beware the website that once belonged to the restaurant: that domain now points somewhere else entirely, so book by phone on +385 47 777 709.
NOTE · field note · Mixed recent reviews on service/value; the location is the draw, food is acceptable. — checked 2026-09-27
€25
14:15
Drive Rastoke to Plitvice Entrance 1 (D1, 35 km, about 30 min)
travel · 30 min · €2
South on the D1 again. Sleep in Rastovača, Mukinje or Jezerce, the villages within a few minutes of Entrance 1, rather than in Korenica further south, because tomorrow starts at 07:00 at the gate and every minute of sleep counts. Check in, and leave the afternoon free: this is the one slack afternoon on the whole route, placed here deliberately before the longest walking day.
€2
15:00
One night near Plitvice Entrance 1
lodging · Rastovača, Plitvička Jezera
Rastovača, Plitvička Jezera
One night in a guesthouse (sobe) in Rastovača, Mukinje or Jezerce. Doubles run about 70 to 130 euros in summer; ask for one with breakfast from 06:30, because you will be at the gate at 07:00. Book the park tickets for tomorrow as soon as you have booked this bed, not the other way round.
19:00
Restoran Degenija
food · 90 min · €30
Restoran Degenija, Selište Drežničko 59
About eight minutes' drive north of Entrance 1 on the D1, open every day 11:00 to 23:00 year-round, and the local answer to where to eat near the park when the places at the gate are full of coach groups. Around 4.6 on Google across roughly 7,300 reviews and 4.1 on Tripadvisor across about 2,400. Order what Lika is known for: trout from the Gacka river, lamb or veal from the peka if they have one on, or the house veal steak with wild mushrooms and gnocchi. There is a pastry counter; the strudel is good. About 25 to 35 euros a head.
€30

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Field checks & ratings

Field log34/38 VENUES CLEAR · 4 FIELD NOTES✓ CHECKED 21 DAYS AGO

Every venue in this itinerary was checked against current public sources — opening hours, prices, closures — before it was published. Stops that aren't venues — transit legs, walks between them — aren't in the count.

Checked against tripadvisor.com · guide.michelin.com · citywallsdubrovnik.hr · hr.gaultmillau.com · np-plitvicka-jezera.hr · visittrogir.hr + 15 more

How we check

Anything with a kitchen or a ticket gate is verified individually: the official site where one exists, plus recent traveler reviews. Public squares, parks and viewpoints get an existence check. A venue we can’t confirm is flagged below rather than quietly kept, and the whole itinerary is re-checked on a cadence — past 12 months without one, the checked claim is dropped and the date above stops being a promise.

NoteRestoran Petro — Mixed recent reviews on service/value; the location is the draw, food is acceptable. · via restaurantguru.com

+3 more flagged venues on the days beyond this preview.

checked 27 Sep 2026 · 34 of 38 venues clear · 4 field notes

Every venue was checked against current public sources — hours, prices, closures — before it was published. Walks and transit legs are not in the count.

checked against tripadvisor.com · guide.michelin.com · citywallsdubrovnik.hr · hr.gaultmillau.com · np-plitvicka-jezera.hr · visittrogir.hr + 15 more

field note · day 2Restoran PetroMixed recent reviews on service/value; the location is the draw, food is acceptable. · via restaurantguru.com

3 more flagged venues on the days beyond this preview.

How we check

Anything with a kitchen or a ticket gate is verified individually: the official site where one exists, plus recent traveler reviews. Public squares, parks and viewpoints get an existence check. A venue we can’t confirm is flagged below rather than quietly kept, and the whole itinerary is re-checked on a cadence — past 12 months without one, the checked claim is dropped and the date above stops being a promise.

4.3/5
Editorial pick · the score it was published with — traveler ratings move it
Value for money
4.0
Location & logistics
4.4
Activities & sights
4.4
Food & drink
4.4
Pacing & feasibility
4.2
≈ €1,254per person · 9 days