What Is the Best Way to Get to Dubrovnik?
How to reach Dubrovnik by plane, bus, ferry or car, how to get around once you arrive, and the best routes to Kotor and Split.
What Is the Best Way to Get to Dubrovnik?
For most travellers the best way to get to Dubrovnik is to fly directly into Dubrovnik Airport, which sits about 20 kilometres southeast of the city and receives flights from across Europe through the whole tourist season. If you are already in Croatia or the region, the alternatives are long-distance bus, the coastal ferry from Split, or driving, and each of those three trades convenience against scenery, cost and time. The right answer depends on where you start.
I get this question from visitors every week, and the honest answer is that Dubrovnik's geography decides a lot of it for you. The city hangs off the southern edge of Croatia, connected to the rest of the country by one coastal road corridor and nothing else, so arrivals funnel through a small number of chokepoints: the airport, the bus station at Gruž, the ferry terminal next to it, and the road border crossings into Bosnia and Montenegro. Once you understand that shape, the decision mostly makes itself.
Flying is the default for anyone coming from outside the region. The airport handles a strong summer schedule, and the transfer into town is short and simple, with options ranging from the local bus to prebooked shuttles and taxis. If you want the full arrival walkthrough, including what each transfer option costs and how long it takes, our Dubrovnik Airport arrival guide covers it in detail. The one planning note I always give: in peak season the arrival hall fills in waves as flights land together, so a prebooked transfer saves you the queue, not the distance.
The bus network is the workhorse for travellers already in Croatia or neighbouring countries. Long-distance coaches run into Dubrovnik's station at Gruž from Split, Zagreb, Mostar, Kotor and other hubs, and the station itself sits right beside the ferry port, about a 25 to 30 minute walk from Pile Gate at the edge of the Old Town. Buses are the cheapest structured option and, on the coastal stretch, genuinely scenic, but they cross the Bosnian corridor at Neum, which means two border checks folded into the journey even when you never leave the bus.
The ferry is the option people underrate. The Split to Dubrovnik coastal ferry runs along the islands and delivers you straight into Gruž harbour, which is a far nicer arrival than a bus station forecourt. It is seasonal, it books out in summer, and it takes longer than the bus, so it is a choice for travellers who value the sea passage itself over raw speed. Our piece on whether the Split ferry is worth it weighs the trade honestly.
Driving gives you freedom, and the coastal road from Split is one of the great drives of the Adriatic, but parking in Dubrovnik is scarce and paid, and the Old Town is entirely car-free. Most drivers park at a garage in Gruž or Lapad and bus or walk in. For a sense of how the city absorbs all this traffic, the Port Authority's own statistics page publishes the cruise and ferry numbers that shape how busy any given arrival day feels, at the Port of Dubrovnik traffic statistics.
One number worth knowing before you pick a date: Dubrovnik recorded about 4.2 million overnight stays in 2025, sharing first place among Croatian destinations with Rovinj, per the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. You are not discovering a hidden corner. You are visiting one of the two busiest destinations in the country, and arrival logistics are where that pressure shows first.
If your first day in town is short and you want to see the two headline views without working out the logistics yourself, these are the three tours I would point a first-time visitor toward:
What Is the Best Way to Get Around in Dubrovnik?
The best way to get around Dubrovnik is on foot. The walled Old Town is entirely pedestrian, roughly 300 metres from gate to gate along the Stradun, and everything inside it, plus the beaches at Banje and Buža, is walkable within minutes. For anything beyond the core, Ploče, Lapad, Gruž, Mount Srđ, the local buses and the cable car fill the gaps quickly and cheaply.
I walk this city for a living, and I can tell you the single most useful fact about getting around here: you will almost never need a car, and in the Old Town you physically cannot use one. The historic core is a pedestrian zone of stone lanes and staircases, laid out on a plan fixed by the city's medieval statute, with the Stradun running 298 metres through the middle of it. If you land mid-afternoon and want a structured orientation before you explore alone, a guided walk or a cable car combination tour does in three hours what would take most visitors two days of wandering to piece together.
Beyond the walls, the city runs a decent local bus network out of the Old Town hubs at Pile and Ploče, covering Lapad's beach strip, the Babin Kuk peninsula, Gruž and the hospital hill. Buses are the practical answer for reaching Lapad's beaches or the port without a taxi, and they run frequently through the day. Taxis and ride-hailing exist and work well for airport runs and late nights, but for the everyday distances inside Dubrovnik they are overkill. Our broader getting around Dubrovnik guide goes deep on tickets, routes and the walkability question.
The cable car is the one piece of local transport that doubles as an attraction. The lower terminal sits just outside the Old Town, and the ride covers 778.2 metres of track, climbing 367.0 metres to the upper station at 405.0 metres above sea level in 3 minutes 30 seconds. The operator's own technical and price pages carry the full detail at Dubrovnik Cable Car timetable and prices. The 2026 adult round trip is 30 euro, a one-way adult ticket is 17 euro, children 4 to 12 pay 8 euro round trip, and under-4s ride free.
| Cable car ticket | 2026 price |
|---|---|
| Adult round trip | 30 euro |
| Adult one way | 17 euro |
| Child 4 to 12, round trip | 8 euro |
| Child 4 to 12, one way | 5 euro |
| Under 4 | free |
If you would rather fold the cable car into a guided arrival, the Explore Dubrovnik by Cable Car tour includes the cable car ticket plus a walking tour of the Old Town, from $92.04 per person, rated 4.4 across 118 reviews. It runs about 3 hours, which makes it a natural first-afternoon activity: ride up, take in the view range the operator puts at up to 60 km on a clear day, then come down and learn the street plan while your legs are still fresh.
Timing matters more than transport choice. Six electronic counters at every Old Town entrance update a headcount every 15 minutes, and the official carrying capacity for the historic core, from the UNESCO carrying-capacity assessment, is 11,275 people. On a busy September morning the count can pass 5,419 by 08:00 and peak around 7,739 at 10:00. Get around early, rest at midday, and the city feels half its size.
What Is the Best Way to Get from Dubrovnik to Kotor?
The best way to get from Dubrovnik to Kotor is a guided day trip or a private transfer by road, because there is no direct scheduled ferry and the drive, about two hours each way plus the border, is the whole point: the Bay of Kotor is one of the finest coastal approaches in Europe. Independent travellers can take the bus or drive, but border queues and Kotor's summer crowds make an organised trip the lower-stress option.
The road south from Dubrovnik hugs the Adriatic, clips a short stretch of Bosnian territory around Neum, then re-enters Croatia briefly before the Montenegrin border at Debeli Brijeg. From there the road drops toward the bay, and the last half hour, skirting the water toward Kotor's walled old town, is spectacular. The border is the variable. Crossing times swing wildly with season and time of day; one recent traveller on a semi-private Montenegro tour reported the September border took their group just 15 minutes, but in July the same crossing can crawl.
For most visitors this is a day-trip corridor rather than a relocation, and the organised options handle the border paperwork, the parking and the timing for you. The standard Montenegro day trip from Dubrovnik runs from $58 per person and is rated 4.4 across 5,611 reviews; a version with an optional boat trip on the bay runs 11 to 12 hours from $70.99 per person, rated 4.4 across 3,829 reviews. Our full Kotor day trip guide compares the itineraries, what each actually stops at, and how the two-border drive works in practice.
We booked the semi-private tour. 6 people total. Robert was fantastic! He was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about everything. The tour was well organized and we had just the right time at the spots. Extremely satisfied with this tour and would certainly recommend to anyone. Also the border in September only took us 15 minutes.
Nithya
If you would rather go independently, the bus from Dubrovnik to Kotor runs a few times daily in season and is cheap, but it stops at both border posts and you carry the risk of a long queue in high summer. Driving yourself gives you the stops the buses skip, Perast above all, but Kotor's old town is car-free and summer parking fills early. What I would not do is plan Kotor as a half-day dash: the bay rewards a full day, and the cruise calendar matters here too, since Kotor is itself a major cruise port and its old town fills when ships are in.
What Is the Best Way to Get from Split to Dubrovnik?
The best way to get from Split to Dubrovnik is the long-distance bus, which runs frequently year-round, takes roughly four to five hours including the two border checks at Neum, and costs far less than a private transfer. The coastal ferry is the scenic alternative, straight into Gruž harbour, but it is seasonal and slower. Flying between the two cities is rarely worth it.
The bus is the backbone of this corridor. Coaches leave Split throughout the day for Dubrovnik's Gruž station, most stopping once or twice on the way, and the route runs down the coast, through the short Bosnian corridor at Neum, and back into Croatia. You stay on the bus at the border but you carry your passport, and the two checks add a variable chunk of time. In high summer, budget for the upper end of the range and book the day before if you can, because seats sell out when cruise passengers and island-hoppers are all moving at once.
The ferry is the romantic option, and I understand the appeal: you leave Split's harbour, thread past the islands, and arrive in Dubrovnik by sea with the walls ahead of you. It is a genuinely lovely passage and in the right frame of mind it beats any bus. But it is seasonal, it takes longer than the road, and it needs booking ahead in July and August. The trade-offs, timing and booking reality are laid out in our Split to Dubrovnik ferry verdict, and the wider route comparison, including private transfers and driving, sits in our best way from Dubrovnik to Split piece.
| Option | Best for | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Long-distance bus | Most travellers, year-round | Two border checks at Neum; summer crowding |
| Coastal ferry | Scenic arrivals, island views | Seasonal, slower, books out in peak summer |
| Private transfer or taxi | Groups, early flights, door-to-door ease | The priciest option by a wide margin |
| Rental car | Stopping along the coast at will | Border corridor paperwork and Dubrovnik parking |
One thing worth planning around when you pick your travel day: cruise traffic in Dubrovnik does not peak in July and August the way everyone assumes. Port Authority data shows 2025 cruise passengers peaked in September at 101,246 and October at 100,132, above July's 96,072 and August's 87,385. If you arrive on a heavy cruise day, the Old Town will feel it by mid-morning, so a bus or ferry arrival in the evening, or a first activity outside the walls, is the smarter sequencing.
What Is the Best Way to Get from Dubrovnik to Split?
The best way to get from Dubrovnik to Split is the same bus corridor in reverse, frequent, affordable and about four to five hours with the Neum border checks. The ferry north is the choice if your schedule allows a slower, scenic departure, and a private transfer makes sense for groups catching a flight out of Split. Direction changes little: the deciding factors are season, budget and how much of the coast you want to see on the way.
Leaving Dubrovnik, most travellers head for one of three places: Split's airport, which serves a far wider route network than Dubrovnik's, the islands via Split's ferry hub, or the motorway north toward Zagreb and the rest of Croatia. All three funnel through the same coastal corridor first. The buses leave from Gruž, the same station you would have arrived at, and the practical advice mirrors the inbound journey: book ahead in July and August, keep your passport accessible for the Neum crossing, and sit on the right-hand side of the bus heading north for the sea views.
The ferry north deserves a fair hearing even if you arrived by land, because the two directions are not symmetric experiences. Heading north you get the island chain unfolding ahead of you, and if your Split plans involve onward island ferries anyway, arriving by sea puts you exactly where you need to be. The constraint is the schedule: outside the main season the sailing frequency drops sharply, so check the operating dates against your travel window before you build an itinerary around it.
If you are flying out of Split, a private transfer is the one splurge that genuinely earns its price on this corridor, since it removes both the border uncertainty and the connection risk between Gruž, the bus arrival in Split and the airport. For everyone else, the bus remains the answer, and the money you save buys a better dinner in either city. Whatever you choose, this is a corridor where Things to Do in Dubrovnik begins and ends with the same advice: book the moving parts before high summer, and let the coast do the entertaining between the two cities.
Before you lock in your routes, here are the three bookable options that pair best with an arrival or departure through this corridor:
Common Questions About Getting to Dubrovnik
What is the best way to get to Dubrovnik?
Fly into Dubrovnik Airport if you are coming from outside the region; it is about 20 kilometres from the city with simple transfers. If you are already in Croatia or nearby, take the long-distance bus, the seasonal coastal ferry from Split, or drive. There is no single best answer, only the best answer for your starting point and season.
What Is the Best Way to Get Around in Dubrovnik?
On foot. The Old Town is fully pedestrian, the Stradun runs 298 metres gate to gate, and the beaches nearest the centre are minutes away on foot. Local buses cover Lapad, Babin Kuk and Gruž, and the cable car handles Mount Srđ, with an adult round trip at 30 euro in 2026.
What Is the Best Way to Get from Dubrovnik to Kotor?
A guided day trip or a road transfer. There is no direct scheduled ferry, the drive is about two hours each way plus the border, and organised tours from $58 per person handle the crossing, parking and timing for you. Independent options are the bus or a rental car.
what is the best way to get from split to dubrovnik?
The long-distance bus is the default: frequent, affordable, roughly four to five hours including the two border checks at Neum. The coastal ferry is the scenic seasonal alternative straight into Gruž harbour, and flying between the two cities is rarely worth the cost or hassle.
what is the best way to get from dubrovnik to split?
The same bus corridor in reverse, leaving from Gruž station. Take the ferry north if your schedule allows a slower, scenic passage, or a private transfer if you are catching a flight out of Split and want to remove the border and connection risk entirely.
Do I Need to Worry About the Border at Neum?
Only in your planning, not your paperwork. Buses and cars crossing the Bosnian corridor at Neum pass two border checks, and times swing from minutes to an hour-plus in peak summer. Bosnia and Montenegro are both outside the Schengen area, so keep your passport in reach and build buffer time into any same-day connection.