European Rail Travel to Croatia

[OldTimeTim]

Has anyone done a London to Zagreb trip by rail?

I'm thinking of doing that in the Spring. Rail to Zagreb, then a local boat cruise round the Croatian Islands and a flight back home. There look to be some reasonable options - Paris to Munich or Stuttgart and then down to Zagreb. Some fantastic scenery apparently.

The bugbear is getting to Paris without paying a fortune on Eurostar.

[Engineer1]

Train to Dover cheap foot passenger ferry crossing then train again in France?

[rcspeirs]

Southeastern sell a through ticket London to Calais, includes P&O ferry. Don't think it's online, need to go to station. Obviously uses a lot more time than Eurostar.

[megaphone]

You are aware Zagreb is 100 miles inland?

[imp123]

This might help

http://www.seat61.com/

[the_lone_wolf]

megaphone said:

You are aware Zagreb is 100 miles inland?

This...

But the rail service to Zagreb is much better than to the coast, and Zagreb is worth seeing just for itself, one of the nicest European cities I've been to

Take the coach down to the coast from Zagreb, cheap and if you take the right one it'll go down the old road, takes 4/5hrs but you'll see a lot more than going down the motorway

[OldTimeTim]

Thanks for the replies.

The rail website is brilliant. A bit complex but great.

My plan was to get the coach from Zagreb down to either Zadar or Dubrovnik and get an island boat from there. I know it's a long journey and I don't know how comfortable the coaches are, but it seems a good way to see some of the country.

[OldTimeTim]

Thanks for the replies.

The rail website is brilliant. A bit complex but great.

My plan was to get the coach from Zagreb down to either Zadar or Dubrovnik and get an island boat from there. I know it's a long journey and I don't know how comfortable the coaches are, but it seems a good way to see some of the country.

[the_lone_wolf]

OldTimeTim said:

My plan was to get the coach from Zagreb down to either Zadar or Dubrovnik and get an island boat from there. I know it's a long journey and I don't know how comfortable the coaches are, but it seems a good way to see some of the country.

The coaches vary from brand new to old but comfortable, but they're all comfortable for the length of the trip

The highway route takes ~3hrs to Zadar, the old roads 4/5hrs, the old roads have much better scenery but the highway isn't bad

You'll never forget coming out of the Velebit on the coastal side, especially if the sun's out...

[OldTimeTim]

the_lone_wolf said:

The coaches vary from brand new to old but comfortable, but they're all comfortable for the length of the trip

The highway route takes ~3hrs to Zadar, the old roads 4/5hrs, the old roads have much better scenery but the highway isn't bad

You'll never forget coming out of the Velebit on the coastal side, especially if the sun's out...

Thanks, I'll look forward to it.

[Rostfritt]

OldTimeTim said:

The bugbear is getting to Paris without paying a fortune on Eurostar.

Not really that expensive, you can get it for £39 if you are lucky. As a bit of a (modern) train geek I love taking it. Worth taking it home as St Pancras just feels a much more dignified arrival than Heathrow.

As for getting to Croatia I have not done it directly but it can be done easy enough. I would go Eurostar to Brussels, ICE to Cologne, sleeper to Vienna then OBB train to Villach then Zagreb. Quite an adventure so go for it. You could go back via Venice and Switzerland.

[OldTimeTim]

Rostfritt said:

Not really that expensive, you can get it for £39 if you are lucky. As a bit of a (modern) train geek I love taking it. Worth taking it home as St Pancras just feels a much more dignified arrival than Heathrow.

As for getting to Croatia I have not done it directly but it can be done easy enough. I would go Eurostar to Brussels, ICE to Cologne, sleeper to Vienna then OBB train to Villach then Zagreb. Quite an adventure so go for it. You could go back via Venice and Switzerland.

Thank you very much, quite excited about the prospect now.