Economy
Fiat 500
4 seatsManualfrom €20 a day
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Which airport should I fly into to pick up a car?
The one nearest the first place you want to be, because the car can be dropped at another airport. Split is much busier than Zadar, with 3,847,716 passengers in 2025 against 1,620,417. Dubrovnik covers the far south and Pula the Istrian peninsula.
Car hire from Split starts at the airport in Kaštela, 30 minutes to the Riva without traffic.
Zagreb's airport, Franjo Tuđman Airport in Velika Gorica, serves the capital and the inland route to Plitvice Lakes. A hire car in Zagreb is usually collected there, 30 minutes from the centre without traffic.
Zadar Airport, where car hire from Zadar starts, is 2 hours 15 minutes from Entrance 2 of Plitvice Lakes without traffic. Between the cities the drives are long: Zagreb to Split, most of it on the A1, takes 4 hours 35 minutes, and Split to Dubrovnik 3 hours 25 minutes, both without traffic.
Car hire at Dubrovnik Airport
Ruđer Bošković Airport, Dubrovnik's airport, sits near the village of Čilipi. Numerous rental companies have offices there, and the airport's rent-a-car page marks one parking lot and drop-off point on its map; the exact meeting place is on your voucher. For 6 November to 20 November 2026, 80 of the 91 Dubrovnik cars were collected at the airport.
The airport is 22.5 km from Dubrovnik, a drive of 30 to 35 minutes and up to an hour in summer. From 1 March to 30 November the area around the Old Town is a special traffic zone, and a hire car may enter only with a reserved space in one of its two public car parks or registered parking at accommodation inside it.
Car hire at Pula Airport in Istria
For 6 November to 20 November 2026, 35 of the 35 Pula cars were collected at Pula Airport, 20 minutes from the Roman amphitheatre in the centre of Pula without traffic. Istria's motorways, the A8 and A9 that make up the Istrian Y, are run by the concessionaire Bina Istra: 141 km of road linking Pula with Umag and with Rijeka. Zagreb is 3 hours 30 minutes from Pula Airport without traffic, and Split 6 hours 5 minutes.
One-way hire between the airports
Any pair of the five airports works as a one-way hire between the airports, with the drop-off charge already inside the price shown. Zagreb to Dubrovnik is 7 hours 15 minutes over 605 km without traffic, all in Croatia since the Pelješac Bridge opened in July 2022. For 6 November to 20 November 2026, 58 cars were offered for that pair, and the typical drop-off charge was €125.
Joined up, the airports make a Croatia road trip: Zagreb, the lakes, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik, driven one leg at a time, with the car handed back at the last airport. No leg on that route is longer than 3 hours 25 minutes without traffic, so it splits into one drive a day.
The rental conditions for Croatia
The same conditions apply at all five airports. The minimum chargeable period is 24 hours; the fuel goes back at the level it left; fuel, parking, fines and motorway tolls are the renter's to pay; and for a trip outside Croatia the cross-border option is added during booking, for a fee, and the permission is arranged by email with the booking partner's help desk. Every car comes with the standard insurance issued for it. What the standard cover excludes is the same at every airport and on every car: the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen and the interior.
Is it easy to drive in Croatia?
Cars drive with daytime running lights or dipped headlights on during the day from 1 November to 31 March, and dipped headlights are required in any tunnel all year. The alcohol limit for ordinary car drivers is 0.5 grams per kilogram of blood. The old towns of Split and Zadar are closed to visitors' cars, so you park outside and walk in.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a credit card to rent a car in Croatia?
For some cars, yes: a physical, embossed credit card in the main driver's name. Others accept a debit card, which the booking and the voucher state.
Is a deposit required, and is it held on my card?
The deposit is set per car. Most companies block it on the card rather than charge it; where a debit card is accepted, some ask for a transfer instead. Some keep it for 30 to 45 days after the return.
Do I have to pay tolls with a hire car in Croatia?
Yes. Tolls are the renter's cost. As of September 2026, on most motorways you take a ticket at the entry plaza and pay at the exit in cash or by card; an ENC tag needs no ticket.