Paul

We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia. Has anyone had
experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and out of
Slovenia and Croatia.

The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be about
a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy Autostrade?

Thanks for your help.

Paul

Tomic

"Paul" <[email protected]> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:[email protected]...
    > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia. Has anyone
had
    > experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and out
of
    > Slovenia and Croatia.

Well, the Slovenia entered the EU; the borders Italy - Slovenia still exist,
but the traffic runs smoothly since the Italians are not checking passports
and such much now (I guess they leave it to the Slovenians).
Assuming you will be entering Croatia via Istrian peninsula, speaking about
the borders Rabuiese (near Trieste) - Skofije (Slovenia), when leaving Italy
and entering Slovenia en route to Croatia, I never have any difficulties,
and I cross that border almost daily.

The Slovenian-Croatian border (the Dragonja border) is now the "main" border
and this one can be quite busy sometimes - especially Friday-Saturday
evenings. At best, you can expect a 10-15 minutes delay when entering
Croatia.

(I only presume that this would be your route).

    > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be
about
    > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy Autostrade?

I think that driving to Livorno will take you more like 7 hours.
Plus: getting out of Croatia might not be a problem at all, but you might
expect the Italian Autostrade to be a bit "clogged" - you didn't tell when
you are planning this road trip, but if you are travelling in August,
especially around Ferragosto and/or on a weekend, the Autostrade can be
quite busy - especially the routes leading to the sea resorts (well,
practially the route you'll be at once you pass the Bologna exit).
Sometimes, there are "code" , several kilometers long delays at the exits of
the motorway, especially near major cities like Bologna, Firenze, etc.

HTH,
Tomic

Bogus Address

    > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia. Has anyone
    > had experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into
    > and out of Slovenia and Croatia.
    > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be
    > about a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more
    > time for getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy
    > Autostrade?

No problem at all, they are among the least officious checkpoints I've
been through.

But going into Slovenia on the bus from Trieste last year we hit a snag.
The bus stopped for longer than I expected. Looking ahead, I saw that
the officials were attempting to process an old man (perhaps a Gypsy?)
in a donkey cart. With a camel tied behind it. The camel's citizenship
seemed to be in doubt. Can't be too careful these days.

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

Luca Logi

Paul <[email protected]> wrote:

    > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be about
    > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy Autostrade?

Anytime you have to cross the Venice area on autostrada, budget an extra
hour driving time for likely queues :-(


--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail: [email protected]
Home page: http://www.angelfire.com/ar/archivarius
(musicologia pratica)

Tom Peel

Paul wrote:
    > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia. Has anyone had
    > experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and out of
    > Slovenia and Croatia.
    >
    > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be about
    > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy Autostrade?
    >
    > Thanks for your help.
    >
    > Paul
    >
    >
We had no problems at all, except that leaving Croatia, the border
guards waved us through with a big smile, only to be screamed at to stop
by the Slovenian guards 10 metres down the road.

T.

Paul

Thanks for all the info folks. I'll be sure to register my camel before
leaving the country.

pdh


"Tom Peel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Paul wrote:
    > > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia. Has anyone
had
    > > experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and
out of
    > > Slovenia and Croatia.
    > >
    > > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be
about
    > > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy
Autostrade?
    > >
    > > Thanks for your help.
    > >
    > > Paul
    > >
    > >
    > We had no problems at all, except that leaving Croatia, the border
    > guards waved us through with a big smile, only to be screamed at to stop
    > by the Slovenian guards 10 metres down the road.
    > T.

Tim

"Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia.

You need to make sure that you have the correct insurance.

Croatia is not in the EU and is one of the countries
that insurance companies are more wary of.

    > Has anyone had
    > experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and out
of
    > Slovenia and Croatia.

IME there are much longer queues between SLO and HR
than anywhere else in the region, and this was before SLO
joined the EU Now that it represents the EU's border with
Eastern europe I doubt that it will be better.

    > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be
about
    > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy Autostrade?

Yep, apart from the queue at the border the road to/around Koper
is very busy during summer holidays. Assuming that they haven't
actually finished the motorway without my noticing :-(.

tim

Paul

Thanks Tim,

That's very helpful.

pdh


"tim" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > We will be renting a car in Germany and driving to Croatia.
    > You need to make sure that you have the correct insurance.
    > Croatia is not in the EU and is one of the countries
    > that insurance companies are more wary of.
    > > Has anyone had
    > > experience with this? What can I expect at border crossings into and
out
    > of
    > > Slovenia and Croatia.
    > IME there are much longer queues between SLO and HR
    > than anywhere else in the region, and this was before SLO
    > joined the EU Now that it represents the EU's border with
    > Eastern europe I doubt that it will be better.
    > > The day we leave we will be driving to Livorno, Italy, estimated to be
    > about
    > > a six hour drive on 'viamichelin.com.' Should we budget more time for
    > > getting OUT of Croatia and across the borders on to the Italy
Autostrade?
    > Yep, apart from the queue at the border the road to/around Koper
    > is very busy during summer holidays. Assuming that they haven't
    > actually finished the motorway without my noticing :-(.
    > tim

Tim Challenger

On 30 Jul 2004 18:55:05 GMT, bogus address wrote:

    > No problem at all, they are among the least officious checkpoints I've
    > been through.

You live on a different planet to me then. Particularly coming south from
SLO into HR, the SLO guards are always especially "vigilant" (and also
ignorant). It took me quite a while to convince them that I as Brit living
in Austria need neither a resident's permit nor a work permit, and why they
were checking that as I left the EU is anyone's guess.
--
Tim C.