Itinerary: how to get to...from...

What we did and recommend!

It was an 8-day trip:  We spent 5 days in Croatia and 3 days in Slovenia.

 - We left Brazil (São Paulo) to Germany (Frankfurt) - Lufthansa (believe it or not, it was the lowest price!)

- From Frankfurt (Germany) to Zadar (Croatia) with Croatian Airlines (also the best price!) Trains were too expensive and would have taken from 9 to 12 hours.

- We rented a car in Zadar (Croatia) and a GPS (which was dispensable, but occasionally useful).  Our trip within Croatia and Slovenia was all done by car. And it was great! The roads are perfect and brand new. Signs were very good as well.

- From Zadar, we visited Pag and Nin in half a day. These are two nice cities within 30 to 40 minutes drive from Zadar.

- From Zadar to Split, by car. We stopped by at Sibenik and Trogir.

- From Split to Brac Island. We took the car ferry to Supetar (name of the city in Brac Island), drove to Bol Beach (HIGHLY recommended! Small and nice local beach)

- From Brac Island to Dubrovnik. At Sumartin, the city in Brac Island, we got the car ferry to Makarska (continent) to get the road again down to Dubrovnik. Please notice that in order to go to Dubrovnik you will cross border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. There are customs cabin for passport controls – shouldn´t take long, but check if you need any visa or authorization from your country (not required to Brazilians). We have got the coastal road, which has a nice view but lower speed limit.

- From Dubrovnik to Plitvice Jezera. This time we took the express roads. Much better and faster! Nearly 5 to 6 hours drive.

- From Plitvice to Ljubljana (Slovenia). Taking the express road to Zagreb is the best option, then heading to Ljubljana. The nearest way would be via local roads, which would take twice the time, with heavy traffic and lower speed limits). We traveled nearly for 3 hours until Ljubljana. Customs control (cabins on the road) very fast – and far better than the huge lines at the airport!

- From Ljubljana to Bled, by car. Nearly 1 hour drive.

- From Bled to Zadar, by car, to the end of our trip. 4 hours drive via Zagreb. We took the road E70 and then A1/E71.

- Now, heading back home, from Zadar we flew via Zagreb and at Pula (nearly 40 minutes flight from Zadar to Pula and another 40 minutes flight from Pula to Zagreb).

- From Zagreb (connection) to Frankfurt (Germany) and to Sao Paulo.
(Although Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines are the same company, we booked our tickets separately but it worked well with our luggage leaving Zadar straight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Just a few comments:

We checked our luggage at Zadar airport, with Croatia Airlines, and they successfully managed  to get it straight to Brazil, even with all the connection flights we had. It was perfect!  Both Lufthansa and Croatian Airlines are Star Alliance and we were surprised that it worked so well! We were extremely satisfied with both Lufthansa and Croatian Airlines services.

Unfortunately there were no Ryanair flights available from and to the places we wanted to go. But we used Ryanair in other trips and they were good. Just notice that Ryanair flights generally uses small and distant airports. So consider additional 1 or 1,5 hours in your trip. The transportation (bus or shuttle) to those airports are generally provided by  Ryanair for free and are very good. Check time schedules and where to get the free transportation from the main airports.