Adriatic coastline, Croatia
In this post I drove from Herceg Novi in Montenegro to Dubrovnik, Croatia along the Adriatic coast road. There are stunning views of the mountains rolling down into the sea with towns and villages built on the slopes and ending in rocky beaches. Just remember to keep your eye on the road !
I visited here as part of my 3 week road trip I did to see as parts of Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina by hire car from Podgorica, Montenegro.
This was combined with crossing the border into Croatia and also Bosnia Herzegovina, eventually returning to where it all started.
See below for the other destinations on this trip. Travelling by car between these places was actually one of the best car trips I have done and so easy. Road conditions were good, traffic light but do remember to get the necessary car insurance upgrade from the hire company to take it across the borders.
Check beforehand if they permit it, tell them and get the stamps etc put on the documents as all border police in the Balkans do check these documents.
Adriatic coastline, Croatia. The Journey
The next part of my journey by rented car was from staying in Herceg Novi, (see Herceg Novi post here), to crossing the Montenegro/Croatia border and driving onto my next stay in Dubrovnik, (see post on Dubrovnik here). This was all part of my 3 country, 6 city tour.
Up to now I had already visited Podgorica (see post here), where my journey began and had stopped off at Budva (post here) and Kotor (post here) on the way.
I had been warned to ensure I took out extra car insurance with the rental Company in Montenegro that permitted me to take it across the border into Croatia and Bosnia. A friend had said that this extra insurance in not necessary but I was unsure.
In Montenegro the car hire agent actually asked me if I was thinking of driving across the border as a stamp and authorisation would need to be put on the car documents for a charge and this would be checked at the border. I wondered if this was a scare tactic to get more money out of me but just to be on the safe side I agreed and it was actually a quite small charge.
When I got to the border, sure enough, the border agents wanted to see the car documents and checked that I had the official stamp and insurance to go across the border with the car. I noticed at the Bosnia border crossing a few days later they also checked the documents.
So I guess the answer to anyone wondering, is that yes, you do need to ask for the extra insurance and documents to take a car from Montenegro across neighbouring borders.
The Montenegrin side had views across wide flattish plains often with olive trees and planted areas to the distant mountains.
Along the coastal road
The coastal road is very well maintained and modern and parts looked like it had been recently refurbished. It is not a dual carriageway for such a major road but it was fast moving and well designed . It passes by various towns and on the Croatian side has several big laybys where you can stop to admire the views and take a few pics
On the Croatian side the views become more spectacular as the roads gets nearer to the sea edge and the land between the cliffs and the sea gets less and less.
As you near Dubrovnik the mountains next to the Adriatic coastline, Croatia get bigger and more dominant and headlands start to jut into the sea and even small islands form off the coast. Dubrovnik jutting into the sea becomes visible ahead to one side as you get nearer to the city The day was rather misty with low light hence the darkness of the photos
I use Maps.me for all my navigation needs. I used it for my Adriatic coastline, Croatia trip and it was excellent. It is great within cities when walking as it shows not just the roads and main sites but even alleyways and public steps between levels. It is equally great when driving. It’s free to download onto you phone and free to use anywhere in the world. Click here for website then download to your phone
There’s no data usage charged but do remember to download the maps you will need in advance. This saves time if you need a large map and thus long (free) download time to do it. I use it faithfully and it’s never let me down yet!
Adriatic coastline, Croatia
Feb 2018
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Croatia looks like such a gorgeous place to visit. Good tip on the car insurance sometimes better be safe than sorry!
Croatia definitely has beautiful scenery and the Adriatic coastline is such a picturesque are of the counytry.
Who doesn’t love a coast road drive? Such pretty views, and good to know there are places to stop along the way. So many times you just want to stop so badly and can’t. I’d love to visit Croatia. Hoping one day to make it and I think renting a car would be a must
I really wish thay had put more roadside stops so I could show more of the views that I saw but could not pull over – that would have made my journey a few hours longer though!
This was part of my plans for April 2020, but the pandemic got in the way. I wanted to do this trip for exactly that, drive the coastline. I’ve done a road trip along the coast in Italy, France and Portugal and wanted to do the same here. I love the scenic views and the ability to stop along side the road, when safe, to take it all in. One day, it will have to go back on the list!
Such a pity that you never got to do that. Likewise it had been a dream of mne to drive this route and I managed to combine it with interior visits as well. Keep it in your plans as it is such a scenic panorama that’s worth doing.
I love the pictures, especially the ones of the more rugged land in Montenegro. Thanks for the tip on maps.me. You’ve mentioned it before, but I just downloaded it after reading this. I’ll take a look at it later because the iPhone map isn’t always reliable when traveling out of the country and I’m not a huge fan of google maps.
I use maps.me on Android so hopefully it works just as well o iPhones. I prefer it as a map guide as it covers more detail about the route and id free to use anywhere in the world if you download the maps you will need to your phone before leaving the country.
This part of Europe has some spectacular scenery to enjoy.
Great post which brings back memories of our recent trip – we drove along the coastline to Dubrovnik and then into Bosnia. As we were flying in, we couldn’t help but notice the cypress and olive trees. Like you, we found the road to be well maintained, fast moving and… spectacularly beautiful. Thank you for the maps.me tip. We use a cheap satnav when we’re on the road but it’s always good to have maps downloaded to the phone as a backup.
We both seemed to enjoy the area! This part of Europe has some spectacular scenery with mountains and sea views dominant. I use maps.me a lot, especially in towns as it gives more info than Google maps and even shows footpaths, stairs between walkways etc which Google doesn’t. The roads in this region are remarkably well maintained which was a pleasant surprise.
What a beautiful drive. Those coastal views plus the mountains are stunning!
Glad you liked the photos. It was indeed an epic drive
We once droved from Italy and crossed the borders in Slovenia and Croatia. I remember the scenic mountain and coastal drive without the traffic and stress. The changing sceneries are stunnig and somehow driving along the stretch of highways is a subtle way to connect with the landscape #flyingbaguette
Jan – https://flyingbaguette.com/
I would totally agree.
The lack of traffic made the journeys pretty stress-free and enjoyable.
It does also help that the scenery is stunning everywhere you look.
There are few things I love more than a road trip. This stretch of driving is very inviting with good roads and wonderful views.
I agree with you about maps.me. It has never let me down, even in the most remote areas of Canada when I’m out of cellular range. (maps downloaded in advance). It’s a great navigation app that deserves your recommendation.
Lyn | http://www.ramblynjazz.com
yep, maps.me has been invaluable to me over the years on my travels – as long as you download the maps in advance or use hotel Wi-Fi, otherwise it can be an expensive data use event.
Good to know they allowed you to take the car abroad for an extra cost, usually car rentals are quite strict with that and can be funny. The drive itself looks beautiful and I can imagine that it took you some time to drive the distance as you stopped after every bend and admired the even more scenic views. This must have been such a pinch me moment. To navigate around, I would use a local sim and data (I can imagine it being reasonably affordable in Croatia) and use Google Maps for directions.
Carolin | Solo Travel Story
I used maps.me for car driving. It’s a free app to down load maps in advance at home or via the hotel free Wi-Fi, to avoid charges on downloading in the street. i found it excellent for the car and on foot.
This was a drive where I defo had to keep reminding myself to watch the road not the beautiful scenery passing me by.
There are few things as good about traveling as taking a road trip along scenic roads! I’m very fond of this kind of adventure and of discovering destinations while exploring the lines on the map… whether it’s on paper or in digital format!
This road trip has encouraged me to more of the same. In fact I did a similar one for the whole island of Cyprus and it was as equally easy and enjoyable.
I was planning a trip like this in 2020 and it got cancelled – so I liked living vicariously through you. I’m glad you took the extra caution for the paperwork. Sometimes it’s not worth the saved money. Imagine if you didn’t have it! You’ve inspired me to start planning again!
Glad to have inspired you to plan again. This area is a delight to travel around by car and also so easy to navugate.