Aquileia and Our Route into Croatia
This is our preferred route for getting from Italy into Croatia in September having come along from the lakes. . It’s not a touring route, so it’s not relevant if you want to explore Slovenia en route. We like to prepare ourselves with a restful two-night
stop at Aquileia before setting off.
From the Lakes on the A4 , the Venice / Trieste motorway, or after joining the A4 from the A23 , leave at junction sr352 to Cervignano and then Aquileia and the delightful
Camping Aquileia. ACSI rates, roman ruins, a supermarket (stock up on gin) a Basilica, and a swimming pool to cool down.
Setting off for Croatia, turn right out the campsite and make your way to the ss14 where again you turn eastwards towards Monfalcone (another campsite but not as nice as Aquileia) We rejoin the a4 at this point as we don’t want to end up down in Trieste,
and we kind of know the way by now without a satnav.
The next stage is to look out for the E61 to Bassovizza and then on through Slovenia ( vignette not required) to Rupa in Croatia where you can take the motorway towards Rijeka. There are stops along the way in Slovenia to top up on cheap fuel and to buy
Kuna. It’s a single carriageway and it’s favoured by Germans wanting to avoid the toll: it may not be suitable if you’re towing a big double-axle caravan.
The border between Slovenia and Croatia isn’t the problem it used to be, now that Croatia is in the process of joining the EU.
As you approach Rijeka you can turn right, so to speak, to the eastern coast of Istria and, in our case, the ferry to Cres and the islands beyond. The short voyage ferries are turn up, buy your ticket and wait in line. They’re pretty frequent so the wait
isn’t that long, especially if you’re sitting in the sunshine.
Following the coast road above Rijeka will take you down the Kvarner coast and beyond to Senj and then Dalmatia.
We're off next week and hope to be in Croatia for most of September. Might see some of you down there! Meanwhile, we thought this alternate route into Croatia might be of interest.