Croatia Travel Update March 20, 2020: Flights, Ferries, Borders, Self-Isolation

MARCH 23, 2020 CROATIA TRAVEL UPDATE

March 20, 2020 – As the coronavirus dominates, a Croatia travel update on flights, ferries, trains, buses, borders and self-isolation. 

Things are changing very quickly as the coronavirus crisis escalates in Europe. A Croatia travel update on what is – and is not – open or running. 

Croatia Travel Update: Are the borders of Croatia open? 

This is the latest official information from HAK on the situation at the borders of Croatia. For the latest information (in English), check out the HAK website. 

Transit passengers information, if travelling through Republic of Croatia:

• use motorways only;
• use the following rest areas only: Novska jug, Novska sjever, Kozjak jug, Prokljan sjever, Draganić sjever, Draganić jug, Bačva and Ravna Gora;
• during breaks keep distance between You and other people;
• obey the rules of Civil protection or police officers.

At all border crossings with Croatia inbound traffic is allowed only to Croatian citizens (14-day isolation mandatory) as well as for some special groups of people, such as medical personnel, scientists, eldercare personnel, cross-border workers, freight traffic, diplomats, police officers, civil protection teams, international organizations members, militaries and transit passengers.

At the border crossings with Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro traffic is suspended for all vehicles, except for the citizens of these countries as well as for freight vehicles.

At Bogojevo (Erdut) border crossing all passenger traffic is closed.

Traffic is closed at the following border crossings:

• at Goričan border crossing, detour: Goričan junction-ŽC2026-DC3;
• at Dvor and Vitaljina border crossings – open only to passenger traffic;
• at Gunja border crossing – there is a traffic ban on freight vehicles and buses.

Due to traffic bans on freight vehicles in Slovenia long delays should be expected in freight traffic at Bregana/Obrežje and Macelj/Gruškovje border crossings starting 1 June.

Croatia Travel Update: Are the ferries in Croatia running normally?

Domestic ferries are running as normal. This is the latest update from HAK:

807 Dubrovnik-Koločep-Lopud-Suđurađ ship does not operate from 2pm till 4.30pm.

Split-Ancona international line does not operate till 1 April, Dubrovnik-Bari till 19 April 2020.

Other ferries operate regularly.

Till 1 June 2020 401 Zadar (Gaženica)-Ist-Olib-Silba-Premuda-Mali Lošinj ferry does not embark at Silba port due to roadworks.

As reported earlier on TCN, Jadrolinija is now requesting that passengers make their ticket purchases online or via their app. 

You can check the latest from Jadrolinija on their website.

Croatia Travel Update: What is the situation with train travel in Croatia?

The latest HAK update on the railways:

All information about changes in schedule made due to COVID-19 regarding Croatian and international railway traffic you can get here.

Due to repair work passengers are transported by buses so delays are possible on the following sections:

– between Dugo Selo and Križevci railway stations (on the rail state border-Botovo-Dugo Selo)

– between Zaprešić and Zabok railway stations (on the rail Zaprešić-Čakovec)

– between Sunja and Sisak Caprag railway stations (on the rail Zagreb-Sisak-Novska)

– between Ogulin and Moravice railway stations (on the rail Zagreb-Rijeka).

International railway traffic:

Railway traffic is suspended towards Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Serbia and Hungary.

Croatia Travel Update: What is the situation with flights to Croatia?

The closing of the EU external borders took effect today, a measure that will last for 30 days. As such, all international flights outside EU borders have now been cancelled. There are still flights to Zagreb within EU borders, and so there is not a total flight ban, as ExYuAviation noted a few days ago:

The EU travel will only partially affect Croatia. Under the plan, only visitors from non-EU states will not be allowed to enter the region unless they are long-term residents of the EU, family members of EU nationals, diplomats, cross-border commuters, or essential workers like doctors, nurses, and researchers. The majority of Croatia Airlines’ network is concentrated within the EU, however, plummeting demand and various national restrictions will see the carrier cancel at least nine return flights today, among which are services to cities outside of the block such as Sarajevo and Skopje. Furthermore, flights from Zagreb to Copenhagen, Vienna and Munich have also been cancelled so far today. Despite the new circumstances, Aeroflot, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways will operate their flights to the Croatian capital today.

HOWEVER, checking the Zagreb airport departures page today, there were two non-EU flights which appeared to depart – Croatia Airlines to Sarajevo, and Qatar Airways to Doha. Here is the Zagreb Airport departures page for the latest info. Contact your airline for the latest news regarding your flight. 

Croatia Airlines also have a dedicated information page on which of their flights are going, as well as flight cancellations.

Internal flights within Croatia remain available, as do some to other EU countries. Dubrovnik Airport is closed, however, due to a coronavirus infection. You can see which internal flights are available from Split here – all international flights to the coast have stopped. 

We have had a LOT of emails asking what will happen with flight cancellations, and will things be ok in May, June and beyond. Obviously, we have no idea how things will develop. With the 30-day international ban, most flights are already cancelled. We hope the situation will improve, but recommend you check with your individual airline, who will be better informed than us. If there are any major announcements, we will publish them on TCN. Please do not contact us with individual queries about your flight, as we have limited resources currently and are unable to help more than this update.

READER INFO UPDATE (added after publication)

A booking was made today (Friday) for travel starting from Split on Sunday by US citizen to US.

Sunday: Separate domestic leg SPU-ZAG.Monday, from Zagreb: ZAG-BRU-EWR (Newark, NJ). United Airlines.

Croatia Travel Update: Are buses running in Croatia?

Yes they are, but at reduced capacity in many cases. I don’t have a good resource for national information (if anyone does, please contact me at [email protected] and I will add). One of the biggest operators, Croatia Bus, stopped all routes temporarily due to COVID-19 (source Zagreb Bus Station Facebook page).

Zagreb Bus Station has published a number to call – 072 500 400 – to check if your bus is running. 

In other more localised bus news by TCN, there is free local bus travel in Dubrovnik, and here is a recent update from Split bus station. 

Please note that the issue of restricting internal travel has been raised, as part of the strategy to contain the virus, so it could well happy soon that there are few, is any, buses available. 

Croatia Travel Update: What are the self-isolation rules for people arriving, who do they apply to, and what is the procedure?

There has been a lot of confusion about the mandatory 14-day self-isolation requirements, what they entail and how they are enforced, as well as who they apply to.  I am very grateful to Lauren Simmonds for this excellent overview, having contacted and worked through various sources of conflicting information. Check out Lauren’s guide to self-isolation in Croatia here. 

The Croatian Government has launched a new information website to coordinate all information about coronavirus in Croatia, called Koronavirus.hr. This includes a page (in Croatian – Google Translate is your friend) called Going on a Trip? 

If you have any reliable information to improve the resource above, please contact me on [email protected] and I will update if relevant. 

For the latest on the coronavirus crisis in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.  

Stay safe! 

 

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