Dubrovnik to Split: There Is No Train
If you arrived here after seeing a site advertise Dubrovnik to Split train tickets, you did not misread anything. Those pages exist and they rank. There is still no train, and there has not been one since 1976. Here is what actually runs on this route, what each option costs, and which one to take.
Is there a train from Dubrovnik to Split?
No. Dubrovnik has no railway station at all, and the narrow-gauge line that once served the city was suspended on 1 June 1976. The bus is the answer for almost everyone: 3 hours 55 minutes to 4 hours 18 minutes, from about 13 EUR, with nine or more departures a day. The Krilo catamaran takes about 4 hours 30 minutes for around 50 EUR and is worth the money in summer. Driving via the Peljesac Bridge is fastest on paper at about 3 hours 13 minutes.
Every way to get from Dubrovnik to Split
Four things move people along this coast, and one of them is a myth. Here is every option compared, including the one that does not exist:
Bus
Our pickFlixBus, Arriva and other Croatian operators
- Duration
- 3 h 55 min - 4 h 18 min
- Typical price
- 13-23 EUR one-way
- Frequency
- 10-20 departures/day
The default, and a good default. Leaves Dubrovnik's main bus station at Obala pape Ivana Pavla II 44 in Gruz, not the Old Town, which is a 15-minute local bus away. Arrives at Obala kneza Domagoja in Split, next door to the ferry terminal and a ten-minute walk from Diocletian's Palace. The drawback: the coast road is a coach road for much of the way, buses are full in August, and the air conditioning is a lottery. If you get motion sick, take a morning departure and sit at the front.
Krilo catamaran
Kapetan Luka (Krilo), TP Line, Jadrolinija
- Duration
- ~4 h 30 min
- Typical price
- ~50 EUR one-way
- Frequency
- Daily, 1 April to 31 October
Leaves Gruz Harbour at 15:30 and reaches Split at 20:00, calling at Mljet (Pomena), Korcula Old Town, Hvar Town and Brac (Milna), docking at Gat sv. Petra in the middle of Split. TP Line runs the same water for about 45 EUR departing 09:15, which is the better choice if you want your evening in Split. Foot passengers only; the direct car ferry was discontinued in 2014. The drawback: it is roughly three times the bus fare and half an hour slower, rough weather cancels sailings, and the season shuts at the end of October. Do not put a catamaran on the day before an international flight.
Driving or private transfer
Self-drive or private transfer
- Duration
- ~3 h 13 min
- Typical price
- Fuel and tolls, plus any one-way fee
- Frequency
- Any time
236 km via the Peljesac Bridge with no border crossing at all. The older Neum corridor route through Bosnia is 229 km and about 3 hours, nominally twelve minutes faster, and a bad trade in summer when each of the two crossings can take up to two hours. Take the bridge; the twelve minutes are not real. The drawback: one-way rental drop-off fees between Dubrovnik and Split are steep and Split's old-town parking is scarce and expensive. If you are not driving the rest of Dalmatia, this is the worst value on the list.
Flying
None currently
- Duration
- No scheduled direct service
- Typical price
- n/a
- Frequency
- None
There is no active scheduled direct flight between Dubrovnik and Split. Even when one ran it was about 50 minutes in the air, which the airport transfers at both ends would have more than cancelled out.
Train
None
- Duration
- Does not exist
- Typical price
- n/a
- Frequency
- None since 1976
The narrow-gauge line that once reached Dubrovnik ran from Capljina in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina on 76-centimetre track, opened in 1901, and was nicknamed Ciro after its steam locomotive. Traffic was suspended on 1 June 1976 because Yugoslav Railways was cutting unprofitable routes. Nothing replaced it. Croatia's rail network stops well short of the southern Dalmatian coast, and Split is the furthest south you can reach by train from Zagreb.
How to book, step by step
Ignore anything showing a train time
Several sites rank for this route with train timetables and high-speed train tickets. There is no railway. What those pages generally do is take your search, quietly substitute a bus or a boat and add a markup. If a page shows you a train time on this route, close it, because everything else it tells you is suspect too.
Get to Dubrovnik's bus station in Gruz
The main bus station is at Obala pape Ivana Pavla II 44 in Gruz, about 15 minutes by local bus from the Old Town. It is also where the catamaran leaves from, so both options start in the same part of town.
Book buses with the operator, catamarans with the ferry line
Buy bus tickets from the operator or a named bus platform, and catamaran tickets from the ferry operator. Do that and you are not paying a middleman for a product they invented. Book the catamaran ahead in July and August; it sells out.
Arrive in Split next to everything
The bus and the catamaran both land you in the centre. Split's bus station on Obala kneza Domagoja sits directly beside the ferry port, so if you are carrying on to Hvar or Brac you can walk it with a suitcase.
Insider tips
- Going the other way is the same journey with the same operators, but the catamaran timings flip in a way that matters: southbound sailings generally leave Split in the morning, so you get the islands in daylight and arrive in Dubrovnik with an evening in front of you.
- Since the Peljesac Bridge opened, buses cross it rather than cutting through the Neum corridor, so the two Bosnian border stops are gone. Routing still varies by operator and Bosnia is outside Schengen, so carry your passport anyway. It costs nothing to have it.
- Sources disagree on Jadrolinija's season on this route: one operator guide lists it year-round at roughly six hours, another lists it as June to September only. Check Jadrolinija's own timetable before building a shoulder-season plan around it.
- The catamaran calls at Mljet, Korcula, Hvar and Brac on the way, which makes it the cheapest island sampler in Dalmatia if you are choosing where to spend the rest of the week.
- The most useful result on page one of this search is a Eurail forum thread titled 'From Dubrovnik to Split. No train, what is the alternative.' Real travellers had to go and ask, because the commercial results told them otherwise.
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