Dubrovnik to Split by car: the coast road, the Pelješac Bridge and the stops, with a driver

The drive from Dubrovnik to Split used to mean two border checks at Neum and a long day on the coast road. Since July 2022 the Pelješac Bridge has kept the whole journey inside Croatia, and the A1 motorway takes over for the last stretch, so Split is now about three and a quarter hours away. This guide compares the two routes, explains the motorway and suggests the stops worth making on a day with a driver.

The two routes

Both are OpenStreetMap routing estimates from Pile Gate, without stops or traffic. Neither crosses a border.

The fastest route follows the D8 north along the coast past Trsteno, bypasses Ston on an 8 km road built with the bridge, crosses the Pelješac peninsula and the bridge, rejoins the D8 on the mainland and then joins the A1 motorway at Ploče for about the last 104 km.

The coast road stays on the D8 the whole way, through Makarska, about 159 km from the Old Town by this route and about three hours away. It is slower, but it is the road for stops by the sea.

The Pelješac Bridge

For decades the D8 crossed a strip of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s coast at Neum, with two border checks within about 9 km. The Pelješac Bridge, opened to traffic on 26 July 2022, avoids it: it is about 2.4 km long and crosses Mali Ston Bay from the mainland to the Pelješac peninsula.

The European Commission contributed €357,284,407 from the European Regional Development Fund to the project “Road connection to south Dalmatia”, whose total investment was €526,010,320, including the access roads, the Ston bypass and the upgrade of the D414 across the peninsula. It says the link cut the drive between the two parts of the D8 from at best 59 minutes to 22 minutes.

The bridge itself rises 55 m above the sea for shipping and has five central spans of 285 m; it was designed by Marjan Pipenbaher and built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, as Wikipedia’s article on the bridge records.

The A1 and its tolls

The A1 currently ends in the south at the Ploče interchange: the Vrgorac–Ploče section opened on 20 December 2013, and no works beyond design have been carried out on a section towards Dubrovnik, according to Wikipedia’s article on the A1. Tolls are collected on a closed system, with a ticket taken at the entrance and paid at the exit. On a car with a driver they are part of the price, so there is nothing to pay on the way.

Stops worth making

• Trsteno, about 20 km from the Old Town: the arboretum, which existed by 1492 and has been run by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1950, stood in for the Red Keep gardens in seasons 3 and 4 of Game of Thrones. Two of its oriental plane trees are over 500 years old.
• Ston, about 55 km: the Walls of Ston were begun in 1358 by the Republic of Ragusa to protect the town and its salt pans, which are still worked; about 5.5 km survive of more than 7 km, as Wikipedia’s article on the walls records.
• The Pelješac peninsula: from Ston the D414 runs the length of the peninsula to Orebić, about 110 km from the Old Town, where the car ferry crosses to Korčula in about 20 minutes. It is a detour from the Split road, best kept for a day of its own.
• Makarska, on the coast road, about 159 km from the Old Town: the natural lunch stop if you take the slow route.

A morning drive, stop by stop

With an 08:00 start from the Old Town and short stops, the fastest route looks like this:

Add half an hour at Trsteno and an hour in Ston and you reach Split in the early afternoon.

One way, or there and back?

If Split is the next stop of your holiday, the one-way route takes you and your luggage from your door in Dubrovnik to your hotel, the ferry port or Split Airport: €330 by car or €420 by minivan, per vehicle. The transfer from Split to Dubrovnik costs the same, from your hotel or Split Airport. For a day out and back, the return is booked as a second journey at the same price, or the car and driver are hired by the hour; a full day of 8 hours costs €360 by car and includes 300 km, less than the round trip of about 470 km, so for Split the two routes are usually the better choice.

Leave early in July and August, when even the 30 to 35-minute drive from the city to the airport can take up to an hour, according to the airport. On the fastest route you can be in Split for lunch after a morning start.

Other ways to Split

Intercity buses run between Dubrovnik and Split from the main bus station in Gruž, and seasonal catamarans link the two cities, calling at islands on the way. Both suit a one-way trip without much luggage; a driver wins when you want the stops, or when the group and its suitcases fill a minivan.

Which vehicle?

For up to four passengers the Volkswagen Passat or the Mercedes-Benz E-Class makes the trip comfortably; for five to eight, the minivan, or the Mercedes-Benz V-Class for up to seven with more room. Our Split section shows the route with its stops, and the price list has Makarska and Split Airport too.