The airport gives its distance from Dubrovnik as 22.5 km, and most cars for car rental collected at Dubrovnik Airport are based at the airport itself. The airport puts the drive at 30 to 35 minutes on average and says to plan for up to an hour in the summer months. The routed time from the rental car park to Pile Gate is about 30 minutes.
From 1 March to 30 November a rental car cannot enter the streets around the Old Town without access arranged in advance.
Can I drive into Dubrovnik Old Town in a rental car?
Not freely, from 1 March to 30 November. The City of Dubrovnik runs a special traffic regime zone over the inner city: the districts of Grad, Pile-Kono and Ploče iza Grada, including the areas of Ilijina glavica, Iza Grada, Zlatni potok, Sveti Jakov, Pile and Ploče. During that period only authorised vehicles may enter, drive in and leave the zone.
Enforcement is electronic, with video surveillance. Under the City decision, the fine for an unauthorised entry with a private person's own car is 260 EUR; rental cars fall under a separate City regulation. The Mayor may also switch the system on outside the March to November period, for cruise ship peaks or events. From 1 December to the end of February entry is otherwise unrestricted.
When is a visitor's car allowed into the zone?
In three cases. With a prepaid, reserved parking space at one of the two public car parks inside the zone, the Pile car park or the Žičara lower plateau below the cable car. When staying at private accommodation with a garage or private parking whose host has registered the car's number plate in advance. Or when staying at a hotel inside the zone.
With a prepaid space you may enter at most 20 minutes before the booked slot starts and must leave within 20 minutes after it ends. Reservations are made through the prepaid parking site of Sanitat Dubrovnik, the city's parking company. In all other cases entry is not permitted.
Who is fined if a rental car enters the zone?
Rental cars are not exempt. The City's instructions say offences with vehicles owned by rental companies are fined to the company under a separate City regulation for rental vehicles in the zone.
Under the rental terms for Croatia, fines are the renter's responsibility, and a fine the company receives for your rental period can be charged to the deposit held on a Dubrovnik rental car with administrative costs added. So an entry without a reservation can come back to you after the car is returned.
Where can I park outside the zone?
The Dubrovnik Tourist Board advises visitors without a reservation to park at designated lots such as Gruž, Ilijina Glavica or the public garage, and to use public transport to reach the Old Town. It also says there are public garages and car parks outside the centre.
Ilijina glavica is also named as an area inside the zone in the City decision, and the garage and the street area share the name. Check your route to any car park against the zone before driving in.
How does paid parking work in Dubrovnik?
Sanitat Dubrovnik runs public parking in numbered zones. Zone 0 is the two reservation-only car parks inside the traffic zone, Pile and Žičara lower plateau, charged 24 hours a day. Zone 1, the business zone around Gruž and the port, and zone 3, the wider city streets including Lapad and Gruž, are charged every day from 06:00 to 22:00. Zone 2 around the Old Town is for residents with a valid permit only.
Hourly parking can be paid at the meters, which give no change, by SMS, in the BMove and Dubrovnik Parking apps, or at Tisak kiosks. For SMS, send the number plate with no spaces to 708201 for zone 1 or 708203 for zone 3; a confirmation text comes back, and if none arrives within two minutes the payment has failed. Sanitat does not say whether SMS payment works from a foreign SIM.
Parking costs, like fuel and fines, are the renter's to pay under the rental terms.
