Pula to Dubrovnik
one-way car hire.

How far is Pula to Dubrovnik by car?

Pula to Dubrovnik is 713 km by road from Pula Airport to the Pile Gate, a drive of 8 h 45, and Dubrovnik Airport is 731 km, 9 h 05. It is the longest of the four one-way returns from Pula: Split is 517 km along the same road south, 6 h 05.

Times are without traffic or stops; summer queues and toll plazas add to them. Leave that margin when you set the return time.

Can I collect in Pula and return the car in Dubrovnik?

Yes. Dubrovnik is the furthest of the one-way return cities from Pula; choose it in the Drop off tab of the form above. The price each car shows then includes the one-way charge, which differs from car to car and from one pair of cities to another. The search lists two Dubrovnik places, Dubrovnik airport (DBV) and City delivery, and your voucher gives the return point for your car.

The deposit, the card rule and the free-cancellation mark stay the car’s own on a one-way hire.

Which road runs from Pula to Dubrovnik?

Like every drive east from Pula, it begins with the Istrian motorway and its tolls: 91 km of motorway, the A9 north to Kanfanar and the A8 through the Učka tunnel to Matulji. The A7 then rounds Rijeka, and the A6 climbs 81 km inland to Bosiljevo 2, where the A1 turns south.

The A1 runs 410 km south from Bosiljevo 2, past Ogulin, Otočac, Gospić, Sveti Rok, the Zadar and Šibenik junctions and Split, to the Ploče junction; three more tunnels take it to the Karamatići toll plaza, where the motorway ends. From there the road towards Ploče runs about 9 km, and the coast road carries the drive south over the Pelješac Bridge to Dubrovnik and on to the airport at Čilipi.

The Pelješac Bridge keeps the whole drive in Croatia and is toll-free. The old coast road through Neum is still open, but it crosses about 9 km of Bosnia and Herzegovina with two border crossings, Klek and Zaton Doli, so taking it means two border checks and a rental car cleared to leave Croatia.

What tolls and tunnels are on the drive?

An ordinary car pays class I, and tolls are the renter’s (clause 12): 12.10 EUR to Bina Istra for the Istrian Y, from the Pula plaza to Matulji through the Učka tunnel, and 34.90 EUR to HAC from the Rijeka (Grobnik) plaza on the A6 to Karamatići at the end of the A1. Until the barrier-free Crolibertas system applies in full, planned from 1 March 2027, both work by ticket: keep each ticket until its exit plaza. A van over 1.90 m high or a car towing a trailer is class II and pays more.

The motorway part of the drive runs through 38 tunnels: the Učka tunnel, four round Rijeka, twelve on the A6 led by Tuhobić at 2,143 m, and 21 on the A1, among them Mala Kapela, 5,760 m and the longest in Croatia, Sveti Rok, 5,681 m, Plasina, 2,300 m, and Konjsko, 1,254 m, south of Prgomet. The A1 also crosses the Gacka, Maslenica and Krka bridges, the Krka bridge 391.16 m long, and the new roads either side of the Pelješac Bridge have tunnels of their own.

Bora, the gusty wind off the coastal mountains, has closed the A1 between the Sveti Rok and Posedarje junctions to all traffic, as on 15 November 2024 and 6 April 2025, so check HAK’s road report on 072 777 777 before setting off.

Where can I stop for fuel between Pula and Dubrovnik?

Up to Bosiljevo 2 there are seven service areas with fuel on the way, the last of them Kupjak on the A6, which also has food and rooms. On the A1 south, fuel is at Dobra, Sokolac, Janjče, Zir, Jasenice, Nadin, Prokljan, Vrpolje Primorsko, Kozjak, Mosor and Raščane gornje. Modruš, Jezerane and Lički Osik are shop and parking stops, several others are parking only, and Dusina, before Ploče, is closed.

Raščane gornje, about 42 km before the Karamatići plaza, is the last fuel stop on the motorway, so fill up there for the coast road. Past Karamatići, rest areas stand at Brijesta and Komarna at the two ends of the Pelješac Bridge, and a fuel pump stands on the Dubrovnik Airport road for filling up before the return, since the car goes back with the fuel it left with (clause 3).

Where is the car returned, and can I drive into Dubrovnik?

Dubrovnik Airport sits near the village of Čilipi, 22.5 km from Dubrovnik, a drive of 30 to 35 minutes on average and up to an hour in the summer months. Numerous rental companies have offices there. The airport has a marked car park and vehicle-return point for rental cars, with rent-a-car parking at the Dubrovnik end of the car park beside the short-term parking (P2 to P5), and your rental voucher names the meeting place for your car.

From 1 March to 30 November the special traffic zone around the Old Town is open to authorised vehicles, and the rule covers rental cars as any other: a car without a reservation or registered accommodation parking is fined, and the rental company can pass the fine on under its terms. The two public car parks inside the zone, below the cable car and at Pile, take prepaid reservations at 20.00 EUR an hour from May to October and 5.00 EUR from November to April (prices from 2 June 2025); a reserved car may enter up to 20 minutes before its slot and leaves within 20 minutes after it.

What conditions come with the car?

The rental conditions for Croatia set a 24-hour minimum charge and a same-level fuel return, require a national licence in Latin script and, where the car asks, a physical embossed credit card in the main driver’s name, and allow some companies to hold the deposit for 30 to 45 days (clauses 1, 3, 14, 16 and 17). The cover and deposit rules for a Pula hire go with the car to Dubrovnik: standard cover excludes the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen and the interior (clause 5).