I’ll be the first to admit that for a travel writer it should not have taken this long to do a long distance coach journey, but somehow it has. As part of my trip to Slovenia I decided to cross the border into Croatia to visit the city of Zagreb for the day.
This particular review is based on the return journey from Zagreb to Ljubljana using Flixbus as I have more to talk about with this journey.
Below are the details for this particular journey.
Origin: Zagreb
My Destination: Ljubljana coach station
Scheduled journey time: 2 hours 25 minutes
Actual journey time: 2 hours 18 minutes
Price: £13
Getting to the Bus Station
It should be noted that Zagreb bus station is not in the city centre. It is located approximately 25 minutes walk away from the main train station.
The best word I can use to describe the bus station is functional, essentially, it does what it needs to do and no more.
Once inside there is a large number of ticket counter’s available, and you should be able to find a staff member who speaks English, but try and learn some basic phrases as this will help both parties.
My biggest criticism is that for a transport hub with services to places such as Frankfurt, Paris and Lyon is there is no good place to buy things you might need such as water or snacks.
Basic retail outlets are available, but buy in advance and bring them with you would be my advice.
Finding and Boarding the Coach
As it turns out there are two ways you can do this, the official way (I recommend), or the tourist way (I don’t recommend).
The official route takes you above the coaches and requires you to walk down a narrow set of stairs and through a very suspicious looking door.
The non-official way is to walk across the forecourt in front of buses and coaches and jump over barriers, it might surprise you how many people try this!
My biggest issue with Flixbus is working out which bus is yours. They are not like buses in the UK which have screens on the front with the destination, rather they have a small card somewhere on the front window.
Once I confirmed it was my bus I showed my driver my ticket and encountered a problem.
I’ll admit I only speak English, and can understand sentences in Czech and Slovak. My driver did not speak any of these languages, Flixbus has drivers from across Europe, and as I later worked out my driver was speaking Hungarian and Croatian.
As a result our communication consisted of nods and pointing, but I made it to Slovenia so it must have worked.
The Coach and Journey
I found my seat quickly and kept my bag at my feet, the bus had a light load so there was space to keep it next to me.
My initial thoughts were that the seats were comfortable and had enough legroom.
Normally I have just enough legroom on coaches and buses, but this was more than adequate for my journey, and I can easily see this being enough for longer journeys.
The seats recline a good amount and you should be able to find a seating position that is comfortable for your journey.
Our departure from Zagreb was on time and was despite a busy time on the roads we were out of the city in no time.
As we approached the Croatian/Slovenia border it’s time for a quick lesson in European politics;
In the European Union there is an agreement between member states called the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area allows for the free movement of people between member states and essentially removes internal borders between member states.
Until December 31st 2022 Slovenia was a member and Croatia was not, meaning that vehicles moving between the two counties were subject to passport control checks. On January 1st, 2023 Croatia became the 27th member state, meaning vehicles no longer need to stop when travelling between the two.
Now you are up to speed on modern day EU politics I should explain that my journey was on January 15th 2023. As a result Flixbus had not updated their timetables to reflect the fact they do not need to stop at the border.
As a result of this, our driver made the decision to stop at a fuel station just after the border to allow passengers to get off the bus and get some food or drinks before continuing to Ljubljana.
After a 30 minute stop we continued on our journey. Due to the time of year the rest of the journey was completed in darkness.
Despite the 30 minute stop we still arrived into Ljubljana 7 minutes ahead of schedule, impressive given the heavy rain that night.
My Final Thoughts
I did not know what to expect from this journey having never done something like this before. I was impressed by the service provided, especially given the price I paid.
Although I had the choice between taking the coach and the train I am glad I decided to take the coach. If I needed to do another journey like this again I would happily consider using Flixbus again, and would look at other opportunities to incorporate a journey into an itinerary.
George Nugent Travels 