Korcula island is midway between Split and Dubrovnik and can be reached from either airport although travelling via Dubrovnik offers greater flexibility due to frequency of ferry crossings.
If you fly to Split there will be several options open to you. All ferry departures are from Split ferry port (25 minutes from the airport but allow longer in busy periods). The only car ferry crossing is with Jadrolinija to Vela Luka, the town at the west end of the island of Korcula. The crossing takes two hours 45 minutes and in peak season there are two departures a day, mid-morning and late afternoon. The cost for a car and a familyu of four with children over 12 years will be around €95 ech way. Jadrolinija also offers a daily fast catamaran service to Vela Luka for foot passengers that departs at 15.00 every day with a crossing time (via Hvar) of 2 hours 20 minutes. A ticket on the fast catamaran will be around €8 per head each way. Check timetables and prices on the Jadrolinija website. If there are severe storms check for delays or cancellations.
From Split the Kapetan Luka ferry company provide a daily catamaran foot passenger service departing Split each morning at 10.00am (but check times on the website) and arriving Korcula Town at the east end of the island, stopping at Hvar en-route, at 12.30pm. Kapetan Luka also provide catamaran foot passenger services departing Split every day in the late afternoon (line 9608) and stopping at Prigradica (2 hours from Split) on the north coast of Korcula island before continuing to Korcula Town (two hours 45 minutes from Split) and a daily service departing early morning from Split and arriving in Korcula town after 2 hours and 50 minutes with stops on Brac island and at Makarska on the mainland along the way.
If you choose to drive from Split to Korcula you can drive down the coast towards Dubrovnik before taking the car ferry crossing from Ploce over to Trpanj on the Peljesac peninsula, followed by a short drive across the peninsula to Orebic from where you can take the car ferry over to Korcula (Domnice). See below for details. The crossing from Ploce is 60 minutes and there are seven crossings a day in peak season. Unless the ferry times work well for you it may be quicker to drive further down the mainland coast and then turn off to drive up the length of the Peljesac peninsula to Orebic. Either way the journey from Split airport to Orebic will take over three hours.
Flying to Dubrovnik Airport offers the greatest flexibility and is probably the best solution if you are staying near Korcula town at the east end of the island. From Dubrovnik airport it is a two hour scenic drive up the coast and along the length of the Peljesac peninsula to Orebic from where there is a 15 minute ferry crossing; either by foot passenger only ferry which docks right at the entrance to Korcula old town, or by car ferry which docks at Domnice which is 5 minutes drive from Korcula town. The car ferry runs every 60 to 90 minutes in the summer season with the first crossing at 05.30am and the last at around midnight. The foot passenger ferry runs non stop from 9am to 5.30pm during the summer.
Dubrovnik Airport is located near the town of Cavtat 19km to the south of Dubrovnik. There are direct flights to Dubrovnik from most European countries and from Philadelphia in the USA.
There are bus and taxi services into Dubrovnik centre. A taxi transfer can be expected to cost around 35 to 40 euro one way depending on the time of day and the season and a minibus around 50-60 euros. A shuttle bus service from the airport to Dubrovnik is 7.5 euro per person each way.
Split Airport is located to the west of Split close to the town of Trogir. It is 25 minutes drive from the airport to the ferry port in Split although you should allow longer in mid summer.
Matko Farčić – certified real estate agent.