Slovenia - bypassing toll motorway sections

We have tried this route:

From the Austrian motorway A9 /Graz – Maribor/we take exit 226 GERSDORF. After the exit we turn left, go under the motorway and continue along the main road until the town of MURECK. /a little way from the exit there is a cheap petrol station on the left, we fill up here on the way to Croatia and buy an Austrian motorway vignette here on the way from Croatia/. We drive through MURECK on the main road and at the end of the town we turn right towards Slovenia. The turn is signposted.

We cross the border bridge over the Mur River /Cmurek/. After the bridge, we turn right and continue along the main road until we reach the town of LENART. We continue to the town of PTUJ.

In the city of PTUJ we drive to the center to the bridge over the Drava River. There are two bridges in PTUJ: one new and one old. To the old bridge we will be guided by signs to Maribor. There is a roundabout before entering the old bridge.

We cross the bridge and at the next roundabout /0.6 km from the first roundabout/we take the second exit towards DRAŽENCI, we continue along the main road until we reach the next roundabout /about 1.6 km/. At the roundabout, we take the second exit towards DRAŽENCI. After 2.6 km, the main road turns left, we continue along the main road for about 3 km to the T-junction. Here we turn left towards VIDEM. After about 3.8 km we arrive at the roundabout. We take the second exit towards VIDEM, LESKOVEC. After about 7 km we arrive at the next roundabout. From there, we take the second exit towards ZGORNJI LESKOVEC. We continue along the main road until we reach the CVETLIN border crossing /about 12.2 km/.

This border crossing to Croatia is open 24/7. It only works for EU citizens. Citizens from non-EU countries cannot use this border crossing. In our experience, after Croatia joined Schengen, the crossing is without controls.

From the CVETLIN border crossing, drive 2.6 km to a T-junction, turn right towards TRAKOŠČAN, drive 2.7 km to another T-junction, turn right towards MACELJ and continue along the main road to the MACELJ motorway exit /about 7.5 km/.

Here it is possible to enter the Croatian motorway. To save time and money, we continue on a very good road towards KRAPINA and enter the motorway after about 10 km at the DURMANEC motorway exit. There are never any queues at the toll gate here and we save on motorway fees to Zagreb.

We have tried this route. It is winding, longer and slower than the motorway. Compared to the motorway, we will drive about 30 km more and of course slower. The advantage is a significant saving on motorway fees /when travelling there and back, we will save 32 EUR for a passenger car and 64 EUR for a minibus or van/. Another big advantage is that we are still driving, we do not stand in traffic jams anywhere.

We wish you a safe journey.

Jarmila + Zbyněk Vals

The text was updated in December 2024.