In response to the growing interest in Eastern Europe, in 2008 Eurail’s classic and long standing pass, the Eurail Global Pass, will welcome Croatia and Slovenia.

This brings the total number of countries to 20, making the pass even more flexible and better value for money.

Eurail Passes are available worldwide through Eurail’s own direct sales website at Eurail.com and through its network of official sales agents; ACP Rail International (eurail-acprail.com); Flight Centre (flightcentre.com); OctopusTravel.com and Rail Europe (raileurope.com – North America, raileurope.fr/wheretobuy – rest of the world).

More info at Trains Croatia  + Railway Map of Croatia + Map of Railway Network in Croatia + Eurail Group web : http://www.eurailgroup.com/

Germanwings , the low cost airline from Germany, is introducing flights from Cologne (Koln) in Germany to Osijek - the economic and cultural centre of Slavonia.

The first flight from Cologne (Koln) in Germany to Osijek Airport (OSI) ( http://www.osijek-airport.hr/) will start on 14th of March 2008.

The flights are scheduled twice a week – on Thursdays and Sundays.

Osijek – Cologne flights are advertised as 19 Euro one way.

Due to good location of Osijek and its airport, and its vicinity of Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia, it is expected these flights are going to be pretty popular.

However, if you hurry up with booking, there are some pretty good prices available at the moment – check Germanwings booking pages: http://www.germanwings.com/skysales/Search.aspx?culture=en-GB

The loan will enable the port to eliminate existing operational bottlenecks in handling bulk cargo and to increase its capacity to meet current and future market demands.

The construction of the terminal is part of the Ploce port expansion programme undertaken by the Croatian government, which the EBRD is co-financing jointly with the World Bank.

The loan will be guaranteed by the Republic of Croatia, while additional technical cooperation funding of EUR 50,000 has been provided by the Dutch donor fund for project preparation and assistance with preparation of the new concession agreement with the port operator.

By financing the Ploce Port expansion project, the EBRD and the World Bank will support the further development of trade along the Corridor Vc, one of the three major transport corridors linking Croatia to EU markets and improving coordination among all corridor participants in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first one is route Gaženica – hub Zadar 2 that opened for traffic by Croatian Minister Božidar Kalmeta. He opened the new four-line route Gaženica – hub Zadar 2,  positioned at the motorway Zagreb – Šestanovac, 17.5 km long. In front of the hub Zadar 2, the minister told the journalists that this represented one of the most important infrastructural objects in the Zadar county and an important starter for the development of the whole region. Kalmeta also mentioned the importance of the future port Gaženica, which will receive 220 million kunas of state funding, offering also a great opportunity for the progress of the whole area.

The second route is A5 Djakovo-Sredanci Section of Motorway that was opened for traffic by Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, who has opened the first section of the A5 motorway between Beli Manastir, Osijek and Svilaj, between Sredanci and Djakovo. Some 1.4 billion kuna was invested into 23 kilometres of road which will in the end measure nearly 89 kilometres and pass between Hungarian and Bosnia-Herzegovina borders, becoming a part of the 5C corridor between Budapest, Osijek, Sarajevo and Ploce.

As already announced back in February,  the new night train service between Zagreb and Sarajevo has started last night (16.04.07) with it’s first run.

Beside already existing daiytime train service  Ploce – Sarajevo – Zagreb and vice -versa, there is now night train services too.

The new train departs from Zagreb at 20.49 and arrives in Sarajevo following morning at 6.11am.

From Sarajevo, the train depart at 21.20 and arrives in Zagreb following morning at 6.43 am.

The train has 2 compartments both 2nd class.

The price for one way ticket is 194,45 kn (26,10 Euro). Retrun ticket cost 311,41 kn (41,80 Euro)

New train services will run until 08.12.07 when new timetable will be introduced.

Map of Railway network of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina  + Bosnian Railway System Map

Martin Bell is to lead a tour of Bosnia and Croatia for Greenbee Specialist Travel www.greenbee.com), a service offered by John Lewis.

The eight-night tour, costing from £1,995 per person, departs on September 28 and covers the Dalmatian coast of Croatia as well as Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia.

During the tour he will give talks on the history of Bosnia and on his time reporting from Sarajevo, where accommodation will be in the Holiday Inn, which was a base during the war for many journalists .In yesterday’s travel supplement of Telegraph.co.uk, under the title ” Welcome to Sarajevo”, BBC foreign correspondent Martin Bell made an emotionally charged return to Sarajevo for Telegraph travel.

Here is an excerpt from Welcome to Sarajevo – Martin Bell’s Introduction to Bosnia :

” There are few undiscovered cities in Europe. Sarajevo is one of them. For all sorts of reasons, mainly war-related, travellers have been reluctant to go there unless, like soldiers and reporters, they had a professional reason to do so. Now the dangers are in the past and Bosnia is as safe for visitors as any country in Europe – safer than most, in my view. And for old hands like myself the most remarkable innovation is the freedom of movement granted by the blessed absence of roadblocks.” – link to whole article

Watch video clip of Martin Bell personal report from Sarajevo – the city where he spent three-and-a-half years with a people under siege.

British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies from Gatwick to Sarajevo on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday; return fare from £158.10. BA flies from Gatwick to Dubrovnik daily; return fare from £168.10

This new train service which will run overnight bewteen these two cities, is also a good news for prospective railway travellers who wish to travel further around Bosnia, Serbia and Balkan,  as one can take this train and stay on, or change it at Doboj and continue the journey to Belgrade by Banja Luka – Belgrade night train service.

Click to see map of Railway network of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina  + Bosnian Railway System Map