croatia in winter

At the risk of stating the obvious, if you go via Albania you'll pass through Montenegro as well as Albania before Croatia ... which could be very enjoyable, but seems like a very different trip from your initial idea. If you want to spend some time visiting those two other countries then go for it - but if you are just looking for transport to Croatia there are probably easier ways. Many of the most interesting sights in Albania are south of Tirana, the "wrong" direction if you arrive at Durres and want to head to Montenegro. Following the coast north via Shkodra-Ulcinj-Budva-Kotor-Dubrovnik is fairly straightforward with lots to see on the way, but there are only a couple of minibuses a day across the Albania/Montenegro border, and in January possibly only a couple of buses a day

I'm not sure if your question about ferries is only about getting to Croatia or getting around once you are there. For getting there, http://www.jadrolinija.hr/ shows the timetable for Ancona-Split and Bari-Dubrovnik up to December 2008, January 2009 is likely to be similar (although not guaranteed of course). For domestic ferries, as dlmtn said, the main islands are inhabited with permanent populations so ferries still run for those people who live there. Not as many as in tourist season, but enough to visit places like Korcula or Hvar with no real difficulty. Buses and trains run normally.

Sunset in Zagreb on 1st Jan is at 16.22 - for me that's the most frustrating aspect of midwinter travel, not so much the weather but the limited daylight hours for outdoor sightseeing. Of course that's not specific to Croatia.

"Even us kiwis can imagine winter might be cold in Europe"

As a friendly advice, speaking in that way will cause much amusement but is better avoided. Amercians talking about how it is in "Europe" is a constant source of fun. Believe it or not, the winter climate (just as the culture, the language, the food, the religion, the people etc) is a bit different in Northern Norway than in Southern Greece.

I was in Albania in Sept 2004 and it was snowing in the mountains.

Ruth

Again, thank you everyone. I am overwhelmed by the amount of helpful advice I have received on this branch, and all of it good. My thorntree view no longer shows little yellow or green stars or whatever, so can I particularly thank dlmtm, croatia, everyone who sent web links and give the green star to alan1972 for so much good info and best ferry website. By the way alan1972, my initial idea was "going to croatia". In actual fact my partner is the one insisting on croatia - I want to go to Albania which is where my forebears come from - since the only ferries i could find on the web went to Durres, I thought, hmm, maybe i can do both!

Of course it depends what you want to do in Croatia, but winter can be a very beautiful time of year to visit. True, not the best time of year for swimming/beaches (but hey, you have some pretty nice ones in NZ!), but plenty of other stuff to see/do. Winter my favourite time of year to be in Zagreb (dress warm!); in towns on coast you'll have fewer options in terms of private accommodation than in summer, but it will also be less crowded; huge amount of snow fall in the mountains but even these you can still get up into (mountain hut at Zavizan on Velebit open all year); etc. Harder to get up into some of the mountain areas of Montenegro during winter, if you end up travelling that way. Buses and trains will be working fine.
Rudolf Abraham