Actually, we went there from Venice. It is very near Trieste, but I am not sure you can fly there. The drive from Venice was only 2 hours as I recall.

Have you considered flying into one of Europe's big airports and then using one of Europe's budget airlines? Easyjet flies from London Stanstad to Ljubljana and other budgets fly back to London from DBV. You may be able to get a cheap flight from the US to London. (Just using London as a example, can use any other airport that has lots of budget flights).
Check www.whichbudget.com. There are no interline agreements with the budget lines so your luggage will NOT be checked through. They do have lots of restrictions. Very low luggage allowance before fees kick in. With many of them, if you do not check in by their specified time, you are not allowed on the flight. SO will have to leave plenty of time in between the US flight and the budget flight (a day if possible).

Thank you. Yes, I have checked in to flying into London, and then taking Europebyair or Easyjet (or another budget carrier) into Slovenia and Croatia. However, at this time, flights from Dallas to London are still around 800-900 dollars. Since it would probably be time consuming to do this, we are only going to fly into London if the fares drop considerably. Where are all these great fares we keep hearing about to Europe! Unfortunately, we keep hearing about rising gas prices, so I don't think they will come down any time soon. I'll keep searching!

Luckily baggage won't be too much of a problem.... I pack very light.

Hi Susan,
Usually the cheapest flights into Slovenia are actually into Venice and Trieste. Ljubljana runs about 20% more generally. I would just get the cheapest flight and get to the Soca from there. It is closest to Trieste, but Venice is only about an additional hour. Many international airlines fly into Trieste. Klagenfurt is a great little airport but best for the budget airlines.
Hope this helps. I watch the fares pretty consistently and there have been some great fares Orlando Trieste lately.
Cheers,
Jan

You don't indicate where you're departing from. Austrian Air flies direct to Vienna from NYC and Dulles with a connecting flight to Klagenfurt. We were able to get a decent fare a couple years ago on a similar trip of Dulles via Vienna to Krakow, rather than Klagenfurt, through American Travel Abroard-- www.amta.com, an agency that specializes in travel to Central Europe.

We got a great fare last Sept. from Gatwick to Ljubljana on Adria Airways. About $125, I think.