sardog10

Four of us are planning to drive from the Frankfurt area down to Slovenia at the end of September for a two week vacation. We want to explore Slovenia fairly extensively, and were planning to do a bit of the coast of Croatia as well (not as far as Dubrovnik on this trip though) but have now found out we can't take our rental into Croatia. Yes, we could use a different rental company, but we're going through Sixt on the American base in Germany and it's about 40% the price of AutoEurope. Would it be terrible to go all that distance and not touch into Croatia? If so, is there maybe a short train trip from Slovenia into Croatia that we could take and leave the car behind for a day or two? The price difference we're talking is about $700. Thanks for your opinions!

kaudrey

Hi Sardog,

Mostly, I'm responding to top your post.

I haven't been, but from all I've read on here, Croatia is on my list of places to go. I do plan a Croatia/Slovenia combination, so it's good to know about the car issue.

I guess from my perspective, I'd ask the question: Will I be back? If you think you may never get to the area again, it might be worth it to go. But it seems that Croatia has so much to offer, it might make sense to just plan a future Croatia trip, and skip it this time.

I know, not much help, but hopefully someone else with knowledge of the Croatia coast can offer an opinion.

Karen

sardog10

Kaudrey - thanks for topping for me. I'm not getting much action on my Slovenia and Croatia posts, so I'm going to have to wing it I guess. I'm beginning to think that Slovenia is one of the big little-discovered secrets of Europe because what I do read of it is fantastic, but not many people here are talking about it. My husband touched into it for business a few times last year and loved it, so we've decided to make it a focus this year. You hear more about Croatia and especially the coastline (which I drove 20 years ago with a tour), but we don't want to rush on this trip and it seems like Dubrovnik is a really long way down there. When we made inquiries about rental cars with AutoEurope there wasn't an extra charge for both of those countries, but for some reason there is with the Sixt office we're going through. Oh well. I was hoping there was maybe some fantastic day trip we could take by train into Croatia, but haven't heard anything back.

Thanks for your reply!

Jonas

Taking a day trip from Slovenia to Croatia by car is no problem at all. Because you can't take your car to Croatia makes things more difficult.

From Ljubljana you can take a train to Zagreb or Rijeka. I'm not sure is it worth it to see just Zagreb, especially as you are looking for a "fantastic day trip". I live in Zagreb, btw. There are frequent train connections between the two cities and the journey is about 2 and half hours.
Maybe a train to Rijeka and then a short bus drive to near Opatija could be a nice day trip. I've checked the train timetable for Sep 28 and there are three trains from Ljubljana to Rijeka. The most conveniant would be the direct one dep Ljubljana at 06:20 am and arr Rijeka at 08:50. Opatija is about 30 minutes by bus from Rijeka and it is a wonderful coastal town. On the same date there are also three trains back to Ljubljana, the two direct ones are too early (at 5:25 am and 12:55 pm) and the third one is departing Rijeka at 6:20pm and arr Ljubljana at 9:40pm. But it seems this one includes two train changes. Anyway see Deutche Bahn web site for more info:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
http://www.slo-zeleznice.si - Slovenian Railways

There are also direct bus lines from Ljubljana or other places in Slovenia to Croatian Istria (Rovinj, Pula...) but it seems timetables are not convenient for day trips (leaving to late or inconvenient back connection etc).
http://www.ap-ljubljana.si/ - Ljubljana bus station

So, my advice would be if you can't spare a at least a night for Croatia I wouldn't take a bus or train day trip, except maybe to Zagreb. If you can, places like Rovinj or Opatija are perfect for a two day trip.

Your other options include booking a day trip to Croatia trough a local travel agent along the Slovenian coast or renting a car with a local agency for about $ 50-60 (I think) and drive yourself to Croatia for a day (Rovinj, Pula, Porec...). See for example: http://www.nationalcar-slovenia.com

Anyway, you should check timetables when you arrive in Slovenia and probably there are more bus lines (other than those shown on http://www.ap-ljubljana.si) connecting towns like Piran or Portoroz on Slovenian coast with Rovinj, Pula or Porec in Croatia. I know there are buses from Trieste in Italy to Croatian Istria via Slovenia (and vice versa) which are not listed at the Ljubljana bus station web site.

Hope this helps.

Jonas

I forgot to mention, I took Sep 28 just as an example. Probably it is more or less the same for other dates in that period as well.

Penny_T

Just returned from Slovenia and Croatia and would describe Slovenia as "the best of Europe in one small country".Everything from the food to the scenery to the people and much more is wonderful.Croatia is quite different and huge.I don't think a day trip would do it justice so maybe concentrate on Slovenia for this trip and plan another to Croatia at a later date!

sardog10

Thank-you all for your replies and especially for all of the schedule information, Jonas! For some reason I hadn't considered renting another car for just a couple of days and that might be a perfect option for us. We'll probably go to Slovenia and explore there first and then make a decision what to do with our time left. I passed through the old Yugoslavia in 1984 and am anxious to be back there again. I was on a tour that hit 13 countries back then and remember thinking that Yugoslavia had the kindest people we encountered anywhere.

Jonas, do you have favorite places in Slovenia that you would recommend? We will probably play it by ear, although we're looking now at spending at least two nights in the Soca Valley for some fishing and horseback riding.

Again, thanks for your help everyone!

Jonas

Hi sardog,
As Penny wrote, Slovenia is a real small treasure. There are so many nice places in such a small country. Wherever you go you will find something interesting. My favorite thing to do in Slovenia is just to drive around the country through small villages and enjoy their beauty and stop here and there for a beautiful view or drink in one of the <Gostilnica>. Soca valley (Bovec) is great and I think you'll not regret spending couple of days there. My favorite spots include usual places mentioned by others on this forum such as Bohinj (Savica waterfall, cable car to Vogel) and Bled lakes, Kranjska Gora (I've been there only during winter), Postojna cave (I've never been to Skocjan cave but I hear it is also beautiful), Ljubljana, Novo Mesto (often overlooked but I love this city) and other places in Dolenjska like Ribnica and Kocevje... You will love it there.