Travel_Nerd

Hello, I need help regarding my upcoming my trip to this region and am trying to explore my options, but I need help.

I am traveling with my parents (ages 68-69) to Trieste, Italy and onto points in Slovenia in early-mid September. We would like to see Predjama castle (may as well include Postonja caves). But getting there (to the castle) from what I have found is only accessible by car, unless I am mistaken. If we were to use public transport to the caves, could we take a taxi to the castle? What is the approximate trip cost for the taxi?

I have looked for tours from Trieste and can’t find any. I am open to any if someone knows of one. I do see several from Ljubljana. We also are planning a day trip to the Lake Bled area and are considering a car for that leg as well but we prefer public transportation whenever possible.

Note: Our Lake Bled region tour also includes a stop to Vintgar Gorge. I am having difficulty finding public transportation to this particular location (is there one?) from Lake Bled. I had to cut Plitvice Lakes out of our Croatian portion of the trip, so this is my alternative. I know there are some that say the gorge can be walked to from the Lake, but with older folks, I need to be mindful of their limitations. We may consider going to Radovljica if time permits.

I realize that if we rent a car in Trieste with a drop off in Slovenia we will incur a fee for that. I would like to avoid driving in Ljubljana as much as possible.

Option 1:
*Pick up car in Trieste, drive to Slovenia with a stop to view Predjama/Postonja caves. Drive onto Lake Bled.
*Overnight Lake Bled, tour the Lake Bled region the following day, drive onto Ljubljana, drop off car

Option 2:
*Take public transport from Trieste to Ljubljana
*Bite the bullet and take a day tour to Predjama Castle from Ljubljana the following day (I hate back-tracking but will if necessary)
*Day 3 or 4: Rent a car for Lake Bled, overnight in Lake Bled (to potentially deter a same-day drop off charge). OR take Public Transport to this region for a day (no overnight) if there are options.

We will likely have three full days in Slovenia, but can add maybe just one more day bringing our time to four days (we would like to spend at least one day touring Ljubljana). I am open to suggestions, advice or even some public transport or tour tips that I haven’t found yet.

Thanks!

maitaitom

Check out Chapters Seventeen through Twenty-One of my Central Europe trip report (with photos) from 2008. It talks about Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Predjama Castle and Vintgar Gorge. Too bad you can't see Plitvice (truthfully awe-inspiring to our group…Chapter Sixteen if interested), but you'll enjoy Vintgar Gorge. Have fun.

http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/cent...e-venice-2008/

Nonconformist

There's a daily bus to the Vintgar Gorge from Bled - but morning only, at 10 am, with the return leaving the gorge at 12.30.

Various tour companies do trips to Predjama/Postojna from Bled, too, if you wanted to do that rather than from Ljubljana.

aleksander57

Just go from Trieste to Koper in Slovenia - bus or taxi, rent a car in Koper/Capodistria and visit all you want in SLO. You will save lots of money as drop of a car in another country is very expensive.

Andrew

I would also have suggested the bus to Koper to pick up the car, too, from my research, even though I didn't quite make it to Koper on my last trip to the region. Driving in Slovenia was easy for me, and renting a car there is probably a lot cheaper (even without the drop fee) in Slovenia than in Italy. Try EconomyCarRentals , a broker like Auto Europe, etc.

I wouldn't think Vintgar Gorge necessarily worth the trouble if your folks would have trouble even walking up there, which would be easier than the actual hiking they'd do once there. The point of going to Vintgar Gorge is the hike, after all. I am probably spoiled because I have gorges and waterfalls where I live in Oregon, but I wasn't really amazed by Vintgar Gorge. (whereas I was very impressed by Plitvice Lakes). I'd say it is very worth doing Vintgar you are able to do it easily, have the time, just want to do a pretty hike, etc. There's one nice waterfall at the end of the hike.

A walk around Lake Bled is eye-popping with that church on the island in the middle of the lake, but the lake isn't that big. The town of Bled wasn't especially memorable. I enjoyed staying in Ljubljana, a beautiful town, much better.

Travel_Nerd

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I hadn't thought about renting via Koper and it is an option to explore.

Andrew, to clarify, they can make the walk. However, I don't think I can tack on a walk around Lake Bled and the castle, AND the hike through the gorge. I think it would just be too much for one day, for my mom at least. Though, if we do one overnight in that region, it could be more manageable and we can split our time there before heading to Ljubljana.

While I understand Vintgar gorge isn't nearly as spectacular as Plitvice Lakes, it just isn't possible for us to get over there this time. This is just our alternative. It became an either cut out Lake Bled entirely or include Plitvice situation. We're from Shasta County, California (not sure where that is in relation to you in Oregon) and my father especially LOVES alpine areas and since we didn't get to go on a hike during our last visit to Bavaria, I feel like I owe him. Plus I really want to try one of those creme cakes at Bled! ;-)

I'm just trying to maximize our time, especially considering if we do a stop in Predjama, with or without backtracking.

Andrew

If you don't rent a car, I guess then I'd look into that 10:00 bus to Vintgar Gorge from Bled. If you can't catch the return bus, take a taxi back. Consider getting an unlocked quad band GSM phone (if you don't already have one) and buying a local SIM card in Slovenia so you can make local calls (to call a taxi for example). I think SIM cards can be had for $10 USD or even less as I recall. It would be nice to have a working phone in your car if you rent one as well, just in case.

If you do rent the car, I highly recommend the scenic detour between Ljubljana and Bled (via the town of Škofja Loka), instead of taking the fast highway. The scenery up through the hills is breathtaking. Škofja Loka is a nice little town worth at least a quick stop as well. From Škofja Loka to Ljubljana is not that scenic as I recall. It's probably not practical to take this detour by public transportation.

kja

While I completely agree that the Vintgar Gorge is no substitute for the Plitvice Lakes, I enjoyed my walk through the gorge -- and I would call it a walk, rather than a hike. YMMV. If your parents are up to it, you might consider taking a different route back to the start: You can climb a short hill -- I think its marked "Katerina," but I could easily be mistaken -- and then, at a sweet little church, turn right onto a road and walk by fields and forests to get back to the start.

While in Bled, consider taking a pletna to the island -- very pleasant, IMO.

If your time / energy is limited, you might consider skipping the walk around Lake Bled, or just doing a bit along the southern shore.

As for the caves, another option you might consider is visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Škocjan Caves. You can get within 3 km of the entrance by public transportation:
http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/e...location.shtml
I thought them quite impressive. (I didn't see the Postonja caves.)

Ljubljana is delightful -- enjoy!

maxima

The walk around lake bled is about 3.7 miles. it isn't necessary to do the entire walk.

You can take a plenta(boat) to the island church, or drive to the castle above lake bled.

Stay overnight at one of the lakeside hotels. and get a room facing the lake and mountains.

there are often sports events in Bled in early sept so check the dates so that you wont have a problem booking a hotel.

dreamon

I thought Vintgar Gorge was beautiful. We were there in May and it was lush and beautiful. The walk is very easy. We visited Ljubljana, Bled, Vintgar Gorge, Škofja Loka, Škocjan Caves, Bohinj and other places by public transport. Think carefully about whether you really need a car. Bus and train timetables are available online if you want to check.

aleksander57

In Slovenia a car is must. You will save on time and money. Lots of places are accessible with public transport, but Slovenia is small with just 2mil people and transport by bus or train is often just 2-3 times per day - excluding Ljubljana and other major towns.

dreamon

aleksander57, of course you can move around faster and see more places with a car but saying that 'in Slovenia a car is a must' is absolutely overstating the case because my friend and I conclusively disproved that with our visit. We found train and bus services to all the places we visited every hour to two hours max. Of course there are places more difficult to reach but the OP isn't going to any of them.

I like to use public transport whenever possible because it is more relaxing, it forces me to slow down, increases my likelihood of meeting other people, it's more environmentally friendly and encourages services (which will otherwise close if no one uses them). I have noticed a decline in public transport services in other countries as more and more people have their own vehicles.

Andrew

Whether or not you "need" a car depends on what you want to do and how flexible you are. I traveled by train from Austria to Maribor to Ljubljana by train - with a stop for a few hours in Celje - plus a day trip to Ptuj by train. That all worked well. Then in Ljubljana I picked up a car for a few days. I got to see/do things by car that would have not been practical or possible without one. For example, the drive from the town of Škofja Loka through the hills past Kropa and to Bled had some of the best scenery of my trip. Even if a bus could have driven that route, I would have wanted to get out and take pictures numerous times, as indeed I did when driving.

aleksander57

I agree with Andrew and Slovenia has so many attractions which you will never see without a car. Tourist are unfortunately concentrated just on major attractions and often missed the best Slovenia has to offer.

kja

While a car would offer opportunities that public transportation might not, with limited time to see Slovenia's highlights, if the OP's preference is to avoid renting a car, I think that could be a very reasonable option. JMO.

Travel_Nerd

Thanks again for everyone’s input and I will take your suggestions and continue to weigh my options.

With that being said, I’ve been playing around with Google and now I can’t seem to shake Plitvice Lakes and that seems to be muddying my waters…again.

Here are our tentative plans as they stand at the moment:

August 31st – Arrive in Venice
September 4th – ferry to Rovinj
September 7th – bus to Trieste
September 10th – travel to Ljubljana (day trip to Lake Bled included during this time).
September 14th – leave for the USA from Ljubljana

In reviewing our plans, it looks like have more time that I had originally thought…as I was thinking Plitvice Lakes (P-Lakes) was too far out of the way, but does seem reasonable after a second look. For the sake of this trip, I have decided to remove Predjama Castle and Postonja Caves. If we have time/ability, we may get to it, but if we don’t, I can accept that it will be on the list of the next trip to the region.

I’m thinking somewhere around September 9th or 10th, we can maybe travel to P-Lakes from Trieste, overnight in Plitvice area. To me, the driving times seem to be reasonable. While I like to limit our hotel stays (check-ins/check-outs), I’m willing to be a little flexible to visit P-Lakes.

From doing some basic research, it looks like we can follow Andrew’s original suggestion, and: bus to Koper from Trieste, rent the car and then travel onto P-Lakes from there with an overnight. From Plitvice, we can then drive straight to Lake Bled and either drop the car in Lake Bled region or Ljubljana.

Of course, this is all assuming that rental company/companies will allow the cars to be taken across borders and that there are drop-off locations at/near where I’m describing.

I’m hoping that this at least tentatively isn’t too crazy and is somewhat do-able. Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Andrew

Are you married to the idea of the ferry from Venice to Rovinj? If not, why not go from Venice to Trieste by train, spend your time there, then bus to Koper, rent the car, drive to Rovinj, drive to Plitvice, then drive back to Ljubljana, see Bled, then drop the car. Or do it backwards: bus from Venice to Ljubljana, see Bled, drive to Plitvice, drive to Rovinj, then drive up to Koper, drop the car, and on to Trieste (maybe you could drop your parents in Trieste then drive back to Koper yourself and drop the car, to save them the bus ride).

I think that is more efficient than ferry to Rovinj, bus to Trieste, then drive all the way back to Plivice, etc. Or are you simply trying to minimize the time with a car?

kja

IMO, the Plitvice Lakes are the single most magnificent thing in glorious Croatia, so I don't think you'll regret making time for it.

Travel_Nerd

Hi Andrew,

I think that I missed your most recent reply.

Yes, I would prefer not to have a car for as long as we can swing it. That, and the hotel we're looking at in Rovinj is on an island...and complicating parking matters!

I will take your suggestions into consideration, though.

Neza

I agreee with aleksander57. Slovenia is very beautiful country.
If someone will plan trip to Slovenia, I definitly recommand to visit Logarska dolina (Logarska valley) and surroundings.

Nice day!