KarenWoo

Thank you for your compliments! I always find logistical information helpful as well as people's personal impressions, so I try to include both in my trip reports, too.

KarenWoo

bdokeefe,
So happy to hear that you are enjoying Slovenia. The spa sounds wonderful. Isn't Lake Bled beautiful? I wish we had more time there. Is it still warm enough to swim?

Where else are you going in Slovenia and Croatia? I hope you are having nice weather. We were so lucky to have such spectacular weather for our entire trip.

I never heard of Adria Airways until I made our airline reservations. I assume they only service the local area, and it's probably somewhat common to cancel flights due to the flight not being full. At least for us we knew in advance and were able to reserve the Aspire Lounge, and to research where it was located.

Enjoy the rest of your trip!!!

kja

I'm so glad you appreciated the diversity of the locations you selected! They are truly different, one from the other -- different culttural and historic heritages, different architecture, different cuisines, different geographies, etc. It's one of the things that most intrigued me about Croatia -- each region, even each city, is so very diffferent from the next. FWIW, I would be very surprised if you thought Istria similar to the coastal areas you saw -- it is decidedly Italianate, having been part of Italy until WWII. Well, except for the Kvarnar Gulf area -- the most southeastern coast of the Istrian peninsula -- which is largely Austro-Hungarian, more like Zagreb or further inland, but developed as a resort, and so also different not just from the majority of Istria, but also from the other Austro-Hungarian portions of Croatia.

But I digress!

Thanks for a wonderful report on what sounds like a delightful trip through some of Croatia's most awesome and diverse destinations.

PegS

Wonderful report, Karen! Thanks for all the details. I imagine they will help many people in their planning.

bdokeefe

Karen- Rcv'd State Department notice, Adria Air suspended operations for 2 days, 24/25 Sept, and have just been given a 2 Oct deadline to obtain more funding...We fly out of LJU (hopefully) on 8 October.

Our trip is Bled 3 nights, Bovec 3 nights (mostly WW1 sites), Postojna 1 night, Piran 1 night, Lovran 2 nights, Plitvice 1 night, Novo Mesto 3 nights, ending in Ljubljana 3 nights. In Novo Mesto we are staying in one of the wine cottages.

The Julian Alps are spectacular.

Thanks again for sharing your trip.

KarenWoo

Your trip sounds wonderful! You are seeing a lot of Slovenia. How nice! It's such a beautiful country.

Adria Airlines suspended for 2 days! Wow! It's the national airline of Slovenia. I hope you make it home on the 8th!

KarenWoo

KJA, thank you for the information about the Istrian Peninsula. We haven't traveled to Venice yet, so perhaps some day we could combine a trip to Venice with Istria. That would be a nice combination.

PegS, I hope you make it to Croatia soon. You will love it!

rialtogrl

I don’t think Adria is going to make it. I am in Ljubljana now. I was suppose to fly Adria here Sunday from Sarajevo, but Saturday afternoon I got a text my flight was cancelled. After an hour on hold I got through to their call center and they rebooked me going trough Zurich to Ljubljana. At 9pm got a text, that flight also cancelled, but the call center is only open 9am to 5pm. I had to buy a ticket on Croatian Airlines to Zagreb and take a goopti shuttle.

People are being left stranded or if in a codeshare rerouted to Vienna or similar. I hope they make it so maybe I get my money back for my ticket and maybe compensation but not holding my breath.

they are the national airline, but Slovenia sold them to a German hedge fund group. Who ran it all into the ground. We live in strange times.

KarenWoo

Rialtogrl, Wow! What a story! I guess we were very lucky in that we were able to fly to Zurich on Adria to get our flight to Boston. And I was complaining that we had an 8-hour layover. We were one of the lucky ones!

rialtogrl

Karen sorry to hijack your great report. I should not complain about my losses when so many people can lose their jobs and when the country itself has to go through the economic turmoil of the fallout. I hope Adria can get their funding and pull it together.

KarenWoo

No need to apologize. (I've hijacked some reports, too.) Hopefully, your information will give a heads up to some people who are currently traveling in the area and depending on Adria Airways.

JulieVikmanis

Got directed to this report from the one Isabel posted. So glad I did. Thanks so much. This is a wonderful report with incredibly helpful information, especially about transport and dining. Will be very useful if/when I start planning our return to Croatia in 2020 or 2021. Thank you.

KarenWoo

yestravel

Just found your great TR. i was wondering how your trip went. So glad you enjoyed, and what wonderful weather you had.
Where are you heading next?

KarenWoo

Yestravel, we had such a wonderful trip! I have no complaints. And I can't believe how lucky we were with the weather. I remember you had a lot of rain and cold weather. We were supposed to be in Croatia and Slovenia with friends around the same time as you, but as you know, I had to cancel because I needed hip replacement surgery. I remember our friends telling us it was rainy and 45F in Ljubljana. We had sun and temps in the 80's! We were so fortunate! The only place it was cooler and cloudy was Plitvice Lakes National Park. We loved Plitvice, but I have a feeling it was even more impressive in the spring because you had more rain.

We are spending a month in France in April. First we will spend 2 weeks with our daughter who lives in Provence and her family. Then we will meet up with friends who have never been to France and spend almost 2 weeks with them sightseeing in Provence and the French Riviera. I am their tour guide, so to speak! Then we are renting a house on Cape Cod for a week in August when our daughter comes to visit. And I am just starting to plan a trip to Montana to attend a family wedding and then visit Glacier National Park. We live in Massachusetts so I am very excited to visit Montana.

What are your travel plans for 2020?

schnauzer

yestravel

sounds like some nice plans. Glacier is my favorite NP.
we go to Sri lanka, New Zealand and Malaysia this winter. In the Spring we’ll be in France, mostly Paris bust some Burgundy. Do you accept Fodors PMs? I’d like to ask you a question.

“Just picking this wonderful report up now!! I’ve just (as part of a seven week trip) booked two nights in Ljubljana and four in Lake Bled... I’m going third week of May next year... “
I thought Ljubljana had lots to offer. Have you thought about maybe staying another night there? We were also there in May. I’ve got a TR on our trip this past Spring.

KarenWoo

Yestravel, yes, I do accept PM's. Can you let me know in a post when you send me a message so that I will be sure to check right away?
Your travel plans sound wonderful!

yestravel

I’ll send it now.

musvin

Thank you for your detailed trip report and bravo for your beautiful photos! I'm planning a 3 week trip to Croatia next May.