justjean

Hi,

We are planning a trip to Venice in Feb 2007 and would like to take a day trip from there to Ljubljana. We have heard it is a beautiful city and seen Predjama Castle mentioned as an attraction but cannot seem to find any other compelling reasons to visit. Does anyone have any other suggestions of must-see attractions there ?
Thank you!

tripgirl

Ljubljana is not like Venice where there are "attractions" galore. Rather it is a beautiful city that you slowly savor and just enjoy its cafes and museums and shops.

You could do a day trip I suppose, but personally, I'd save it for another time and soak up all of Venice.

Combine a trip to Ljubljana with a trip to Croatia as I did this past summer.

See my trip report for details.

But again, I'd probably just stay in Venice for the duration of your trip. How many days do you have?

Catbert

I agree that Ljubljana is worth a trip of it's own. And if you're planning to take the train, it's a long trip. Just to Treiste is 2 hours and it is at least another 2 hours from there.

thit_cho

Isn't that enough (Ljublana and Predjama) for a day trip. I drove from Trieste to Ljublana, so I would guess that Ljublana is at least five hours from Venice (so 10 hours of car travel for a day trip), which doesn't give you much time to visit. You can much easier make it to the Istrian portion of Slovenia, which has many Venetian influenced coastal cities (I have only visited Piran). You can also make it to Skojcan cave if you like spelunking (its also a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and I visited in between Piran and Ljublana. I also visited Lipica, which is famous as the origin of the Lipizzaner horses. There's plenty to do in Slovenia, but you won't see much on a one day trip. I'd save it for when you can spend at least a few days. There are other more interesting and accessible day trips from Venice.

SloJan

Ljubljana is 2 hours from Venice if you drive quickly and get lucky at the border. I agree that it doesn't really blend with Italy and would save it for another time. Try Verona, Sirmione, or Asolo or up into the Friuli wine district and explore the smaller towns there.
Cheers,
Jan in Ljubljana

BellaItalia

I agree with tripgirl and would stay and savor Venice. A day trip to Ljubljana from Venice would be very rushed. We spent 2 1/2 weeks in the summer of 2005 in Croatia and Slovenia and they are both beautiful countries.

We started in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and worked our way North to Lake Bled and the Julian Alps in Slovenia--very beautiful! We drove from Bled and ended our trip with 4 nights in Venice.

As tripgirl said, Ljubljana doesn't have any real attractions, rather it is a beautiful city to just enjoy.

How many days do you have planned for Venice and have you been there before? We spent 2 nights in Venice in the summer of 2002 and having 4 nights the last time we were there was heaven. Gave us time to visit Murano and Burano.