Finalizing Croatia/Slovenia trip
 

During the middle of May I plan to visit Croatia and Slovenia (with a couple detours ) and want to see if this is doable.

Day 1: get in at 10:30 AM from Trieste and do a day trip in Bled
Day 2: Spend the day in Ljubljana
Day 3: Travel to Plitvice lakes for the day. ( I may rent a car in Zagreb)
Days 4-6: Rovinj and maybe Pula
Day 7: Spend the day visiting some of the hill towns and go back to Trieste
Day 8: Fly out of Trieste- I have a 7.5 hour layover in Munich so I'll probably spend a little time there as well.

Do I need to add an extra day or is this doable? Should I be spending more time in Slovenia?

May is a lovely time to visit this area! In general, I think your plan is do-able, but I'm not sure its the best division of time.

> Day 1: get in at 10:30 AM from Trieste and do a day trip in Bled

Get in to where from Trieste? Visiting Bled as a day trip probably makes most sense from Ljubljana. To see what I wanted to see in Bled (the castle, island, walk around the lake, Vintgar Gorge) took an entire day (starting early in Bled and ending late in Bled) - you would NOT be able to do all of that in a 1/2 day, so you would have to choose what you want to see.

> Day 3: Travel to Plitvice lakes for the day. ( I may rent a car in Zagreb)

A rental car would definitely give you more options. One can spend a little or a lot of time at the Plitvice Lakes. I was glad to spend 6 or 7 hours there. I don't think you could spend that much time there if you are stopping there on the way from Zagreb to Rovinj. You could visit the lakes - you would just have to plan on a shorter visit. As I recall, the shortest option recommended by the Park's guides is 2 hours. (I must admit having difficulty imagining how 2 hours would do justice to this magnificent area.)

> Days 4-6: Rovinj and maybe Pula

You could probably cut a day here if you want to.

> Do I need to add an extra day or is this doable?

You would have more options with at least 1 more day.

Hope that helps!

How would you recommend splitting up the time and locations visited? Would you change any of the locations?

Can we assume you mean spend the first two nights in Ljubljana, with a day trip the first day to Bled? If you won't arrive in Ljubljana til 10:30, doing a day trip to Bled and back seems like a lot of travel via public transit in a single day. Could you day trip to Bled the 2nd day instead?

I'd probably add a night at Plitvice Lakes. That way, you can take your time getting from Ljubljana to Zagreb to Plitvice (even spend a few hours in Zagreb), spend the night at the park (assuming you rent a car), and see it the next morning (when it will be the least busy), then head to Istria from there.


So:
Sleep in Ljubljana
Day trip to Bled
Sleep in Ljubljana
Train to Zagreb
Drive to Plitvice
Sleep in Plitvice
Drive to Istria
Sleep in Rovinj
Day trip to Pula
Sleep in Rovinj
Drop car in Croatia (where ?)
Bus to Trieste

If you rent a car in Trieste for the entire trip, you would save yourself a lot of hassle driving the entire way instead of taking public transit with such a limited time - and you'd be able to stop along the way in places like Piran for at least a quick look. Piran is definitely one of the hightlights of Slovenia. You could also drive directly to Plitvice from Ljubljana if you wanted to and skip that extra day.

With more days, I'd add time to see Piran, Lake Bohinj, and little towns like Skofja Loka, all really nice. The scenic drive between Skofja Loka and Bled is spectacular if you have a car.

I just posted my Slovenia trip report last week - click on my name to find it if you haven't seen it.

This is my finalized trip please feel free to add suggestions

Day 1- 10:30am Arrive at Trieste, rent a car and go to Ljubljana
Day 2- Visit Bled and Triglav
Day 3- Visit Postojna Cave, Predjama castle and Motovun (possible other hill towns if I have time)Stay the night in Lovran
Day 4- Visit Plitvice lakes and go back to Lovran for the night
Day 5- Pula and Brijuni islands, stay in Pula
Day 6,7 - Stay in Rovinj, Sunday night stay in Trieste
Day 8 - Fly out of Trieste