emtravel

Thank you everyone who helped me with planning Slovenia-Croatia trip especially tracy and debs.

I finalized itinerary:
Ljublana 2 nights arriving by train from Salzburg
Renting the car, going to Bled 1 night.
driving to Otocec, overnight in Spa Hotel Vittarium. 1 night
Drive to Zagreb, drop off car, 2 nights.
Fly to Split , 2 nights in Split Le Meridien Lav outside of town
Fly to Dubrovnik, 4 nights

Can you recommend restaurants - looking for authentic food, both meat and seafood, love desserts. I will report when I will come back in october.
Sophia

Debs

You have a very nice trip awaiting you! The train station is only about a 10 minute or so walk from the center of Ljubljana, so a taxi really isn't necessary if you feel like walking and are staying in that area. We stayed at Hotel Slon, which conveniently is about a block away from Sestica (meaning Six & it's on the same side of the street) and serves delicious local Slovenian food-the portions are very generous and the service was excellent. Also in Ljubljana I would receommend Zlata Ribica (Golden Fish), which is located on the Old Town side of the river, has outdoor seating and serves excellent Slovenien food (this was probably our favorite place). www.zlataribica.com. One other recommendation would be Sokol, again in Old Town (in fact, about a 5 minute or so walk from Zlata Ribica). This also has a small area of outdoor seating. Definitely be hungry when you choose to eat here as the portions are quite generous. Although I didn't have any, my husband liked their homemade beer. Have also heard that restaurant Julija is excellent - we just ran out of days in Ljubljana otherwise we would have tried that as well! We had a great pizza at Ljubjlana Dvor (on the New Town side of the river). They have a nice terrace to sit and enjoy the view of the river, however, if you're on the go, at the front of the restaurant is a to go shop where you can get pizza slices or salads.

We did Bled as a day trip (it's only about an hour or so from Ljubljana) and for whatever reason, decided to have just a light lunch so we stopped at Slascacarna Smon (Brown Bear) for a toastie and soft drink - but do save room for the cream pastry dessert - when you walk inside, you'll be greeted by a dessert case like no other!

My Zagreb recommendations would include Vinodol (Teslina 10-about a block from the Central Square) which is a courtyard type restaurant (covered tables), but also has a wonderfully charming indoor seating restaurant as well which you can move into should the weather be your deciding factor. (We enjoyed a wonderful meal outside, but moved inside to wait out the rainstorm, and of course we couldn't just sit there without sampling some dessert now could we)!!. Another Zagreb option to recommend is Pod Grickim Topom (Zakmardijeve Stube 5-which is located in the Gradec section of town). This restaurant is literally next to the funicular and has both indoor seating and outdoor terrace seating with wonderful views of the Lower Town. We enjoyed dinner here (on the terrace) on the last night of our trip before heading home, so we may have splurged a bit, but everything from the bottle of Croatian wine to dessert was excellent, as was the service.

These are only recommendations of the places we enjoyed - there are so many options (especially in Ljubljana) that anywhere you decide to eat is bound to be enjoyable.

Looking forward to your trip report upon your return. ENJOY!!!

emtravel

Thank you Debs! Your recommendations are actually the reason we've decided to go to Zagreb!
In Ljublana, we are staying in grand Union hotel, so it is probably also close to train station..
In Bled, we splurged and staying in Vila Bled for one night. In Zagreb, we are staying in Sheraton. Thanks for restaurant recoomendations. Sophia

Debs

Sophia - The Grand Union and Slon hotels are literally separated by what I would call a promonade, with the GU and Slon hotels being on opposite ends - and the GU a few steps closer to the train station!

The Sokol's website (which I neglected to mention in my very long winded response to your recommendations post) is www.gostilna-sokol.com.

Also, don't confuse Zlata Ribica with Ribica as they are two different places. ZR is in the Old Town section of Ljubljana, while Ribica is literally in the colonade under the Triple Bridge.

Turning to Zagreb, it's a walkable city, but there are trams available to get you around as well. We didn't ride the trams, but they are a very popular mode of transportation (read as over crowded). We stayed at Hotel Palace, which is adjacent to Strossmayerov Sq, a lovely park to take in the views. The hotel is about a 5 minute walk from the train station. The city may not have the spit and polish of say London or any of the other European capital cities, but that was it's charm for us!

One more dining recommendation would be to try the Strukli (spelling may be off a bit), which is somewhat of a pastry (either fried or baked) filled with cottage cheese - we had the baked version at both Vinodol and Pod Grickim Topom and was an excellent way to start our meal. There are 2 pieces per serving so it's perfect to share!

Let's just say you definitely won't go hungry on this trip!!

emtravel

Thanks Debs, I am salivating already! Sophia