shandy

I’m allowing about a week for the Slovenia part of my holiday. I’ll arrive in Ljubljana about 8.30am and thinking that I would spend two nights in Ljubljana. I’m a lady in her 60’s travelling on her own, love history, European architecture, dining and great countryside scenery. I’m more interested in doing less and enjoying the ambience of a place rather than rushing from photo spot to museum etc to have ticked off the must sees.

I am undecided about whether to hire a car or use public transport for the countryside. I have driven In Europe before and not concerned about driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road but I have always had a passenger/navigator with me before. This would be the first time driving solo and one gets a bit more conservative as you get older. I would appreciate advice as to the best routing for the places I want to see and any other recommendations you might have.

I am thinking of heading first to Lake Bled/Lake Bohinj and having 3 nights there. Which would you suggest would be better to stay at? Accommodation recommendations? – nothing fancy but I do like something with charm and character. Whilst there I will go to Vintgar Gorge. The Vrsic Pass would be wonderful but I don’t think I’m prepared to drive that on my own and, besides, I’d probably be concentrating on the road too much to enjoy the scenery. Does anyone do a local tour through there. I know you can from Ljubljana, or perhaps recommendation for a local driver for a half day/day.

From there I’m thinking of heading down to Piran and having two nights there. The public transport options take quite some time, they all seem to go through Ljubljana. Is this something Go Opti would do or perhaps I should hire a car just for the day? One way drop off charges shouldn't be too bad as I'm still within Slovenia. If I have a car I could go to the caves on the way. I went to the Postojna Caves about 40 years ago and can remember being quite underwhelmed compared to what I had seen at home but tourism has really taken off since then and they look quite good now. I didn’t go to the Skocjan caves. Which do you think is the better to go to or should I really be trying to do both?

From PIran I would then catch the ferry to Trieste for a night or two before heading around to Venice by train.

Any suggestions in relation to how much time I’m spending in each place, different routing etc would be appreciated.

kja

No bad choices, IMO, just a lot of difficult ones!

I skipped the Postojna Caves, but loved Skocjan! You can visit the Skocjan Caves by public transportation from Ljubljana if you are willing to walk a bit. (Scroll down to the bottom):
https://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/...ow-to-reach-us

Bled is much busier than Bohinj, which means that they have different advantages. Bled has more tourists (which could be a factor, depending on when you plan to be there) and also a more developed tourism infrastructure; at least when I was there, Bohinj was much quieter and less developed. I don't think you said HOW you will arrive in or depart from Slovenia, but if matters, the Ljubljana airport is about halfway between Bled and Ljubljana.

I suspect that the reason most public transportation options go through Ljubljana is that most roads in Slovenia go through Ljubljjana.

I had a car while in Slovenia and found it easy driving. That said, I didn't go into the mountains, where the scenery would have been distracting -- it was distracting enough where I was! FWIW, I'm an experienced solo traveler, unaccustomed to having a navigator, and didn't find Slovenia particularly challenging in that regard. YMMV.

Slovenia is delightful -- enjoy! (And be sure to give yourself enough time for utterly charming Ljubljana.)

neckervd

"Lake Bled/Lake Bohinj etc. From there I’m thinking of heading down to Piran and having two nights there. The public transport options take quite some time, they all seem to go through Ljubljana"

Of course not!
have a look at the railway line Jesenice - Lake Bled - Bohinj - Nova Gorica - Sezana - Divaca - Koper.
You may also reach Piran from Nova Gorice via Monfalcone - Trieste
1666_jesenice_nova_gorica.pdf
177_nova_gorica_ajdovscina_sezana.pdf
152_divaca_koper.pdf

neckervd

"Lake Bled/Lake Bohinj etc. From there I’m thinking of heading down to Piran and having two nights there. The public transport options take quite some time, they all seem to go through Ljubljana"

Of course not!
have a look at the railway line Jesenice - Lake Bled - Bohinj - Nova Gorica - Sezana - Divaca - Koper.
You may also reach Piran from Nova Gorice via Monfalcone - Trieste
1666_jesenice_nova_gorica.pdf
177_nova_gorica_ajdovscina_sezana.pdf
152_divaca_koper.pdf

dreamon

I spent 3 weeks in Slovenia last year (my second visit) and used public transport everywhere so you don't need to hire a car unless you want to.

Lakes Bled and Bohinj - and their lakeside towns - are very different. If you like a quieter time, then I'd opt for Bohinj, probably staying in Ribcev Laz as it's the town with the best transport links and food options. Lake Bled is exceptionally beautiful and also much busier. The best way to get to either is by bus from Ljubljana main bus station (which is right outside the train station) and services run frequently. As more people seem to visit Bled than any other place in Slovenia, buses can sometimes be crowded.

I believe that there is a bus from Skofja Loka to Piran but don't know how often it runs. Skofja Loka is a very attractive time to spend some time if you have it. It is possible but rushed to visit Piran for the day from Ljubljana. When I visited, I had a moment of FOMO and squished in a visit to Piran - but having come from Croatia, it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd imagined, although that may have been due to the fact that I didn't have enough time and it was stinking hot.

There are buses over the Vrsic Pass but not during the snowy months.

I too visit Skocjan caves but not Postojna - and they were very impressive. There's also the opportunity to do some short hikes in the immediate area which we enjoyed.

Unless I missed it, I can't see when you're travelling but be aware that the ferry from Piran to Trieste has only a short season. An alternative and very scenic route is by train from Bohinj-Bistrica (or Bled) to Nova Gorica, from where you can take a local bus or taxi to Gorica and onwards to Trieste or Venice. Really, transport options are all very good, albeit not always very frequent for the less travelled routes.

Enjoy your visit!

shandy

kja, I will be arriving by air and hadn't realised that the airport was about half way between Bled and Ljubljana.. If I was to head straight to Bled I am thinking I would have to get a car straightaway and I still haven't decided on whether to do that. I will be travelling in late April/early May so, whilst hardly deserted, it won't be peak season at the lakes. Can you tell me if the drive from Bled down to Piran is fairly straight-forward - as in not mountainous windy roads etc?

Neckervd, I hadn't noticed your proposed routing when I was using search engines for best way to get from Bled to Piran. On looking a bit further I realised that it generally turned up further down the list as it usually took even longer than going through Ljubljana. Is it particularly scenic to warrant the extra time and changes of transportation? Either way, public transport takes a lot longer than hiring a car and, of course, I've got the freedom to stop on the way, so I will have to start thinking about that more.

Dreamon, thank you for the info re the ferry service as it won't be running in early May. I hadn't got as far as plugging in actual dates and I hadn't realised that the ferry season was so short. It looks like a 2 hour bus ride as compared to a 30 min ferry trip.

Can anyone tell me is it worth going through the Vsic pass just for the sake of doing so if you are not on the way to somewhere else? I'm thinking that I would be better to give it a miss. I'll get my mountainous scenery later on in my trip - Dolomites and Austria.

kja

Flying across time zones? if so, then do NOT start anywhere that would require a car! Driving with jet lag is just as dangerous, to yourself and others, as driving drunk, and there is NOTHING you can do to be safe.

Sorry, I didn't drive from Bled to Piran and so can't help with that.

cas4075

We spent 12 days in Slovenia this past August/September. You will love Slovenia's beauty and people. We rented a car and found driving to be very easy. We spent 4 nights in Ljubljana, 5 nights in Bled and 2 nights in Kobarid. We actually stayed about 1 km away from Lake Bled in Selo. We had a wonderful Airbnb in the country with beautiful mountain views, a beekeeper on one side and dairy below us. We were able to walk or bike ride into town when we wanted but being in the country made it feel like we were away from the busy tourist areas. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1154841...%2BDon60tesFOl We drove the Vrsic Pass from Bled to Kobarid. It was beautiful and I am glad we did it. However, we were headed to the Soca Valley so it wasn't out of our way. There are 50 hairpin turns so you will have to concentrate and make a lot of stops to enjoy the beauty. You will get great mountainous scenery in the Dolomites and Austria so if I were you, I might skip it. Have a wonderful trip.

dreamon

If searching for buses from Piran to Trieste and not finding much, search separately for Piran-Koper and Koper-Trieste.

If the journey to Piran is long, I'd be weighing up whether it would be so much better than visiting somewhere else closer to your other destinations.

schnauzer

neckervd

A bus ride from Trieste to Koper lasts 50 minutes; buses about every hr..The local bus Koper - Piran runs about every 20 minutes. But AFAIK you didn't want to pass through Trieste anyway.

BTW: a train ride Bohinj - Gorizia - Trieste would take about 3 hrs. A car ride would be much faster of course.

dreamon

schnauzer, if you have only 5 nights, then that sounds fine, as would basing yourself in Ljubljana for the whole time if you wished.

kja

@ schnauzer: Which destination to give 3 nights depends on what you want to see and experience, but because many options for getting around Slovenia start / end in charming Ljubljana, and because there's much more to do in Ljubljana than Bled, it might make sense to put the majority of your time there. Just something to consider.

shandy

Thanks or the responses everyone. I have decided that I will hire a car to get from Bled to Piran. Is there any advantage in hiring the car for my stay in Bled itself. I know I can get to Lake Bohinj by public transport and Vintgar Gorge is only a 5km walk from town. The shuttle bus won't be operating yet whilst I am there. If I am feeling lazy I can always get a taxi out and maybe cadge a lift back from someone in the car park. Can anyone tell me if the walk from town is a strenuous one or fairly flat?

Kja, I won't be arriving jet lagged as I am spending two weeks in Turkey first.

Cas, thanks for the link to the Air Bnb. It looks good and I may well end up booking it.

Neckervd, I will be going to Trieste after leaving Piran as I will pick up the train to Venice from there.

Schnauzer, you are always welcome to hijack the thread as both a fellow Schnauzer lover (at least I assume you are) and Aussie. I hope you haven't been impacted too much by the fires.

kja

Advantages of having a car while in Bled would include the ease of going to Bohinj.

I didn't walk from the Vintgar Gorge to Bled, but there is a lovely ridge-line walk above the gorge that I thoroughly enjoyed. From the entrance nearest the lowest part of the gorge walk, there's a path up hill, and there's a path back down near the car park at the other end. IIRC, the sign was marked for St. Catherine's, a tiny little chapel on the ridge near the place where the path reaches it.

Wonderful!

schnauzer