Slovenia itinerary help
 

Hi all, it's that time of year again and my annual holiday planning would not be complete without a dip into the fodors forums for the usual help. You haven't failed me yet!!!
This year's destination is Slovenia.
Flying in to Ljubljana on 10th September and spending 2 nights there. From there we are planning to travel to lake Bled for 6 nights. We had originally hoped to perhaps head to Dubrovnik in next door croatia from there for 6 days on the coast but that is not fitting in with our return flights from Ljubljana on 24th September. The distance is too far and the logistics involved in hiring a car in Slovenia, taking it over the border to Croatia where we would be probably park it up until we need it to get back to Ljubljana (which is a further drive than we are happy to undertake) is proving too prohibitive. Looked into flying home form Dubrovnik but it's too expensive.
So now hoping to spend the 6 days in Slovenia on the coast, perhaps in Piran or Portoroz. Any suggestions for how we could spend the last 6 days would be greatly appreciated. We don't want to venture any further than a 3 hour trip or so from the airport in Ljublana. Also recommendations for some really nice accommodation would be helpful. We have a big wedding anniversary falling during the trip (10 years) and would like to celebrate by spoiling ourselves a little. As ever thanks in advance for your help!!!
Cailin

Hi there, Just getting back to let you know that we have changed our plans. We are now taking a house in the Primorska region close to the Soca Valley for the entire 2 weeks and will make day trips form there. Any suggestions of things to see and do would be very much appreciated. Many thanks!!

Definitely spend at least 6 days in the Soca Valley area. From Bled - drive up to Lake Bohinj and spend a few days there. Then take the car-train to Most-Na-Soci and drive north through the Soca River Valley. Lots of great scenery and nice hikes.

Plan a day trip down to Piran on the coast---very nice.

We did Triglav National Park coming down from Austria (the road over the top is beautiful but a white knuckle ride). Stayed in Bovec (Starry Kovac) and loved it. We rafted the Soca in late July and it is absolutely stunning. One of the prettiest places I've ever seen. Water was frigid but not too rough Bovec is a cool little mountain town with some casual dining (local trout is great), a few shops, and very much an outdoor adventure vibe. Loved Slovenia in general, and would go back in a minute. Had our kids with us 11 and 13 and they liked it as well. The rafting is class 2 with an occasional 3 so a pretty fun ride but not too bad.

We drove from Bovec to Rovinj in about 3-4 hrs, Piran is on the way so shorter than that from Bovec. Pretty drive along the river valley, stopped at one of the little river towns near the Italian border and had pizza and a beer.

Thanks for those suggestions. Will definitely put them on the list. Can anyone recommend a good Slovenia guide book that is fairly up to date. The rough guide and lonely planet seem to be the most recent publications with new editions out last year. I don't need accommodation info but am interested in details of places to eat and details of things not to do. Thanks again everyone.

I found the Rough Guide to Slovenia very helpful, but I was looking for information about the things I encountered, not "things not to do."

www.slovenia.info

Used this site for planning our trip. Lots of useful things on here

Ooops Kja.. meant to say "things to do"- Whatever was I thinking. thanks- Have invested in the Rough Guide. Have book marked that site Chewy1 and there is PLENTY of food for thought there. Just trying to get my head around it all. Thanks again!!

Anyone been to any of the spas/ thermal baths? How do they work. I can only find info on baths combined with accommodation as they seem to be attached to hotels. Is it possible to go for a day and do you need to book in advance? Thanks x

We drove from Lake Bled to Bovec (part of the same route chewy1 mentions) and the Julian Alps were spectacular (well, for the passenger--the driver really had to have eyes glued to the road). We also loved the Skocjan Caves; the main cave is incredibly huge. However,we wished the tour was a little slower, as it's hard to appreciate sights over your head, while trying to walk on uneven stone and clay.
Ljubljana is delightful if you are an architecture buff--medieval to Art Nouveau in a compact and charming city centre with pleasant riverside cafes.
Piran was out of our hotel budget--we did it as a day trip--and stayed in Koper. Guide books seem to ignore Koper, as it is mainly a business/industrial centre, but we found the old centre fascinating, if a bit tatty in spots. And the 13th c. Danse Macabre fresco in the fortified church at Hrastovlje was amazing. It was only about 40 minutes from Skocjan, although we would never have found it without the GPS.

The best Slovenia guide is the Internet :-)
Every town in the Soca Valley has an excellent tourist information office where there hand out excellent maps and brochures and give good advice about things to do and places to eat.

I also stayed at Stari Kovac in Bovec and recommend it. They have a restaurant on the premises that is very good.

OK well we have arrived and may i say that you were all so right about how fabulously beautiful Slovenia is. We haven't seen much yet and are off tomorrow on our first day trip touring the Soca Valley and Kobarid. But so far every view out of my eyes is like a picture postcard- if that makes sense. Any way once again wanted to ask for some expertise- we are hoping to do the Bohinj heritage train which goes from Jesenice to Nova Gorica- passing through Bled, Bohinj Bistrica and Most na soci. It departs at about 8.30 in the morning and there is a full programme available to visit the Goriska Brda vineyard area and a lunch. My problem is that where we are staying is quite close to Most na Soci. Is it very far to drive from Most na Soci and be there in time to pick up the train at 8.30 am. My dh who will be the driver seems to think that it could take us almost 3 hours to get there??
If the timing is too prohibitive, does anyone know if you can pick up the train in Most na soci or is that just defeating the purpose of the trip?? We would be planning to do Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj another day anyway. I just thought that it would be great for my DH to sit back and let someone else do the driving. He is not completely convinced, I think. Need some back up here as I really want to do it!!!

Hi,
Unless you take the car train (check the timetable, is there one early enough?) from Most na Soci to Bohinjska Bistrica, then yes, it will take a long time to drive around. Alternatively, just take the same train from Most Na Soci to Jesenice without the car if you can get there early enough.
From memory though, you can only buy the tickets for the heritage from the agency in Ljubljana, can others confirm this?
http://www.slo-zeleznice.si/en/passe...heritage-train

Cheers