Slovenia to Istria itinerary
 

thank you for your help with preliminary planning.
Now I already have res in Salzburg and need to drop the car off there.

From Salzburg we go to Slovenia (Bled 2 n and Ljublana 2n) and from there need to go to to Istria.

We would like to have car in Slovenia but not in Ljublana. Here is my dilemma - I have few scenarios and I cannot decide.

Scenario 1.
1. Take private transfer to Bled by car ( a bit more expensive but easy with luggage).
2. Pickup car in bled, 2 days, drive around, drop off car in Ljublana
3. 2 nights in Ljublana, no car.
4. Train to Rijeka 2.5 hrs , not expenvsive.
5. pickup car in Rijeka and drive to Istria



Scenario 2.
1. Take train to Ljublana, 4 hrs
2. 2 days, in Ljublana no car
3. pickup car, go to Bled, 2 nights,
4. Drive to Portoroz, drop off the car, 80 eur private car driver to Rovinj.
5. after crossing the border, Rent a car in Croatia.


The rest of my itinerary after Istria will be: to Split, drop the car off, Islands Hvar and Korcula (do we need a car there?) and then Dubrovnik


Also what is your favorite and convenient place to stay in Istria - Croatia or Slovenia?
Rovinj? or Piran or POrtoroz? not decided.
If we will take train to Rijeka then we are moving west - and afterward to Dalmatian coast so we are a bit looping backwards.

thank you!
Sophia

I'm leaning towards Scenario 2. But it would be nice to just rent the car upon leaving Ljubljana, explore Slovenia and just plan to drop it in Croatia. It would be even nicer to rent the car in Salzburg and drop it in Croatia. Is the drop charge so much that it's worth the inconvenience and cost of a private driver?

Jeff,
original plan was to rent a car in Munich actually (first leg of the trip) and drop it off in Croatia . But dropoff fee is 800 eur!
Therefore all complications are beacuse we need to rent a car in each country and drop itr off in the same country.

Unlike Western European countries, to rent a car in these Eastern European countries is very expensive (if you rent a car i one and drop off in another)
Sophia

I would opt for Scenario 2. You don't really need a car in Bled. The train from Ljubljana to Bled is very easy and you can take a taxi from Bled Lesche to the lake for about 10 euro. For that matter, you can take the bus.

I would stay in Rovinj. From there, you can take a bus to Rejika to take the ferry. You can easily do Split, Korcula and Dubrovnik without a car. The Jandrolina Ferry stops at each of those places (out of Rejika).

That's amazing! I nearly had a similar probem, last fall but had no idea it was that expensive. I ended up flying from Berlin to Zagreb, picking up a car, driving to Ljubljana, seeing some of Slovenia and then continuing on to Croatia.

Sounds like a wonderful trip, but figuing out the transportation part is a challenge.