Venice to Bled
 

Has anyone here driven from Venice to Bled? Interested in how the roads are and how long it took. We're not impressed with the train schedule. Thanks

If you think of taking car rental, it is very easy. There is a high way all the way from Venice (or Venice airport) to Bled. Traveling time now mostly depends on a day of your travel. In August heavy traffic can occure, because of Italians "feragosto". It's Italians vacation month. Usualy, with normal traffic traveling would take approx. 3 hours. There are some road construction on highway just when leaving Venice in direction of Slovenia, so some traffic hold-up is possible on that part of road.
So, my suggestion would be...if you notice very heavy traffic going in direction to Slovenia, use old road from Venice to Trieste and then in Sistiana return back on highway. With this you will avoid most of traffic on highway, if you notice any.

Thanks! We're actually looking at this for October, so probably still have construction, but traffic should be lighter.

There's also direct bus service between Venice (Mestre) and Ljubljana - then you can connect to another bus to Bled from there. The primary company running the bus is a Slovenian company called DRD - www.drd.si . I used their bus service in 2009 and it was fine (slightly confusing finding the bus at Mestre bus station, as there was lots of construction; the bus doesn't actually depart directly from the station, just arrive early).

I'll be taking the same drive in September but I've planned an overnight stop in Bovec to allow me to explore that area some (including hiking to the Boka Waterfall). The drive through Vrsic pass is supposed to be spectacular as well.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Ve...mra=ls&t=h&z=9

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=B...=11&via=1&z=11

Be sure that you have a vignette for the rental car for the trip to Bled. Required by Slovenia. Also required by Austria if you drive into that country. Can be purchased at the highway stops before you enter the country. The fine is significant if you do not have the correct one. I speak from experience.

Thanks for all the advice. We are still debating between that, doing the Veneto (which we haven't done, or driving south down the coast. Any thoughts are welcome :)

Just a clarification about the vignette, it's only mandatory if you will be using the motorway (expressway, freeway, interstate, w/e) system in either Slovenia or Austria. Regular roads are free of charge.