hank54

Has anybody taken the Izola Line's Venice to Slovenia ferry, the "Prince of Venice?" Do you recommend it? Is the schedule reliable? Is there a better way to travel from Venice to Slovenia... train? Rental cars apparently can't be taken from Italy to Slovenia, at least not Avis or Hertz.

KellyGreta

I'm interested, as well. Three of us plan to fly into Venice and rent a car to see NE Italy, then drive into Slovenia (I thought I had read, on another forum, that we were allowed to do that - as long as insurance covered it, and rental agency knew about our plans).

We also want to see Croatia, then thought we would return to Venice via ferry.
Do any ferries allow vehicles?

kybourbon

Some rental companies don't allow their cars on ferries so check.

Andrew

There is daily direct bus service from Venice Mestre to Ljubljana:

http://www.drd.si/en/

There are no direct trains. You can take connecting trains via Austria but it's a bit out of the way.

There are other options. You can take a train from Venice to Trieste and from Trieste take buses to Slovenia and Croatia. (The Trieste bus and train stations are adjacent.)

http://www.autostazionetrieste.it/in...&id=2&Itemid=3

You could rent a car in Slovenia and drive to Croatia and return it in Slovenia then back to Venice by ferry - or vice versa.

dreamon

It depends on whereabouts in Slovenia you want to go. There are trains from Italy to Slovenia but we found no direct train service between Venice and Llubljana, as Andrew says. But you don't say that Llubljana is your destination.

rtt0921

The "ferry" is actually a tour operator's passenger catamaran taking tourists on daytrips to Venice or Piran, there is no vehicle deck. It's not really meant as a form of public transportation, but you can still buy tickets for it even if you're not part of one of the tours. Unless your destination is specifically Piran or Portoroz, I'd recommend taking a shuttle or bus instead, they're more convenient.

Mind you there are rental agencies that do allow their cars to be taken into Slovenia, at least Europcar does from my own experience. You should also be aware that in many cases it's not a blanket ban, it only applies to high-end cars and it doesn't even apply to all of the locations. Last I checked the Hertz in Trieste does allow their cars to be taken into Slovenia, but if you do get as far as Trieste you might as well rent the car in Slovenia, it's cheaper over the border.

rtt0921

I should add, you can also take the train to Slovenia without going through Austria, sort of. Catch a train to Trieste, then a local bus to Villa Opicina, from where there are regular trains to Sezana and onwards to Ljubljana. If your destination is the Soca Valley, take a train from Venice to Gorizia and make the short hop across the border to Nova Gorica via either a local bus or by taking a taxi. From Nova Gorica you can take a train or bus into the Soca Valley and even onwards to Bled. However if Bled is your destination, it's easiest to take the train via Austria, it's much quicker.