What to do before Slovenia and Croatia
 

We are going on our first tour. I have planned all our previous trips, but have decided this year to do Rick Steves "Best of the Adriatic" tour. We have had a hectic year, and for various reasons have decided to do the tour.

I am happy with this decision, but have an itch to do a little planning for a few days beforehand. We will be flying with BA on points, so must initially fly into a BA destination. This is where I got excited about planning opportunities! What interests me the most is flying to Zurich, and then making our way to Ljubljana by train via Milan and Venice. It sounds like a wonderfully scenic train trip, but I am not sure if we have enough time to do it justice. We only have about 3 days and 3 nights between when we land, and when we need to be in Ljubljana.

If we did do this route, what are suggested places to stop along the way? Lake Como? Milan? Lucerne? Verona? The only place we have been before on this entire route is Venice. Would adding another day or two make all the difference?

Or should we just fly to Vienna or Budapest (haven't been to either), spend a couple of nights and train from there?

I would stay east and see Vienna---much closer.

I agree with Bob. Or you could go to Venice and Trieste. Trieste is a surprisingly untouristy, very charming Italian city. It's a short, pretty train ride from there to Ljubljana.

Thanks for the comments, I was beginning to think that flying into Venice or Vienna might be best. I will do some research on Trieste too.

If we had 6 days (instead of 3), would the Zurich route make sense?

Sure, you can always do that, provided you're willing to spend the time on trains.