Transfer Split to Llubljana

That’s a 6.5 hour drive over more than 275 miles. not even counting Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Highly unlikely you’ll find drivers that do that crossing an international border. It would be two full days and 550 miles for the driver to return home to Split. They also would need to be licensed and insured in both countries.
It’s much easier for drivers in Split to just do runs to and from the airport.

Your best bet is three separate legs: Bus from Split to Plitvice Lakes N.P.; then bus from Plitvice Lakes N.P. to Zagreb; then Bus or Train from Zagreb to Ljubljana.

You wouldnt think this would be hard. Two moderate legs (2.5 hours and 3.5 hours). I'm not a big fan of busses either. Dont blame you. This is where the forum can be good. Actual people who have actually done the trip have ideas; as opposed to Google research. Hopefully you get more suggestions than just mine. Some additional tour guides to contact might be helpful.

There several ways that come to mind.

• DayTrip.com booked as one trip with a two hour stop in Plitvice (truly enough time for me) is 640 euro (ouch)
  
• DayTrip.com booked as two drivers the first to Plitvice is 301 euro and the second from Plitvice 4 hours later is 282 euro, so a tad cheaper for some reason.

if you were to stick to a shorter stay at Plitvice and if you were to thrown in another stop or two (go to the website to see the options), then maybe the cost makes more sense.

• Next option is to contact an individual I know that arrranges things like this for a living, About three years ago she set up my one day transfer from Zagreb to Plitvice to Split. She might have a more affordable option, Dijana Krkotic, +382 69 277 749 (WhatsApp), [email protected], www.docleatravel.com. I have dropped her name so often lately people might be wondering what I get out of it .... nothing. She's just good. I have her taking care of a similar length of transfer x 2 in Montenegro in May. Will be the 4th time I have used her.
• If you strike out with all of that, I know another guide in the area that might have an idea. Let me know and I will call her.

I looked up flixbus for you (random date in May)

• Split to Plitvice https://shop.flixbus.com/search?departureCity=40e128e9-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&arrivalCity=40e2f5c2-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&route=Split-Plitvice+Lakes+%28Plitvi%C4%8Dka+Jezera%29&rideDate=14.05.2025&adult=1&_locale=en_US&departureCountryCode=HR&arrivalCountryCode=HR&features%5Bfeature.enable_distribusion%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.train_cities_only%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.auto_update_disabled%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.webc_search_us_veterans_promoted%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.webc_search_no_stations_limit%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.darken_page%5D=1&atb_pdid=c2b01b92-ccc5-4a86-afb3-e683e7846976&_sp=7b5bad8a-01a5-4f3f-b1f5-56c9b3019f9f&_spnuid=4af2d517-ab9c-4288-badf-8306d8626bf8_1740132301323
• And Plitvice to Ljub https://shop.flixbus.com/search?departureCity=40e2f5c2-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&arrivalCity=40de8044-8646-11e6-9066-549f350fcb0c&route=Plitvice+Lakes+%28Plitvi%C4%8Dka+Jezera%29-Ljubljana&rideDate=14.05.2025&adult=1&_locale=en_US&departureCountryCode=HR&arrivalCountryCode=SI&features%5Bfeature.enable_distribusion%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.train_cities_only%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.auto_update_disabled%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.webc_search_us_veterans_promoted%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.webc_search_no_stations_limit%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.darken_page%5D=1&atb_pdid=c2b01b92-ccc5-4a86-afb3-e683e7846976&_sp=7b5bad8a-01a5-4f3f-b1f5-56c9b3019f9f&_spnuid=4af2d517-ab9c-4288-badf-8306d8626bf8_1740132327311

Another option that might be a lot cheaper is going to GetYourGuide.com or Viator.com and joining a package trip to Plitvice from Split. Then using a transfer service from Plitvice to Ljub.

• Here is GetYourGuide: https://www.getyourguide.com/s/?q=Split+plitvice&date_from=2025-06-03&date_to=2025-06-03&searchSource=1
• They have a few that do Split to Plitvice to Zagreb but didnt see Ljub. Prices were very reasonable too. Spend a night in Zagreb as its worth a day to visit, then go on to Ljub.

I really, really don't recommend stopping at Plitvice in the middle of the day. It is a dreadful day-trip destination, because it gets blasted by--you guessed it--day-trippers. You will be walking along in lockstep with a mob of other visitors, practically stepping on the heels of the people in front of you. Plitvice is a lovely place, but not in those conditions. I urge you to either skip it for find a way to spend a night there, visiting the park late in the afternoon on the day you arrive and again early the next morning. It will be an entirely different experience.

If you treat Plitvice as a mid-day stop, it's highly likely you'll come away not much liking the place (like Mr. E), and what's the point in that?

When i went in mid-July, I arrived about 11am from Zagreb. It was very okay as crowds go until about 1pm, then we had to sort of struggle to the exit. I don't know if that was a typical day but it wasn't bad timing on that day. I just wasn't impressed because of the time vs the payoff for my taste. Others love it, and that's understandable. Now, there are some waterfalls and nature in BiH I could stay all day for.

But i would also look at the stops that DayTrip offers. Some looked very sweet. You don't have to use DayTrip, buy it's a source to build a list from.

Dutch, Before planning to go to Plitvice NP mid-day,
as your current plan has it— watch a YouTube video or two showing you what a daytrip is like.
As mentioned above by Acraven, the throngs of people who also are visiting from about 10am to 3 pm on day trips from both Zagreb and Split is overwhelming. It looks like a Conga Line at a Rave.

Acraven is one of our more astute contributors here so I walk a line when I am not in agreement. She always talks from either first hand knowledge or a lot of experinece.

I think the difference may be if I were one truly excited about going and looking forward to 5 or 6 hours of hiking around the lakes I might be more in agreement with her. Because as I noted, it was getting a bit messy by 1pm. But this place was maybe just a bit more than mildly interesting for me. So within 3 hours I was ready to move on anyway. That gave me about the same quitting time as one who spent the night and started at 8am and walked for 6 hours. And for full disclosure, my daughter could have walked for 3 more hours. She loved it.

So, sure, I agree, starting at mid-day might be pushing your luck. If you get a 8 or 8:30 start out of Split then you will be there at 11am which I think is morning, not mid day. Something else I have noted is that they are now selling timed tickets. That means they are controlling the number of people entering. That might bring some balance to things.

I did a little googling to see how my trip stacked up against the recommendations. The conscesus is that Friday and Saturday are the busiest days, July and August are the busiest months, and mid-afternoon is the busiest time. So, if you are going in May (preferable) or June (and I would suspect early June is better than late June) and other than a weekend and before noon; you are probably doing it pretty good.

Even if you are going on the weekend, the other factors probably make it a good trip.

Of course you could go the night before and spend the night, and while I havent heard much "great" about any of the hotels nearby, if being the first in the door means something to you, and legitimately it might, then thats an idea. There is a later bus that gets you there at 7:30pm. Not sure where "there" is or how to get to one of the hotels. It’s not that it’s a bad idea, it’s just at this point the visit to Plitvice is taking more time and effort than things that interest me more and I go along with Acraven and I would skip it.

So complicated. I would rather sit in Šibenik with a glass of wine and enjoy the ambiance of the Venetian architecture.

It's about 3 hours from Split to Plitvice. Taking a cue from acraven, amongst others,
an alternative might be:

• rent a car in Split, drive to Plitvice, arriving early-mid afternoon.
• spend 2-3 hours in Plitvice, seeing one half of the lakes in the afternoon
• stay the night in Plitvice
• see the other half of the lakes the next morning (since you would have a car, leave time to drive over to the outlooks that are south of Poljanak). Plus, if you stay at the on-site hotel, you can most likely get your park ticket validated for second day for free.
• drive to Zagreb, arriving early afternoon
• spend a night in Zagreb (it's worth it), or drop off the car and take the bus to Ljubljana.

Driving all the way to Slovenia will incur a hefty dropoff fee, and the bus ride
is pretty short. I've done the drive, it's not bad.

For my first two trips, Plitvice National Park was in Yugoslavia--that's how long ago it was. There were few other visitors. My third visit was on Friday, August 28, 2015. I took a bus from Zagreb, arriving about 10 AM. I stood in the ticket line for an hour; they hadn't yet started encouraging purchase of online tickets and may not even have been selling them at that point. When I got into the park around 11 AM, the walkways were wall-to-wall people. As I've said before on this forum, I was aware that if one person stumbled, a bunch of folks were going to end up in the water. Fortunately, no one stumbled.

Given how much tourist traffic to Croatia has increased in the last 10 years, I'm confident in saying that, no, leaving Split at 8 or 8:30 to get to the park by 11 AM is not going to result in a good experience, not even in May or June, unless you choose to go on a day when the weather is so dreadful that everyone else bails--and what's the point in doing that?

I've been thinking about why I might like Plitvice so much (based on those two earlier visits), while Mr. E is so lukewarm. Aside from my having seen it under superb conditions, this may be a good part of the story: There are places so dramatic they have a great impact even seen from a distance--places like the Alps and the Norwegian fjords. While you might like to be the only person standing at the scenic overlook, you can still have a great view if you're sharing the space with members of a big-bus tour.

Then there are other places whose beauty is more subtle but readily appreciated because you're able to experience it up close. Plitvice is an example of the latter for me, as is the (smaller) Vintgar Gorge in Slovenia, or a medieval village with twisty, cobblestone streets. In places like those, a lot of the charm to me is just being in the environment, and they lose a lot of appeal if they are packed to the gills. I really like absorb-the-atmosphere places while plenty of other folks find them wanting because they do not have 3-star sights. Despite liking the less-dramatic destinations, I've been very frustrated by the absolutely packed, tourist-clogged streets in the medieval cores of places like Annecy (France), St-Paul-de-Vence (France) and Taormina (Sicily). I'm sure I'd have the Cinque Terre on this list were my most recent visit not 30 years ago.)

I guess this is something of an over-simplification, but I'd ask: Would you willingly schedule a visit to a small, picturesque, coastal town on a day with a monster cruise ship scheduled to be in port if you had an alternative, better date available?

And yes, Zagreb is totally worth a visit.

Then there are other places whose beauty is more subtle but readily appreciated because you're able to experience it up close.

I think you appreciate the place in a deeper sense than anyone ever will again, even at 8:30am.

I'm luke warm on the subject but have still encouraged the trip. Why? Cause not everyone is me so I offer my opinion, then try and help. If my daughter wanted to return again at 11am on a June day, i would be happy to take her. Neither she nor i would have 2015 to compare it to (we went 2021), so it may hold up better. If my daughter wanted to spend the night and go at 8am, sure, I would buy her bus ticket .... I have better things to do.

But you description of the closeup and personal experiences of nature's beauty I do get. It's the real reason I go fly fishing. Me, alone in a Bosnian river for 8 hours .... before I leave I study the clear water and learn every stone in the river bed and every tree branch ... especially those behind me that have become the new home of some of my best flies. I get to meet a few fish, we play and talk before I send them home. It's a glorious way to spend a few days ...