Zagreb day trips

Lake Bled is as beautiful as the photos indicate, but what the photos don't reveal is that the lake is very small; you can walk all the way around it in 2 or 3 hours. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is a charming city and definitely worth visiting. It would make the drive a lot more worthwhile, I think, if you planned time in both Bled and Ljubljana. Only you can say whether the trip would be worth the time required. Google Maps estimates a driving time of 2-1/4 hours to Lake Bled (Ljubljana's closer to Zagreb and wouldn't take as long), so you're talking about close to 5 hours of travel time. I think border crossings people use on the way to the beach from nearly-landlocked Slovenia do sometimes get backed up, but that seems unlikely to happen in May. However, in exchange for giving up a full day in Zagreb (a very nice city itself), you'd gain not much more than half a day in Slovenia after you allowed time to eat at least one meal.

Plitvice National Park is really lovely, but it gets utterly blasted with day-trippers. The walkways become unbelievably clogged, and the whole experience is very degraded. I've had that experience and I don't recommend it. The way to handle Plitvice is to spend the night there. It's nearly a two-hour drive from Zagreb. Arrive around mid-afternoon so you can see part of the park that day, as the other visitors are leaving. Get up the next morning and complete your visit. It is said the hotels inside the park will endorse a one-day park ticket so you can get back inside the next morning; I've never tried to verify that. Those within-the-park hotels are considered unexceptional and overpriced, so if I had a car, I'd figure on staying a bit outside the park and just paying for a two-day park ticket.

Unfortunately, I haven't had access to a car in Croatia and haven't been to any of the towns near Zagreb (like Karlovac and Samobor). They might be more practical alternatives for you. Zagreb is just awfully far from the places most people target in Croatia to be used as a base for day trips.

Thank you so much for your reply. This was very thorough and helpful. So, in your experience, it would be worthwhile to make the drive to Ljubljana. I'll have to add it to my itinerary.

AcRaven has it nailed. Plitvice Lakes National Park Is definitely a stay over and go out early. Ljubljana is my choice over Zagreb. The Adriatic one of my favorite places in Europe. Enjoy it.

Those destinations are all good but quite far from Zagreb as other commenters have said. A closer destination for a day trip of a half day or so is Kumrovec, northwest of Zagreb very near the Slovenian border. It's Tito's birthplace, and that house has been restored as a memorial to him, surrounded by an old village with displays on Croatian rural life a century ago, etc. -- kind of a Croatian Sturbridge Village. Not far away in the village of Zagorje is an interesting little museum with the works of the sculptor Augustincic (not to be confused with the more famous Croatian sculptor Mestrovic). I visited these places with a tour group from Zagreb. I wouldn't call these destinations must-sees, but I thought they were worthwhile, especially if you have a car (I don't think public transportation would work for this). It is quite a pretty area of the country -- rolling forested hills. Croatia and Slovenia are both in Schengen so there shouldn't be any border crossing hassles if you want to go there, but you'd want to make sure that's ok with your rental company.

On the same tour we visited Plitvice, the Croatian coast at various places, Lake Bled and Ljubljana, but none of these as daytrips from Zagreb. Overnight would be better for any of them.

Thanks for the reality check on the non-border-crossing situation, Slate. My trip was before Croatia joined the Schengen area, when you did see border controls, sometimes with substantial back-ups.

Thank you everyone. I realize in order to have a relaxing vacation I won't be able to see everything. With that in mind and all of your recommendations, we will probably stick to the area in Zagreb, make a trip to Plitvice, and possibly drive to the coast for a beach. I don't see us being able to enjoy Slovenia and Plitvice in the span of time we have

Why the heck are you staying in Zagreb for 4 days? It is not a beautiful place in a country filled with beautiful places. What a shame.

We’ve done many day trips from Zagreb. One is Krapina where they discovered evidence of neanderthal life. They have a very interesting museum.
Another sight is Trakošćan Castle. A nice drive and an interesting castle/museum.