Posted this on Eastern Europe site, but so far no response. Wondering if anyone has taken the train from Venice to points East like Rovinj, Plitvice Lakes, Pula, etc. We will be traveling the first part of May. We are not looking to hike or things of that sort. We just enjoy beautiful scenery and little European cities. We love Italy, but we will be there over a month and would like to venture elsewhere. We are young 70's. Jerry and Stelly
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
Your best bet from Venice to Istria is the Venezia Lines hydrofoil. It departs Venice around 5:00 pm and arrives in Porec and Rovinj a couple of hours later. I used it to go from Rovinj to Venice in 2008 and thought it worked well. You can check 2010 schedules at www.venezialines.com. 2011 schedules and prices should be similar to 2010, and service starts some time in April. I bought the inexpensive VIP lounge upgrade, and the upstairs lounge was much less crowded than the main cabin. There's frequent bus service between Rovinj and Pula. To explore more of Istria or to day trip to Plitvice, consider renting a car for a day or an overnight. Uniline, a Croatian rental company, has an office in Rovinj, and they'll deliver the car to you (like Enterprise does in USA). Pula offers several car rental options.
Posted by
Chicago/Rural WI
811 posts
In regards to Plitvice, since you aren't looking to hike you may want to reconsider adding it to your itinerary. It's a huge national park with tons of hiking trails designed to take you around the lakes/waterfalls. Without at least some element of hiking, there wouldn't be much to see.