2 day trips from Ljubljana - route advice needed

I cannot answer the route question, as we were in Slovenia on a guided tour (focused on hiking) so I did not do any of the route planning myself.

But I will suggest that instead of driving so many hours to cover a lot of ground, you spend more time at the highlight spots. For example, you could spend a whole day at Lakes Bled and Bohinj. At Bled, walk to the castle, hike up behind the town to the top of the chairlift and ride the summer luge back down, and maybe take a swim.

At Bohinj, there is a nice hike we did right from the lakeside hotel (Hotel Jezero) up through the forest to a waterfall, then down to a farmhouse hut for refreshments. You can rent SUP and maybe kayaks at Bohinj, and swim there as well.

You could add a stop at Vintgar Gorge, but may find the parking lot full, and the trail through the gorge very crowded.

With three nights, I'm afraid I wouldn't venture much further than Ljubljana and the two Alpine lakes, Bled and Bohinj. You could do the scenic detour to the lakes through Skofja Loka, Jamnik and Kropa, but that is it. I don't think you have time to venture further northwest and cross the Vrsic Pass into the Soca Valley. That would take a day on its own with all the sightseeing stops and seeing how you only have three nights (two full days) in Slovenia, I don't think it's feasible. Plan a day for Ljubljana and a day for the lakes and perhaps visit one of the caves on your way to Istria.

Only do Vrsic Pass and the Soca Valley if you are willing to commit an additonal night to Slovenia. In case you do that, spend the night in the Soca or Vipava Valley and then continue straight to Istria from there as opposed to returning to Ljubljana, which would be an unnecessary detour from there.

I'm with Dejan, as you don't have enough time to see all you want. One day go for Bled and Bohinj and next I would go to Logar Valley. Probably the prettiest Alpine Valley in Slovenia.

Thank you for your replies. I was hoping you would respond @Dejan, as you have given so much good advice in this forum.

I have decided to change my plan, to extend my stay in Slovenia and skip Istria on this trip. (sad to miss Istria, but you cannot do it all in only 14 days!)

I'm planning on this itinerary, and comments are still most welcome:
Day 1, arrive Ljubjanka
Day 2, explore and sleep in Ljubjanka
Day 3, explore around Bled (via Škofja Loka, Jamnik, Kropa), stay in Bled or in/near Kranjska Gora (via the Radnova Valley) ??
Day 4, over the Vršič Pass, Soča River Valley, and stay in/near Soča or Kobarid ??
Day 5, stop in Škocjan for the caves en route to Piran, sleep in Piran
Day 6, Piran to Plitvitce Lakes... and further into Croatia for the next 8 days, ending in Dubrovnik.

How does this seem to be for routes, having enough time, etc? Any advice for where to stay on nights 3 and 4?

Thanks!
bb

Always happy to help. :)

Your latest itinerary sounds good to me. I think you can easily stay around Bled on day 3. If you really want to visit the Radovna Valley, there are some farmhouses available for rent there on Airbnb or other booking services. That would certainly be a different experience to staying in a town! Otherwise, there are several guesthouses around Bled that get regular recommendations from posters on these forums. I also (sadly) recommend skipping the Vintgar Gorge, it will be mobbed in August. Instead, opt for the slightly less visited but equally pretty Tolmin Gorge while in the Soca Valley. You can spend the time you would have spent in the Vintgar Gorge by exploring Bled further or do the short drive to Lake Bohinj, although you might have to start early to manage it all in day 3, as it will be quite packed.

On night 4, stay in the Kobarid/Tolmin area, but don't limit yourself to the towns, I recommend staying at a tourist farm in the countryside.

Technically, Piran is on the Istrian peninsula, just not on the Croatian side, so you won't get to miss Istria after all. Since you have to skip the hilltop towns of Istria and the countryside of the interior of the peninsula, I recommend you drive through the similar Karst area on your way from the Soca Valley south to Skocjan and Piran, stopping at the hilltop village of Stanjel.

You can also get a taste of Istria on your way from Piran to Plitvice, driving via Hrastovlje and its Romanesque church with danse macabre frescoes, below the Kraski Rob, a series of limestone "walls" that separate the highlands from the Istrian peninsula and Buzet (truffle country) or alternatively driving via the Istrian hilltop towns of Groznjan and Motovun.

I think your revised itinerary is fine. I hope you are aware of the rental car charges for renting a car in Slovenia and dropping in Croatia - could be around 500 Euros (or a higher daily rate) vs. a one-way rental just in Croatia. With your revised itinerary, one potential way to avoid this would be to drop the Slovenian car in say Koper or Portoroz (short local bus ride from Portoroz to Piran), take a GoOpti shuttle or some other transport south to Porec or Rovinj, and pick up another car. That would avoid the steep one-way fee. You can decide if it's worth the trouble.

Piran is a lovely town. It is, as Dejan notes, part of Istria, just on the Slovenian side. It feels somewhat similar to Rovinj (which I also love).

I spent a night in Kobarid, because I like towns and the "tourist farm" concept doesn't appeal to me. Kobarid is OK - not my favorite town, not very big, but not bad and a convenient place to stop. One reason I stopped was the noted war museum in Kobarid dedicated partly to World War I, because a few famous battles were fought in this area. However, I found the museum a bit stuffy - though I must admit, even though I love history, I'm not a big museum person. If you want to see another waterfall nearby Kobarid, do a quick trip to Slap Kozjak - you can park your car and walk about 10 minutes up a stream to get there. All the locals know where it is.

@Dejan - This is really great, thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I will post again in a couple of days once I have it all figured out. This has been a big help.

@Andrew H. We're going to fly into Zagreb, and rent the car there, and return it in Split. There is still a fee for a separate dropoff, but it isn't that bad. Thanks for the reminder just the same, and thank you for the pointers on Kobarid too.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed in this forum, and to those that replied to my questions.

Our August vacation to Slovenia and Croatia is finally planned, and I am sharing the itinerary in case it may be useful to someone else. We're front loading the adventure into the first week, with hiking, mountains, and lots of driving (but not too much per day). The second week is more about relaxing, and enjoying the beaches and sun.

For the first half of the trip, our nightly average lodging costs are under €50. We're splurging in Orebić and Lapad, where our nightly average was €172, and a 13 night average of €117. We chose a mix of city and countryside, apartments, houses, farms, alpine lodges, and even one resort on the beach.

• day 1 fly VLC > ZGB (pickup car) > Ljubljana d2:00 (driving time 2 hours)
• day 2 Ljubljana
• day 3 Ljubljana > Skofja Loka > Jamnik > Kropa > Lake Bled d0:45 > Kranjska Gora d1:20
• day 4 Kranjska Gora > Vršič Pass > Trenta > Soča > Kobarid > Tolmin > Stanjel > Razdrto d3:20
• day 5 Razdrto > Skocjan Caves > Izola (Piran) d0:45
• day 6 Izola (Piran) > (*route see day 6 below) > Seliste Dreznicko (Plitvitce) d3:45
• day 7 Seliste Dreznicko (Plitvitce) > Split (drop car) d3:00
• day 8 Split > Orebić d2:45 via catamaran (*on the Pelješac peninsula, see day 8 below)
• day 9 Orebić
• day 10 Orebić, visit Korčula old town
• day 11 Orebić > Lapad (Dubrovnik) d1:45 via catamaran
• day 12 Lapad (Dubrovnik)
• day 13 Lapad (Dubrovnik), possible daytrip to Kotor or Mostar (d10:00)

• day 14 fly DBV > VLC

  • day 6 route. We'll decide later on one of the two routes @dejan recommended: from Piran to Plitvice, driving via Hrastovlje and its Romanesque church with danse macabre frescoes, below the Kraski Rob, a series of limestone "walls" that separate the highlands from the Istrian peninsula and Buzet (truffle country), or, alternatively driving via the Istrian hilltop towns of Groznjan and Motovun.
  • day 8: originally we had planned to stay on Korčula in/near Korčula town, but couldn't find a place that we liked at a reasonable price. This was because we had a lot of requirements, such as A/C, pool, location near old town, good reviews, plenty of space, terrace, beach, etc.

There are plenty of compromises in the itinerary, but I am not too worried about them. Why? Because from everything I've read and seen about Slovenia and Croatia, I am going to want to return. I can imagine spending a week in Istria and another week in Eastern Slovenia, and more weeks along the coast and exploring Croatia's other Islands. We will miss Lake Bohinj, Krk, the northern Dalmatia coast, Krka, Sveti Jure, several of their national parks, and so much more. What an exciting destination it is going to be.

bb

And after Slovenia and Croatia, you'll still have Montenegro and the rest of the Balkan Peninsula to explore.