Working on setting up an itinerary, for sure we're going from Austria-Slovenia-Italy in the Fall.
What I'm having trouble coming up with is, how efficient is either itinerary:
Vienna-Ljubljana-Bled-Venice
or
Vienna-Bled-Ljubljana-Venice
Trying avoid backtracking, however, if we must, thankfully, Slovenia is a small country. From reading the various posts, appears that taking the bus rather than train to Venice, is the faster option, however, where to pick up the bus and in which order?
Vienna-Bled-Ljubljana-Venice.
Have an overnight in Trieste. Amazingly beautiful and agreeable. Two hours by train from Venice.
We actually have this same route booked and are leaving next week.
We are starting in Bled, and driving counter-clockwise - to Bovec then down to Trieste where we will stay a few days and take the train into Venice for the day. Then continue south and east to hit the caves, Lupica farms, Karst region and back up to Lbujlana.
Total of 8 days.
Vienna is the only outlying city in this itinerary, it's a long train ride from Ljub or Bled. Are you taking train or driving?
Be aware that the train route doesn't connect you from Slovenia to Italy. You must go up to Austria, then west, and down through Verona. Time consuming.
You could do both. From Bled to Venice, you can take the scenic Bohinj Railway to Nova Gorica (use Bled Jezero station, not the mainline Lesce-Bled), cross into Gorizia by local bus and then take a train to Venice.
Ljubljana to Venice will require either a shuttle transfer, a bus or a bus from Ljubljana to Trieste, followed by a train from Trieste to Venice. The latter option can be done entirely on a train ticket, too, as some of the LJ-TS buses are run in cooperation with the railway company. They also appear in the bahn.com timetables.
Vienna is the only outlying city in this itinerary, it's a long train ride from Ljub or Bled. Are you taking train or driving?
Be aware that the train route doesn't connect you from Slovenia to Italy. You must go up to Austria, then west, and down through Verona. Time consuming.
Vienna to Bled (via train), change trains in Villach, Austria (5/6-hour ride?)
Bled to Ljubljana (via train)
Ljubljana to Venice, (via bus) bus seems to be the fastest and most frequent method to get to Venice, while train sounds scenic but infrequent and indirect.
From Bled to Venice, you can take the scenic Bohinj Railway to Nova Gorica (use Bled Jezero station, not the mainline Lesce-Bled), cross into Gorizia by local bus and then take a train to Venice.
OK, this has got me interested, how much travel time would this be?
EDIT- OK, as nice and pleasant as the Bohinj Railway looks, it doesn't run regularly (1-3 times a month) and we're not going to be around when it does run. If they could secure additional funding or, get the gov to subsidize, that route would be a hot tourist attraction for international travelers and could be quite lucrative.
The steam train runs 1-3 times a month, but there are regular train services on the railway. There are about 7 daily trains between Bled Jezero and Nova Gorica, with the ride taking about 90-110 minutes, depending on the departure. It takes about 15-20 minutes to transfer with the local bus from Nova Gorica to Gorizia Centrale, from where there are hourly trains to Venice that take about two hours.
You can find more detailed information on the connection here: https://www.seat61.com/venice-to-ljubljana-and-zagreb-by-train.htm#Lake_Bled_to/from_Trieste_&_Venice
