Driving in Slovenia

Slovenia uses a driving pass system called a vignette. It's a sticker you must buy and stick on your windshield to be able to drive on the highways to avoid a fine. However, if you rent the car in Slovenia itself, it will almost certainly already have a vignette included - my cars always have. If you rent in Croatia or Italy, though, you'll need to buy a vignette right at the border at a gas station or something.

Croatia uses a toll road system instead. You can pay tolls with credit cards in most paces (automated, in 2015 I used a US chip and signature card, no PIN required) - or have Kuna cash available to pay the tolls.

Might be best to get an International Driving Permit (IDP) for driving in these countries, in addition to your valid home driver's license. If you live in the US, get an IDP at AAA for about $20 - valid for one year.

Last May, I rented a car for a day at Avantcar right in the center of Ljubljana. In the past, I've rented with Sixt (at the train station). Both were OK. These rentals already include liability insurance, but comprehensive/collision is usually extra. Figure out what that's going to cost or how you wish to pay for it ahead of time. For some rentals, I've booked directly; for others, I've used sites like EconomyCarRentals and Auto Europe to book cars - and sometimes they offer extra insurance packages. Some people try to use their credit card's auto insurance benefit, but i kind of got screwed by Amex's so-called "premium car insurance" a few years ago in Croatia and am leery about using credit card insurance in the future. Last year I rented with Avantcar only for a day and just bought full insurance directly from them.

Thanks Andrew. We’re renting a car in Slovenia for a couple days, returning it there and taking train to Zagreb. Will rent car in Zagreb or Split mostly for trip to Plitvice. That seems easier since rentals are so cheap. Appreciate the help!

Steve

We rented a car at Venice airport and drove to lake bled. My friend who drove lives in Oregon, so is comfortable with mountain driving. However, trying to interpret road signs, in the dark, w no discernable shoulder, was a nightmare for all of us. If we had it to do over again, we would have gotten to our lodging before night fall

I wouldn't really compare driving in Oregon (anywhere) to driving in Slovenia. But, the signage is different there than in the US - very true. Their road signs in Slovenia tend to point in the direction of the next major towns vs. telling you what road you are on NOW. The first time I drove in Slovenia some years ago, I had to get used to that (no GPS at the time), but I did get the hang of it and rarely got lost.

Now I have a smart phone with Google Maps to use as a GPS, and that made driving in Slovenia a lot easier last time. I might not want to get too far off-off road at night though at least right after arriving from Venice - I'd find out ahead of time where the lodging was so not try to get somewhere way in the middle of nowhere at night. But the GPS would help a lot.

Driving in Slovenia is no problem - especially if you have a GPS system in your car. In July 2017, we drove from Salzburg to Bled to Ljubljana then down into Croatia before coming back to Piran and then on to Italy. The only issue we had was a 1.5-2 hour wait in line to cross the border into Croatia.

Does anyone know if the border wait is less time from Croatia into Slovenia? I have heard that the border wait in the opposite direction (Slovenia into Croatia) is approx. 2 hours. Thank you for any help with this!

Jan

Well, there is more than one border crossing between Slovenia and Croatia. Which one? And when? All of these affect the wait times in either direction. For the most up to date information, this is a case where I'd try to get feedback directly from locals. There are a couple of locals on both the Trip Advisor Croatia and Slovenia forums.

FYI, be careful not to use one of the lesser border crossing on the minor roads that may not be open to non-EU citizens. (E.g. if your GPS or phone guides you to some back road border crossing.)