Five nights in Slovenia

You could easily split a day between Bled and Bohinj (if you want to hike, swim, or boat) and the Vintar Gorge or the Radovljica Bee Museum make that a quite full day. Given Rick's emphasis on taking it slower for the Vrsic Pass drive, I believe that also deserves a full day on its own.

We are planning on 5 nights in July. Please report back with what you think! We are planning on two nights in Lake Bled, a night in the Kobarid area after the Vrsic Pass drive, and two nights in Ljubljana. Cheers!

Thanks for the advice, Laura.

I have a follow-up question. I'll be driving from Kobarid to Rovinj, which Google Maps tells me is about 3 hours driving time.

I'd be interested in adding some stops along the way, including one or more of these:

• Skocjan Caves (or Postojna)
• Predjama Castle
• Piran

With an early start (7 or 8 am), how many of these would I have time to do justice to and still make it to Rovinj before say 6 or 7pm? And if I need to cut one of the three, which is most skippable?

If I may return to your original question, I agree Bled and Bohinj deserve at least one full day. If you want to visit the Vintgar Gorge, make sure you check it's open before going there. We were hit by a massive ice storm in February and a lot of forests are severely damaged, mainly in the area around Postojna, but Vintgar has also been affected. At the moment it's still closed as the clean up continues, while it's normally already open by early April. I'm not sure when it will open, but it's possible it will still be closed when you're in Slovenia. Their website has the latest information, you can try emailing the caretaker's office if they have any more information on when it might open, you can find their email address here: http://www.vintgar.si/gorge.html

Regarding Vrsic Pass, currently there is still around 25ft of snow in some areas of the pass, it's still closed for traffic and the latest information is it will open by the middle of next week, but obviously that can still change. If it's closed, go over the Predel Pass instead, driving from Kranjska Gora via Tarvisio and Cave del Predil in Italy and over the pass into Bovec. You can check the status of the pass on the website of the Slovenian Traffic Information Centre here: http://promet.si/portal/en/1traffic-conditions.aspx

Regarding your last question, out of the three Piran will be the most similar to Rovinj so it might be worth skipping, then again Predjama Castle is going to be a bit of a detour but would make sense if you combine it with Postojna. In between the Postojna and Skocjan Caves, I personally prefer Skocjan because it's wilder and the underground canyon is simply spectacular, but Postojna is bigger, more touristy and has more intricate rock formations, so it all depends on what you prefer.

I do recommend making a short detour into the Goriska Brda area on your way down from Kobarid, it's a scenic winegrowing region spanning the border with Italy. Then, if you opt for skipping Postojna and Predjama, I recommend driving from the Soca Valley to Skocjan over the Karst plateau instead of taking the highway and stop at the medieval hilltop village of Stanjel along the way. And yes, it's possible to do this in a day and arrive in Rovinj by evening.

I know you will have limited time to see Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj, but when I drove from Ljubljana to Bled, I detoured through the delightful town of Škofja Loka and stopped for a quick look around. The scenic drive from Škofja Loka to Bled (not via the highway, not via Kranj) offered breathtaking scenery, in some ways surpassing what I saw on the drive over the Vršič Pass a few days later. If you have time, this detour might be worth it. (I did not have a GPS, just a simple tourist map, and I did not get lost.)

While you are in Kobarid, you might drive/hike out to see the Slap Kozjak (waterfall). My B&B owner told me where I could drive and park my car near the waterfall, then hike about 10-15 minutes up to it. You'll see waterfalls (one or two, anyway) in the Vintgar Gorge, but this one was really nice as well.

The Vrsic Pass has just opened for cars only, so you won't have to do the detour.

Also, I'd like to second Andrew's recommendation to visit the Kozjak Waterfall, it's not a long walk at all but it's a wonderful little gem hidden away in the forest.

Huge thanks, Dejan and Andrew. I've added your suggestions to my itinerary and printed some alternate maps. I guess I'll figure out which route to take and which stops to make between Kobarid and Rovinj based on weather and mood. Cheers!