We will be spending 3 nights in Graz before heading to Ljubljana for the Rick Steves Adriatic tour starting Oct. 2, this fall.
The only train choice this year seems to be leaving at 9pm. I know there were better choices 2 years ago. Could it be too early to find tickets? Looking on the ÖBB site.
It might just be too early. rome2rio.com shows a daytime train. You might also look at flixbus. That shows on rome2rio as several departures each day. And faster. We used flixbus in Italy, Croatia and Slovenia in 2019 and it was great. Easy to book online and get updates on their app. Nice modern buses.
Rome2Rio doesn’t always get it right. There were reports here that the daytime train service between Munich-Salzburg-Ljubljana stops running September 10. Checking later dates on bahn.de confirms this—-only a night train.
Rome2Rio is the least reliable method of researching transportation. At best, it just gives you some ideas and websites to do real research.
I'm surprised there aren't more departures. This may be a time to consider GoOpti. I haven't used the company, but others on the forum have, and I think all the reports have been positive. I don't know exactly what territory GoOpti covers, but it definitely provides transfers in and out of Ljubljana.
We used GoOpti in 2018 from Venice to Ljubljana. We arrived 2 nights prior to the Adriatic Tour. We had a positive experience. They were efficient, right on time and comfortable van. We would hire them again. The convenience alone was well worth it. They do have a route from Graz to Ljubljana. https://www.goopti.com/en/
There are more than a dozen train routings from Graz to Ljubljana with most requiring a train transfer. usually in Maribor Slovenia. There are only a couple trains each day that require no transfers.
If you can, I would take a daytime train because this train trip is spectacular as it crosses the Alps- I’d call it one of the most scenic in Europe.
You can see your options at www.TheTrainline.com
I posted on the ÖBB FaceBook page this morning and got a reply in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, no more trains will be added after September.
I was able to take a direct train from Salzburg to Ljubljana, in 2019, when I took the tour. The train left in the morning and arrived late afternoon. I arrived the day before the tour started.
