Help with 2 week Slovenia itinerary

You can break your trip from Venice to Trieste for a lunch in Palmanova, an impressive fortifed town from the late 1500s, built by the Venetians. Have a short walk around the fortifications before setting off to Trieste.

You have 4 nights and 2 1/2 days in Ljubljana (the bear-watching safari is generLly a half day, starting in the afternoon). While it is a lovely and enjoyable city, it is also very small. I would take one night from there and spend it in Piran, so you have one full day there. It is a beautiful and interesting town, with some waterfront stretches reminiscent of the Riviera . You can swim in the crystal-clear Adriatic if you are so inclined; there are steps into the water at intervals. We had lots of fun doing that.

Is your flight from Venice on Day 14? If so, I wouldn't want to spend Night 13 in Piran. The cost of missing that return flight could be very high.

Skocjan is definitely less touristy than Postojna. I'm not familiar with the other caves.

Consider doing the trip in reverse: fly into Venice and take a GoOpti transfer to Piran. Pick up a car there, drive to Bled, Ljubljana, etc. Drop the car in Ljubljana at the end and take a GoOpti (or DRD or FlixBus) back to Venice, spend the last few days there, and fly out.

Thank you for all the replies! It sounds like Piran is not to be missed. I think I will drop Trieste in order to include Piran. I may also take an additional night from Ljubljana and add it to Piran. That way, I would get 2 nights in Piran and still be able to make it back to Venice the night before our departing flight.

I'd echo the others' advice to make the most of Piran. It is a lovely town. Skocjan is certainly with a visit. We haven't visited Postojna (except to stop for lunch and use the facilities!) so I can't comment on the cave system. However, you can get a combined ticket for Predjama and Postojna, which may be a consideration. Remember also that you will need to buy a motorway vignette as soon as possible when you first enter Slovenia.

Well partner is upset and not willing to cut out Trieste. He is a big history buff, and so I can see now why cutting Trieste would be a big deal for him. But now I’ve also got my heart set on seeing Piran as well, even if just for a short time. It seems like we’ll do 2 nights in Trieste directly after our 2 nights arrival in Venice. We can either do a full day or 1/2 trip to Piran. If we stay in Piran long enough to watch the sunset, would driving back to Trieste after dark be a problem? I’ve read reports of others saying they prefer not to drive in Slovenia after dark due to lack of signage on the roads, this being harder to manage in the dark. I’m guessing/hoping this wouldn’t be an issue between Piran and Trieste as most of the route looks to be on major roadways?

I'm not crazy about driving in any foreign country after dark if I don't have to. But I had no trouble driving anywhere in Slovenia, Croatia, or Bosnia after dark occasionally.. The roads in Slovenia are excellent for the most part. It's not that there is poor signage - it's more that there's different signage than you might be used to. The signs on minor roads tend to be for turns rather than announcing what route you are on like you would expect in say North America. Driving from Piran, surely you'll see signs toward Trieste. I really wouldn't put "driving between Piran and Trieste" high on your list of worries, unless you have trouble driving at night in general.

And also you ought to take some sort of GPS device - even a basic smart phone with Google Maps would suffice. (You don't need mobile data to use a smart phone as a GPS; you can download Slovenian maps ahead of time on WiFi with Google Maps "offline.")

I hope you and your partner enjoy Trieste. I understand its historical significance, but I didn't really care for it. Although it's more of an "Austria-Hungary" city in terms of heritage than an "Italian" city, today it still seems to me like a noisy little Italian city. I didn't find it particularly charming. Tiny Piran, while relatively insignificant by historical standards, is delightful.

Thank you! Your post gave me the confidence that driving after dark between Trieste and Piran would be doable... but atlas, our intinerary takes another turn.

Due to availability at the bed and breakfast we want to stay at in Lake Bled, we will head directly Slovenia after our flight arrives in Venice. We’ll have 1 night in Slovenia (either Piran or Ljubljana) before heading to the B & B for 2 nights. We will do Venice and Trieste at the end of our trip instead of at the beginning.

I’m guessing GoOpti will be my best option for getting from the Venice airport to Solvenia. We will probably go for the more expensive fixed departure time. But struggling with what time to set as the departure? Our flight is scheduled to land at 11 am. What should the Go Opti departure time be set at? 1 pm? 12:30?