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Lake Bled from Ljubljana

We just made this trip from Ljubljana to Lake Bled, and thought I would say what I found - because it was a little confusing.

Lake Bled is a charming place - more than just the island with the church. There is a park-like feel to the entire lake. There is the imposing castle on the top of a giant rock mountain overlooking the lake. We spent about 2.5 hours to walk completely around it, and it was a very nice walk.

There are two train stations :
1. "Bled Lesce" (also known as "Lesce ZP" for bus) : located about 2.5 miles east of the main town of Bled, on the east shore.
2. Bled Jezero (on the far west of the lake)

Its a shame there is not a 3rd station right in the city of Bled on the east shore where most of the hotels, restaurants, and other businesses are. So you need to choose one of the two above. #2 (Bled Jezero) takes a extra 30 minutes of train time, because the train wildly overshoots the lake then comes back down. There is not much over on the west side of the lake. There are no ferries that I saw. And it would take at last an hour to walk to the east side. So that makes it not too desirable.

Arriving at Bled/Lesce or Lesce/Bledstation is pretty fast from Ljubljana. But its too far to walk to Bled (48 minutes - 1 hour) carrying all your luggage. There is a pretty good bus line that pickups across the street from the train station. You can find the time table by looking up the arriva bus company (google : arriva lake bled to avoid the arriva's in other countries). It was cheap $1.30 and comfortable like a touring bus. You would go from Lesce ZP to Bled (not Bled Union). It takes 9 minutes or so, and was running as late at 9 pm even on a Sunday.

The option we chose was to get a hotel in Lesce itself. There was a few fine places about 8 minutes walk up a slight hill. (We paid $90 for two with breakfast, as compared to $160 for two in Ljubljana). There was also several restaurants Lesce which were quite decent - e.g. Tulipan which was listed as #1 on TripAdvisor.

Be aware that train service is a little spotty. There seemed to be two morning trains, but then nothing for 6 hours until late afternoon - coming and going. And on going, our train was 35 minutes late, and we lost a connecting train in Villach. Also the train station office did not seem to be open even a Monday during business hours.

The town of Bled also has a full laundromat which was reasonably priced, a few blocks up the hill.

Posted by
470 posts

You can walk from Bled Jezero station to Bled on one side of the lake and return on the other
Its less than an hour by the shortest route
I caught a steam train excursion to Bled Jezero from Nova Gorica. its a great trip

Posted by
4692 posts

Pre- COVID, we took the bus from Ljubljana to Lake Bled. The bus station was a few blocks from our hotel, and the bus ride was pleasant. I don't remember how long the bus ride was, but I'm guessing about an hour each way.
Safe travels.

Posted by
515 posts

A few other tibits ...

  • I have a rail pass, so rail was preferable.

  • the "train" from Ljubljana to Bled Lesce is actually a bus parked next to track 1 (turn to the right coming out of the station toward track 1 and go down 50 yards). It uses the rail pass too, and takes you to Pranj I think. Then from there you get on a train the rest of the way

  • The next day, the sun came out and I was thinking to go back to Lake Bled for better photos, but there were only three trains : 9:30, 9:50 and 4 pm. So I asked the Slovenian manager of the hotel to help me find a bus from there to Villach mid-day, and there did not seem to be any.

  • Its only 2.5 miles from Lesce to Bled, and I was thinking that I can actually fly my drone that entire distance without ever leaving Lesce - although this may not be legal, and a bit risky because you can not see it at all. I decided against that.

  • as we waited for a train 35 minutes late, some other more experience Slovenian travellers mentioned that their trains really always behind schedule.

Posted by
27104 posts

As of 2015 it was often possible to get seats in a van taxi for the return trip to Ljubljana. There was often such a taxi hanging out around the Bled bus station shortly before the bus was due to depart. The going rate (again, this was 7 years ago) was 7 euros. I did not notice similar taxis putting together groups of folks for the trip to Bled, but taxi rates were affordable at that time, so a taxi might have been a reasonable choice for parties of one or more.

Posted by
5687 posts

The last time I was there (2017), I took the train from Ljubljana to Radovljica, a charming little town worth a visit for sure. (More appealing to me than the town of Bled itself, which is convenient for sure to the lake but without much charm.) From Radovljica, I took a bus a short distance on to Bled itself. I spent some time there, then I hiked up to Bled Jezero station and caught the train from there back to Ljubljana (connection in Jesenice). I was well aware that a bus back to Ljubljana would have been easier/quicker. I didn't mind taking the train - I really prefer trains to buses whenever it is an even semi-practical choice.

The bus really is easier for most people traveling between Ljubljana and Bled. I do prefer trains. Driving is quite easy too and offers many more options for scenic detours in the area.

It's true that Slovenia doesn't have much of a rail network. And though I haven't been back in a few years, I understand that they are doing a lot of construction on parts of the network, necessitating some bus replacements temporarily on various routes. But these replacements are clearly spelled out on the Slovenian rail website when you check schedules for various dates.

Posted by
36 posts

I second the Radovljica recommendation! We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon visiting the apiary museum and tasting Slovenian wine at the wine shop/bar.

Posted by
491 posts

I love trains - but I must admit - currently in Bled and VERY happy to have rented a car for around Euro22/day for 4 days. The country is tiny - and literally nothing is 2 hours away from anywhere else. The card just makes it so much easier. The driving is easy- the drivers are courteous, the roads well signed. My biggest issue was getting used to a stick shift after 10 years!