Ljubljana to Bolzano to Rome - itinerary help

It took us 9 nights just for the Dolomites, Venice and Ljubljana. So—yes— your itinerary is quite hectic.

Note that each time you change locations, you’re actually using up most of one day.
Did you know the train ride from Munich to Ljubljana takes a minimum of 6 hours? There are flights that take 50 minutes.

I think you should forget about Plitvice Lakes National Park from Ljubljana as you already have enough to see since you’re cramming Slovenia into just two days ( three nights=two full days). You would arrive at Plitvice Lakes too late to miss the hordes of other tourists who swamp the park by mid-morning on a daily basis and you will not have enough time to actually enjoy the park before driving 3.5 hours back to Ljubljana. Honestly, It’s similar to tourists booking a daytrip on a bus from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley for the day and then wondering why it seemed so rushed and exhausting. Save it for another trip.

In the Dolomites, Selva di Val Gardena or Cortina d’Ampezzo make for better bases than overrun Ortisei.

Selva di Val Gardena has access to less crowded hiking trails and quicker access to superior hiking in the portions of the Dolomites east of Selva. A car is necessary to access hiking in areas such as Cinque Torre ( “Five Towers”) near Cortina d’Ampezzo.

You will need to take a 3-hour bus from Ljubljana to Venice or spend 6-7 hours on a train for the same route. From Venice, you can rent a car or take the 3-hour train to Bolzano. Add another 1.5 hours minimum for the transfer to a bus and then the ride from Bolzano to Ortisei. OR, you can drive up from Venice to Cortina d’Ampezzo in 2 hours. I highly recommend this. Not only would it relax your itinerary— it would take you to the eastern Dolomites where the real spectacular scenery like Cinque Torre and Lake Braies are located. Either way, getting from Ljubljana to the Dolomites is going to take the better part of a day.

In Europe, the car rental companies charge an exhorbitant supplemental charge— usually hundreds of euros—for picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another country. If you opt for a car rental, pick it up in Italy and drop it off in Italy. www.AutoEurope.com brokers car rentals for the big companies and they have rental locations in Venice and Bolzano, among many other Italian cities.

You could pick up a rental car in Venice and drive to Cortina d’Ampezzo or a village like Colle Santa Lucia for four nights. Then explore the Dolomites before returning the car to Venice. Finally, take a high-speed train from Venice to Rome in just 4 hours.

Carpe Diem!

It would be best to skip one destination.
My proposed routing to reach all your destination is as follows, but you would need more time.
Munich - Bolzano, train 4 hours
Bolzano - Venice, train 3 hours
Venice - Ljubljana, Flixbus or GoOpti shuttle 3-4 hours
Ljubljana - Zagreb, train or bus 2.5 hours
Zagreb - Rome, flight (e.g. Ryanair) 1.5 hours

I very much appreciate your thoughtful and detailed replies! I did not want to face it, but I must agree that
this itinerary is much too packed. Darn it!

So I think I will have to drop off the entire Slovenia portion.

We will fly into Munich and go to the Dolomites. Thank you so very much for the itinerary suggestions there in that region! I will look those up. I am thinking we will be brave and rent a car for easier access. This will be in mid August, so I am assuming it will be packed. But still beautiful of course. We are not serious hikers. More like happy active brisk walkers I would say. We went to Murren last year and it was SPECTACULAR! Unforgettable!! So I am very excited for this experience!

Then we will train to Rome for the cruise. We have been to Rome twice before, so we will spend maybe two nights there before
boarding the ship. Now I have to find someplace to go after the cruise for approximately eight nights. It will be September 8. Hmmmm. Maybe slice in Lucca and Portofino on the way to Rome? I have not been to either yet. Or Padua looks beautiful.

Back to the drawing board. Again, thank you!

That sounds like a better plan. The Plitvice Lakes are very nice, but I wouldn’t quite describe them as “cry with joy” worthy, especially since you have so many great parks near you in the western US. I would suggest spending your first night in central Munich rather than an airport hotel, as you will need to go to the train station sometime anyway and the city is much more interesting even if jet lagged, if for no more than a nice walk and maybe a beer hall (plus perhaps a more relaxed departure the next morning). Regarding post cruise, do you have to go back to Munich or could you fly back from somewhere else? And where you have just been on your cruise, and how long, is also relevant. If (presumably) it’s a selection of Mediterranean ports, then maybe you’ll be less interested in more of the same such as Portofino by the time you disembark.

Excellent suggestion to get a hotel in Munich rsther than airport! Thank you! We have been to Munich and we love it. MUCH rather spend the night there plus it’s right near the train station. We do not have to fly out of Munich. We can fly home from anywhere really. The cruise is a seven night cruise leaving Civitavecchia with port stops of Salerno for Amalfi Coast; Katakolon for Olympia; Santorini, and Kusadasi for Ephesus. I was considering flying to Granada for four nights We have never been there, and I would love the Moorish ambiance, but it will probably be scorching hot. HEY how about Munich to Ljubljana for four nights. Bus to Padua for two nights. (Or some other place close to Venice as we have been to Venice a few times) then drive to Dolomites for four nights. Then train to Rome for the cruise. Then fly home from Rome!!! That might work! I will absolutely give up on Plitvice Lakes. Save it for a Croatia trip.

I would spend the time after the cruise in Florence, Tuscany, and Cinque Terra if you haven't been there before. Then fly home from Rome or Milan.

We have been extremely fortunate to have visited all of those beautiful destinations before, but thank you! We follow Rick's books, and we have visited many of his covered Italy suggestions. But we have not been to Sicily, Naples, Portofino, the destinations around
Venice that he covers, like Padua that caught my eye, or the Dolomite region. We have only been to Amalfi on a cruise ship stop,
so we really haven't seen this area either.