Our cruise ships docks at 8:00 am and there until 11pm on October 8th. What are suggested highlights? Is there a hop on hop off bus we can take near the docks? We don't plan to be there in the evening. Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Thank you!
Joy
Posted by
Southeast US
3847 posts
Hey! There is a Hop On Hop Off bus that hits the main towns along the Slovenian Coast... https://www.kopertours.eu/hop-taste-hop-on-hop-off
In my opinion, Piran is the one that is most worthy of wandering. You could just catch a cab straight there. Piran has a really nice central square in Tartini Square. A nice church. Town walls you can ascend. Good restaurants. Great shops along narrow streets... like Nika's Tiny House, where you can find one of my favorite, most unique travel purchases of all time... a small townscape of Piran made out of driftwood collected by the artist. Check out her Instagram to see what she is making: https://www.instagram.com/nikastinyhouse/
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
345 posts
I also suggest Piran. There is a very nice walking tour with tastes of local cheese & wine that meet near the tourist information certer in the main square. It is also easy to wander the old town.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
Piran is delightful and very close to Koper - even a local bus you could catch on your own perhaps or take a taxi. However, with such a long day, I would be very tempted to rent a car or even take the bus up to Ljubljana, since Piran, while lovely, is not very big. Ljubljana is a wonderful city, tiny and charming, with a little river running through town (almost like a creek) and cute bridges crossing it, plus castle up on the hill. It's a university town too so seems vibrant and lively with people. It almost feels like a fairy tail town.
I checked bus and train schedules just now. There is no convenient train or bus leaving right after you get off the ship. But (if you are active and don't mind moving quickly) you could take a local bus to Piran and have about two hours there, then catch a bus from Piran up to Ljubljana (get there by 1:37pm, which is about the soonest you could get to Ljubljana from Koper anyway), then catch the 5:15pm bus from Ljubljana back to Koper (back at 6:44pm). That's only about 3.5 hours in Ljubljana, but that's enough to get a good quick feel for Ljubljana, which is a tiny city and very walkable. You could walk down from the bus station about 3/4 of a mile to the Preseren Square and the Triple Bridge, walk up to the castle for the view down, hike back down, see a few other bridges like the famous Dragon Bridge, stop for a snack, and make it back to your bus by 5:15.
I'd be surprised if you can't get a guided tour that includes both Ljubljana and Lake Bled, and of course that would be a lot easier for you. If you left at 9am, you could get to Ljubljana by 11, have about 3 hours in Ljubljana, do a quick detour up to Lake Bled for about three more hours, and be back at the ship by about 7PM. If you need to be on the ship earlier than that, maybe skip Bled and add Piran instead at the end, if you get back in time.