What is recommended for parking in Bled? We will be driving from Ljubljana -- a short trip -- but parking for the car sounds like it's a challenge. (?)
The RS guide book says parking comes with the hotel stay but we won't have that option. Other websites talk about the difficulty finding parking. In fact, several pages don't discuss "By car" as an option for getting to Bled. That seems odd. Is parking really that difficult?
Last year I did a day trip from Ljubljana to Bled. You will find signs as you drive along the main road around the lake directing you to pay parking lots. If I remember correctly, you purchase a parking ticket from a machine and then put the ticket on your dashboard. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was not exorbitant by any means. And the parking was plentiful in the lot I was in.
To add to Lane's reply, as you drive along the lake there are parking lots. We were there last September and we think the cost was 5Euro but don't remember if that was for the day or for a specified time period. You should be able to find some parking there.
if you drive up the hill to the castle, there is car parking. don't know if there is a cost...we walked up. beware tourist busses at the castle.
also beware night arrival, we found the signage impossible to interpret in the dark and in our exhaustion.
We did the drive last Monday and found that there is a very large (and mostly empty) lot just before entering the town on the main road into Bled. Watch for the large blue "P" sign on the right. In fact, it was so large (and so empty) we thought that, surely, there's a "better" lot closer in. There really isn't -- glad we pulled in there!
It was 5 euro for 24 hours (actually, 25 hours, with an hour grace) -- pay at the machine and put the paper ticket in your window. We walked about a half mile into town and noted that along the way the closer-in parking was: not abundant (& this was at 8 am!), largely allocated to lodgings, and (when metered) typically costing 2 euro per hour (with no in-out like our lot offered).
Castle parking? We walked to the Castle and noted that the small lot was completely full -- glad we walked! Perhaps there is a larger lot on the back streets?? Don't know -- didn't come that way.
When we left Bled at 4 pm our lot was still mostly empty (only about 6 cars!!). We did note that there was parking at the far end of the lake (near the campground) but I think it was something like 10 euro for the day.
We were in Bled in May. After a short period of driving around and seeing only 2 hour parking, we stopped at a TI office to ask where we could park longer. The large lot mentioned above was so new at that point, that the TI agent had to call someone to check if that was the only longer term possibility. We were told that the town had just converted all the metered parking to the 2 hour limit. Don't waste time looking for anything but the big, new long-term lot.
We went to Bled last July, as a day trip from where we were staying in Ljubljana. I don't remember where we parked, but I know that we had no trouble at all finding parking. We did go on a week day and got there before noon, which I'm sure helped.
