We were told by our fellow travelers that a Rick Steves' representative advised not to take the train from Venice to Ljubljana to start our Adriatic Sea tour. There are no direct flights that we can find. We realize that there are no direct trains either.
We'd appreciate any suggestions on the best way to travel between Venice and Ljubljana. A private driver is an option but want to understand what the concern about train travel might have been.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts!
I’ve seen recommendations for the Go Opti shuttle. You might check that. The shuttle is only 2.5 hours. Here is a post:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/venice-to-ljubljana-2cf66211-7626-4dfd-beab-6f0984b55b49
I took the train back in 2008 between Venice and Ljubljana but they have changed the routing since then. I believe it now takes 6 to 7 hours by train with multiple changes. Even when I took it there was some sort of issue and we had to switch to the bus for part of the route. Have you checked the train schedule? I believe the shuttle is faster and cheaper.
We took the Go Opti shuttle, but in the opposite direction, Bled to Venice airport. It worked fine and I would recommend it. As stated above the drive was under 3 hours. When you book, you can choose how flexible you are with timing. The more flexible, the cheaper the fare.
We are taking this trip in Sept. We priced out Go Opti from Venice and connecting flights in to LJU. We ended up choosing the connector in FRA, mostly because there wasn’t a direct flight from our home city to Venice on our preferred outbound day.
In hindsight, it’s probably the same amount or even a little more time to fly - the shuttle is 2.5 hours, vs a 2 hour layover plus 1:15 flight. If I could go back and do it again, I might have chosen to fly a day earlier (to get the direct flight to Venice) and take the shuttle.
We used the Flixbus from Venice airport to Ljubljana. It was comfortable and inexpensive.
Flixbus also has service that departs for Ljubljana from the curb outside Venice Mestre train station. The journey takes about 3 hours.
Thank you all for the great information! We now understand why the train is not the best option. We are looking forward to our trip this fall!! Sue
