We will be in Slovenia for about 4 days September 2025 after a bike trip and don't want to have to rent a car. We will get to Ljubljana from Piran after the bike trip and would like to make this our home base. We definitely want to go to Lake Bled for a day, maybe Kobarid too. I have just started to research the area, are there other places we may want to consider? We do want at least one full day in Ljubljana. Are the buses reliable from Ljubljana?
Posted by
75 posts
Slovenia countryside is best explored with a car. You can do it with the bus but you will miss so many pretty along the way.
We were there for two weeks this past July, here is my report. Sorry it's a long one.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/slovenia-14-days-13-nights-road-trip
If you are willing to pick a car after finish your bike tour at Piran, you can explore the alps and soca valley for 2/3 days, and drop off the car outside of Ljubljana, take a taxi into Ljub.
I would not use Ljubljana as a base with a car, driving in and out of the city is headache.
Posted by
St Paul
153 posts
We were in Slovenia last month staying 4 nights in Ljubljana and 6 nights in Bled. We used buses in both towns and also Go Opti shared shuttle service. We used the shuttle service from the airport to our Airbnb in Ljubljana, again to our Penzion in Bled and finally back to the airport from Bled. The shared service was timely and the price was very reasonable. We did take the bus from Ljubljana for two different day trips and it was on time. Skofja Loka is a cute little medieval town about 40 minutes away.
From Bled, we took the Vintgar Gorge shuttle from the central Bled bus station (very small!) to the beautiful gorge walk and then returned to Bled via foot on a lovely hike. We also took the bus from the same station to Lake Bohinj. The bus was late for pick up at Bled but it did not impact our time at Lake Bohinj. On another day we took the bus to Radovljica only 15 minutes from Bled and then walked back. That bus was on time.
We absolutely loved Slovenia! Have a great trip!
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks for the replies. We will be riding for 8 days, changing hotels every day. I am expecting 4 days in and around Ljubljana, hopefully to at least include Lake Bled. The original reason for this location was to see Trieste, my husband's Grandmother is from Trieste. I think two days in Trieste (one travel into early and then train out of next day to head to Venice for the airport hotel. The last night has to be near the airport in Venice.
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
543 posts
Several years ago, I traveled by bus from Zagreb Croatia to Lake Bled (stopping but not changing busses in Ljubljana). After a couple days, I took a bus from Lake Bled to Lujbljana, and another day, bus from Ljubljana to Piran. All trips were easy, smooth, no delays. From Piran, I took a ferry to Trieste that arrived at sunset which was very pretty.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
2167 posts
Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj—which are 10 miles apart— are easy daytrips from Ljubljana by bus. Bled takes 30 minutes and Bohinjska Bistrica is 30 minutes further. Lake Bled gets the bulk of visitors thronging its shores while Lake Bohinj and its small villages and towns all are within a lesser-visited Triglav National Park.
In Slovenia, as in much of Eastern Europe, the local train systems never were modernized. Trains have more limited routes and are usually much slower than buses.