Question on public transport options from Venice Marco Polo Airport to Ljubljana

Posted by Shari (Bend, Oregon, USA) on 02/27/15 07:24 PM

I am cross posting this from the Italy forum:

So - due to a host of car rental issues, we've decided that it's better to take a form of public transportation from the Venice Marco Polo airport to Ljubljana, where we will get our rental car (a few days after we begin our trip). We opted to land in Venice versus Ljubljana because of the airfare savings. Okay -- so we're looking at DRD Turizem and Optigo. There are some pros and cons with each. Questions: Has anyone used either of these companies and if so, can you tell us about your experiences? Do any of you have other ideas on public transit? There will be three of us; we'll have a day pack and a small roll on bag. Thanks!

Posted by Andrew H.

Portland, Oregon

02/28/15 03:11 AM

5687 posts

I took a DRD bus from Venice Mestre (not from Macro Polo airport) to Ljubljana a few years ago. It was fine. I am looking at a return to Ljubljana myself later this spring and am planning to take DRD from the Venice airport too. They have direct buses from Marco Polo to Ljubljana though the schedule varies by day a little for some of the buses. I looked at GoOpti but they won't give you an exact time for the cheapest booking option - you pick a window when you can be picked up (or need to arrive), and they tell you the day before the exact time for pick-up. I don't want to get stuck at Marco Polo airport an extra few hours because of that. At least I know the exact schedule of the DRD bus. The flight I am planning to book into Venice gets in about 1:15 before the DRD bus.

There are other ways to get on to Ljubljana from there but they are more complicated (e.g. train to Trieste from Venice, bus to Ljubljana from there). I've heard good things about GoOpti from Slovenes. I think I'd use them if DRD wasn't an option and just hope the pick-up wasn't too late that I'd have to wait a long time for them at the airport.

Posted by brdcollie

02/28/15 02:35 PM

102 posts

Hi Shari, I'm curious about your rental car issues. Last year I rented a car at VCE that I took into Slovenia and returned to VCE. While the rental agency required advanced notice about taking the car into Slovenia, and limited my selection of which cars I could rent, the rental was not a problem. I'm planing to do the same thing again this September and wondered if something had changed? Thanks.

Posted by Shari OP

Bend, Oregon, USA

03/02/15 03:35 PM

23 posts

When my husband called numerous car rental agencies and asked about renting a car from the Venice Marco Polo airport, there were restrictions on which countries we could drive in. It seems there are less if renting out of Slovenia.

Posted by brdcollie

03/04/15 01:21 PM

102 posts

Hi Shari, I reserved a car this week through Auto Europe (they are a consolidator) for pick up in Verona, Italy, driving through Slovenia, and returning to Venice (Piazzale Roma). The rental will be through Europcar. There were restriction about which vehicles they would rent for travel in Eastern Europe and they charged around an extra $100. But given the difficulty and expense of other public or private modes of travel to Slovenia the extra cost was not bad. I've used Auto Europe in the past and found them to be very helpful. Their number in Portland, Maine is 1-888-223-5555.