Hi,
I will be traveling from Bled (3 days) to Ljubljana (3 more days) in June. I have received the recommendation to stop at Skofja Loka, a medieval town, on the way. Looks like driving from Bled to Ljubljana is less than 2 hours. I can't find much on the internet except lovely photos of this town. Has anyone been there? Can you recommend for or against?
thanks,
Kaye
We did that drive last September based on a recommendation either from this forum or tripadvisor. From Ljubljana we stopped At Skofja Loka and had a picnic with a sandwich from a little grocery store and explored the town. Then we continued on the back roads and visited Jamnik Chapel and stopped a few minutes in Kropa. Per googlemaps, if you drive directly on the highway to Bled it takes about 35 minutes (we returned to Ljubljana this route) and taking the scenic route it takes 1 hr and 25 minutes. It took a lot longer because of stops, of course, and also because after Skofja Loka we climbed to get to Jamnik. The road was narrow and winding, but beautiful and not much traffic. Also, we (Mr.) drove this route right after landing in Ljubljana from California. To give you an idea of how long it took, our plane landed around 10:30am and after getting our car and all our stops we arrived in Bled around 3pm. We still had time and energy to visit Bled Castle (and we were 67 and 71 years old)! We also spent 3 nights in Bled but only 2 in Ljubljana but would have enjoyed one more night there.
As to being for or against it's hard to say. It depends on what you want to get from your trip. For us it was a nice break after our flight and we spent an enjoyable one to two hours wandering through the town. The view of Jamnik Chapel was great and Kropa was also interesting. This route gives you an idea of Slovenian small towns and high countryside that you won't get from the highway and we were glad we experienced it. While trying to decide whether to take this route or not we also looked at the pictures of the three locations and decided we wanted to see them. Whatever you decide, it will be a beautiful trip!
I thought Škofja Loka was a lovely little town, but the drive from there as Carol describes to Bled through the hills via Jamnik and Kropa was amazing - one of the highlights of my trip to Slovenia for sure. I would drive this route from Bled to Ljubljana via Škofja Loka for sure, if you have time.
FYI, the drive from Škofja Loka to Ljubljana isn't anything special as I recall, so if you are planning your time, you can plan to drive directly from Škofja Loka to Ljubljana once you are done exploring the town.
We were in Slovenia last summer and I regret not getting the countryside experiences that other posters have mentioned. We spent the night in Ljubljana and did one day trip to Bled, another day trip to Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves, and the final half day just hanging out in Ljubljana. I wish we would have spent much more time in Slovenia and been able to enjoy Ljubljana more and explore the countryside. What we experienced of the countryside from our drive from Salzburg to Ljubljana was absolutely beautiful!
Well, last September we spent 5 nights in Slovenia, 3 (2.5 days) in Bled and 2 in Ljubljana and wished we had allocated more time - but which location to take it from? We could have spent another night/day in Ljubljana and another 1 or 2 nights in Bled or maybe spend the time in Kobarid as we didn't have time to drive there. We did not see Predjama Castle and we drove the Julian Alps to the top and returned to Bled the same way as we wanted to visit Lake Bohinj. It is a beautiful country!
I spend three nights in Ljubljana last May. I had a rental car. On one day I drove from Ljubljana to Bohinj and Bled and back, and I stopped at Skofja Loka on the way, where I spent maybe an hour or 90 minutes wandering around. Went up to the castle, where the views are impressive.
In retrospect, I would say it was not worth the time, because the drive from there to Bohinj was absolutely stunning, and I had to cut my time short in Bohinj in order to make it to Bled with time to walk around the lake, and then get back to Ljubljana at a reasonable hour. I would have rather spent more time enjoying Bohinj and the scenery closer to there.
I'd say stop in Skofja Loka if time permits, but don't consider it a must-see. It's a charming town, but not so charming that you won't see other places equally or more beautiful.
