Please help with 14 day Slovenia Itinerary

Welcome back to the Forum! It looks like this is your first post in some time.

Slovenia is a quite wonderful place to visit -- you are making a good choice. Here is what I did with 25 days in Slovenia in 2019: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/25-days-in-slovenia

As for your stops, I would kind of group Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj and Kranjska Gora together as almost one place. I would probably pick one place to stay -- perhaps Bled due its centrality -- and use public transportation buses to get to the others. There are also multiple taxi services in Bled. Here is a helpful webpage with companies and typical charges for taxi rides: https://www.bled.si/en/information/getting-around-bled/2019100917104406/taxi/

Kranjska Gora is more of a resort town than anything else. If I had 14 days in Slovenia, it would not be on my list of places to see. The old town of Radovljica is very nice and would make a nice day trip from Bled.

I stayed in Piran and loved it. I visited Izola and thought it was nice, but it didn't knock my socks off. Memento B&B is a great place to stay in Piran and is right of Tartini Square, the town's main square. If you want a unique experience in Piran, spend some time with Saša riding around the Istrian coast in his classic Citroën car. I really enjoyed my time with him. He's committed to giving people a very "local" experience. https://www.laganini.si/info.html

If I were to add a place by freeing up some days in the Bled/Bohinj region, I would think about the Soča Valley. It's gorgeous. There is an excellent WWI museum at Kobarid. And there is another warm, welcoming guide there (Vesna) who provides quite good "local" experiences at very reasonable prices, including a wine tasting experience in what is Slovenia's wine region. Vesna is one of the finest guides I have used (and I have used a dozens and dozens of guides). Her website is https://slocally.com/local-experiences/.

To be honest, I think the span from Bled back to Ljubljana going counterclockwise
is best done with a car. There are a lot of little places to potentially stop along the
way and you just can't do that on public transportation, especially in a bit more
sparsely populated region like that.

As noted, 7 days between Bled-Bohinj-KG is way too much. You can probably cover
that in 2-3 days. Maybe consider the walk through Vintgar Gorge. Kranjska Gora
actually has nothing to see if you are not a skier. I agree with the idea of spending
more time in the Julian Alps/Soca Valley. You could/would more or less go right
through it if you take the more direct (but probably slower) route south from Kransjka
Gora instead of heading into Italy on your way to the coast.

Depending on how your actual transportation plans work out, you could actually have
only 1 day + a little in Ljubljana proper (1st day arrival/jet lag, last day return afternoon?).
I think Ljubljana is worth a bit more than that.

Consider Postojna Cave as a half-day trip from Ljubljana. There are little trains that
take you partway into the cave, and then you walk (not hike, altho there are some
inclines) through the cave, and take the train back out.

Thank you both for your time and help.

Dave that is quite a helpful trip report. Shoeflyer....I wish I could do it the other way but i really want to stay at the
Memento B&B and the only dates I could get was on the way back. I am going to consolidate Lake Bled, Bohinj, and Gora into a few days as suggested. We will probably choose Lake Bohinj as our base. We would really like to see if we can a have a few days at a thermal spa as well if possible. Does anyone have a suggestion? Thank you again for your help.

I'll throw this addition into the mix:

• consider going straight out of Ljubljana to Bled/Bohinj, and add the day 2 onto the end of your trip.
• if you are talking about the Memento B&B in Piran, a basic search shows me they have a room available Oct 6-10. An itinerary that is Bohinj 1-6, Piran 6-10, and Ljubljana 10-13 seems reasonable to me.

Can't help with the spa, but if you found one in Bohinj area, that would make
things work out well. But I still think you'll want a car. I will say that the drive
from Ljubljana airport to Bled is pretty short and mostly on the highway, so
you should be able to do it even after a long flight (and maybe a cup of coffee).

Thank you. That is a very nice idea. What hotel would you suggest in Bohinj?

Afraid I can't help with hotels in Bohinj, I stayed in Bled.

Have seen various posts on lodging in the forum, though, I'd try a search.

Hi Dave, I was just wondering if Vesna actually returned your emails. I have contacted her twice and without reply. I would love to use her but not if she isn't responsive.
Do you have another suggestion?
Saša has been very responsive.

Thanks for your time.

My family and I spent two weeks in Slovenia this past July, you can check out the places we went to:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/slovenia-14-days-13-nights-road-trip

Considering what are important to you:

do not want to rent a car.
cannot do long hikes but we would love to see beautiful area
drink good wine and eat good food.
like staying at a hotel for 2 to 3 nights. I do not like 1 night hotel stays.
easiest way travel between these areas with public transportation, taxies etc..

"Day 1,2 Ljubliana
Day 3, 4, 5 Lake Bled
Day 6,7 Lake Bohinj
Day 8,9 Kranjska Gora
Day 10,11,12 Piran or is Izola better...we love the coast
Day 13 Ljubljana to fly out the next day."

Here are my thoughts:
Both Bled and Ljub are about 20-30minutes from the airport, maybe it's more efficient to go to Bled directly after landing by taxi.
Lake Bohinj is pretty, but Bled is bigger, has more dinning options within walking distance, it is a hub with tour companies at your disposal, better public transportations etc. A private guide with car would be nice to go to hard to reach/off the beaten track areas.
For amazing view with minimal physical effort, try zip lining, there are many companies doing this.
With 5-6 days in Bled, you have two days exploring Bled area, a couple of days for organized tours/guide with transportation included. Soca valley is beautiful.
Kranjska Gora is resort town for winter sports, we drove by it without stopping.
There are companies do tours leaving from either Bled or Ljub go down south, stopping at Postojna cave among other places and end the tour at Piran.
Once at Piran, a private guide with a car can take you to Slovenian wine region for some wine tasting.
Finish your trip at Ljub for good food, walking around, maybe more organized tours...
We did not notice any thermal spa where we went. The true thermal spas are mostly at the east region of the country.

Greetings. I had no trouble with responses from Vesna. Hope you have heard back from her!