slovenia and croatia advice

I would definitely not rent a car from Vienna - that's going to incur a huge one-way drop fee later. Either take the train from Vienna to Ljubljana or fly. (Or to save money, maybe FlixBus, which might be slightly faster than the train.)

I loved Ljubljana. Personally, I would spend all three nights there and day trip to Bled. It's easy to get to Bled by bus from Ljubljana. You could start the day by taking a train to the little town of Radovljica near Bled, explore the charming little town (and perhaps its quaint little bee keeping museum), then take a bus on to Bled, then bus back to Ljubljana later. But I would consider renting a car just for the day instead. (International Driving Permit may be required, get one ahead of time before leaving for Europe.) Drive to the town of Skofja Loka (lovely little town) then from there do the scenic drive through the mountains, via Jamnik and Kropa (not via the fast freeway via Kranj) and down into Bled. You can likely return the car after hours by dropping the keys somewhere. That's what I did last time when I rented from Avantcar in downtown Ljubljana.

Zagreb has its fans, but I wasn't one of them. I would probably spend just one night or even half a day. and rent the car and drive to Plitvice the same evening, get up early and enter the park when it opens at 7am to see it before it gets crowded, leave by about 3PM (should be plenty of time to see the park) and on to Rovinj late. You could even skip Zagreb altogether; take a train instead from Ljubljana to Rijeka and rent a car there and drive to Rovinj - or take shuttle service like GoOpti directly to Rovinj and rent the car there. From there on to Plitvice and head south as planned, return the car in Dubrovnik.

There are a lot of choices for your nights after Plitvice. Many would be tempted by an island like Korcula or Hvar. (You could ditch the car in Split and take catamarans and buses the rest of the way to Dubrovnik with a stop on an island.) Really up to you if you prefer something inland like Mostar or a trip down to Montenegro. Do some more research, watch Rick Steves videos on YouTube. With your limited time, you'll have to make some choices and not see everything.

I recall the train between Vienna and Ljubljana as quite scenic, with pretty alpine villages and mountain scenery, especially around Villach. I took photos from the train window.

We enjoyed Ljubljana but 2 nights were enough. Bled is a nice place to spend a night, so you can stroll around the lake in the evening, and maybe dine on the waterfront.

Thank you! Will opt for train from Vienna to Ljubljana then and do at least 2 nights there and rent car to Bled so have ability to stop along the way as Andrew suggested. As for the catamaran idea, I'm trying to convince my BF to spend 710 euro on a 3 night raftrek tour from Dubrovnik to various islands but he is balking at price. Any other suggestions about catamaran companies to go from Split to Dubrovnik? So grateful for the advice.

It should be easy to find catamaran info from Split to Hvar and/or Korcula (I doubt you have time for both), and you could easily do one of those on your own without an expensive island tour. Try Googling for it - that's how I always find it. From Korcula you can either get to Duborvnik by bus (short ferry to Orebic, the bus takes the same ferry) or by another long catamaran.

Just to echo Andrew's suggestion, 3 nights in Ljubljana and day trip to Lake Bled would be perfect. Rovinj was lovely. 2 nights is good. We spent one night at Plitvice and hiked the lakes by mid morning (starting at top lakes) to avoid the crowds. We spent one night in Mostar and it was just enough to experience the history. It was one of the main highlights of Bosnia. We enjoyed the beauty of Split, but felt it to be a bit pretentious. That said, our favorite island was Korcula (charming & unpretentious). We spent 2 glorious nights and didn't want to leave. We felt 2 nights in Dubrovnik was enough. We visited old town early morning and left as the cruise crowd arrived. By the way we were in Slovenia & Croatia last September and we had beautiful weather. Our journey started in Venice for a week. We took the GoOpti shuttle to Ljubljana. Comfortable, and affordable. Let me know if you need info on accomodations or restaurants. Enjoy your planning!

I have an off beat suggestion. Take the train from Vienna to Graz. Spend an afternoon and evening there, then take the train to Ljubljana the next day. We went from Hallstatt to Graz and then to Ljubljana for RS Best of Adriatic tour. Graz has some wonderful sights, great food, and is way underrated as a place to see in Austria. The Castle on the Hill, The " Blue PIckle" architecture of the modern art museum, and the bridge with the cafe in the middle of the river are just a few sites of interest. The train ride is scenic from Vienna and through northern Austria. South of Graz it becomes more vineyards and farm country. Have a great trip, there is so much to see, enjoy it all! Hank, Novato, CA

I wish I could see responses as I type but thanks again. Janis, I would love recommendation for where to stay in Mostar or Korcula. Maybe we will shorten the time in Dubrovnik as I'd prefer chill island vibe than pretentious vibe. If you have restaurant recommendations I'll take those too!

And Hank, perhaps we will do Graz. We are only doing Vienna bc the flight from NY was so much cheaper than anywhere else so we can just do one night then maybe train to Graz for second night. I'm not worried about "seeing" Vienna as its a major city that I know i'll fly into again and again as launch pad for other trips.

Why stay in Vienna at all, then? (Does your plane arrive late the first day?) Just hop on a train as soon as your flight arrives. It's certainly a city worth exploring, but it wasn't my favorite, personally.

I did a similar trip a few years ago: landed in Munich, which I decided I really didn't want to spend much time in. I spent a few hours wandering around after I arrived - which made me think I'd made the right choice. I got on a train and spent my first two nights in Salzburg, which I loved (more than expected) - very charming.

From there I took the train south to Graz and spent a night there. It's an interesting city for sure, certainly far less known than Vienna or Salzburg, but it didn't charm me as much as the other poster above. Then I took a short train south to Maribor and spent a few nights there (my trip was focused on Slovenia). Then I took a train to Ljubljana. I don't propose that you stop in all of these places - you clearly don't have time - but that gives you some options, anyway. The train ride from Salzburg to Graz was very pretty.

You could push on and try to get into Ljubljana the first night. I see there's a FlixBus direct from the Vienna airport on some days at 3:40PM (schedule varies by the day). A 5:15 hour bus ride that first day wouldn't be fun for me, after a long flight in especially. I'd also look at flights from Vienna to Ljubljana - perhaps there is one scheduled a few hours after you would arrive and you could just fly in to Ljubljana. Then would have two extra nights for Slovenia and Croatia.

Karannlu,
I am sending you a pm.

Flight lands at 5 so if there is late flight could possibly fly Ljubljana but would probably lose any cost benefit of having flown to Vienna. But something to consider. I’ve heard Salzburg is beautiful but seems out of way from Vienna to Ljubljana. Thinking one night near train in Vienna then one night Graz or straight Ljubljana.

Yeah, if you arrive that late then I'd probably spend the first night in Vienna and then head south. Heading to Salzburg from Vienna probably doesn't make sense for you; it did for me flying into Munich (I wanted to add Graz and eastern Slovenia, part of my plan).

Sorry to hijack someone else's thread, but I had just a quick question. It appears there are two routes via train from Vienna to Ljubljana with one passing through Villach and the other passing through Graz. Which is the more scenic option? Many thanks!

I've taken the train from Salzburg to Ljubljana via Graz and that was very scenic and beautiful between Salzburg and Graz (from eastern Slovenia to Ljubljana is not bad, just not the stunning scenery seen early. Man in Seat 61, the expert on all things train in Europe, seems not to have an opinion on either option:

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Vienna.htm#Vienna-Ljubljana

Thanks for all advice. Leaning towards one night Vienna and either one night Graz or mirabor to break up the train ride. The flights are $167 from Vienna to Ljubljana and 3 flights in day is a lot so think I’d enjoy Vienna for a night then a train south.