My wife and I are looking at visiting Slovenia as part of our holidays next year. Having never been and with it being our anniversary, I am wanting to not do any driving myself. As a result, I am looking at using the services of Slovenia Explorer for our time there. Has anyone used their services on here? What were your thoughts? Would you have been better going it alone? Did you get to visit what you wanted? I see that Slovenia explorer offers the ability to either book one of their tours or to customize a tour. I am leaning towards customizing a tour for probably 7 nights at most. There are a few places I would like to visit like Lake Bohinj, Skocjan Caves and Piran and to visit the alps to the north of the country as well which would be wonderful. Logarska Valley and Vintgar Gorge are also some possible sights. We would be coming towards the end of May for next year.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
2912 posts
I don’t have any experience with Slovenia Explorer, but I can tell you —because it’s a small country— , you can quickly get around Slovenia. You’ve already listed some top places to see in Slovenia and the buses and trains can get you to Piran, Skocjan Caves, Lake Bohinj, Vintgar Gorge at Lake Bled. Trains from Ljubljana reach Lake Bled in an hour. The bus takes about 35 minutes to get from Bled to Ribcev Laz at Lake Bohinj. From there you could go by driver to Most na Soci to see the colors of the Soca River and hike inside Triglav National Park at the Tolmin Gorge one-hour hike. The drive from Ribcev Laz to Kobarid is about 2 hours. ( BTW Great fly fishing here in the Soca River Valley). And it’s just two hours further by driver to Piran from Kobarid/Tolmin. Skocjan Caves, are only an hour or so drive from Ljubljana. In just another 45 minutes you can be in Piran. In contrast, It takes about three hours by bus to reach the Škocjan Caves from Ljubljana, and another 3 three hours by bus to reach Piran.
By car, visiting all these places in a week is easily done. . Buses cover more of Slovenia and do it faster than the trains. You might use a driver to visit Most na Soci, the Tolmin Gorge and Kobarid for that part of the trip and maybe to Skocjan Caves and Piran for part 2 of the trip. You can see Bled, Vintgar Gorge and Lake Bohinj by train & bus.
With a week you can go to all these places and overnight at RIBCEV LAZ by Lake Bohinj for 2-3 nights, PIRAN for two nights and maybe two nights in TOLMIN or KOBARID for Triglav National Park.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9316 posts
I used Slovenia Explorer for a day trip from Ljubljana to the caves. They had a nice van, a good quality driver/guide and a small group of six. My experience was very positive.
Posted by
Southeast US
4219 posts
I used Slovenia Explorer for a private tour that I wanted to do from Ljulbljana without having to have a car available to drive. The trip took me to Idrija to see the mercury mines and then on to Franja Partisan Hospital, a WWII field hospital hidden in the mountains of Slovenja. The guide through in a stop at Skofja Loka for good measure. Excellent guide and trip, but it was a bit pricey in 2019. I imagine it is more pricey in 2026.
I did rent a care to drive from Piran to Kobarid and on to Lake Bohinj. Driving on Slovenia's roads was quite easy.
Another driving service that may be of help is Daytrip (formerly My Daytrip), which offers drivers who are not guides. I have used it a handful of times to get from one place to another, and the drivers can make stops along the way for exploration. I liked this service a lot. https://daytrip.com/
Posted by
OP
Grande prairie., Alberta, Canada
66 posts
Thanks. Just waiting to hear back from them on pricing and options as we look ahead.