Slovenia late August need advice using Lublijana as a Hub. Good Idea or bad idea?

There are definitely others on the forum who've seen more of Slovenia than I have. I hope they'll weigh in.

If you want to get into the Julian Alps, having a car for perhaps a couple of days would probably be necessary (though there might be bus tours), and I imagine there are some additional places where a car would be helpful. I found Lake Bled very easy by bus. The lake is a lot smaller than you might imagine, so it makes for a very reasonable less-than-a-full-day trip. You can walk all the way around the lake (about 3-1/2 miles) in less than 90 minutes. I'm not sure what the transportation situation is up to the castle; I assume that's covered in your guidebook.

Via either bus or a combination of bus and relatively-low-cost taxi I also got to Lake Bohinj and the Vintgar Gorge. The Skocjan Caves were a bit trickier; I had something of a walk (definitely less than a mile) from the point where the bus dropped me off, but I had the feeling the driver--knowing where I was headed--made a special stop just for me (his only passenger), at the place where I was going to head off the highway onto the road to the caves. I think the Postojna Caves are easier to reach. The Postojna Caves are more commercialized (with colored lights); the Skocjan Caves are preferred by purists. I'd do only one of them on a single trip. I've seen both and enjoyed both.

The cost of taxis could easily have gone up a lot since 2015, but I found them a real bargain at that time. There was often a taxi hanging out around the Bled bus station around the time the inbound and outbound Ljubljana buses were due in. It was pretty easy to find someone else headed to the gorge or to Lake Bohinj who was willing to share the modest expense of a taxi in or der to get to the destination faster. For the trip back to Ljubljana there was usually a driver with a van-taxi selling seats back to the city for 7 euros. There's nothing wrong with the buses, but the taxi shaved some time off the return trip. I never saw a taxi at the Ljubljana bus station trying to entice travelers headed to Bled; I don't know why.

The tourist office in Ljubljana was very helpful with advice on transportation and other matters. Ask about taxi pricing. In 2015 I was told it was cheaper to call for a taxi rather than just grab one on the street; something about when the meter starts, I think. That could have changed.

Ljubljana is a very appealing city. Although it's not huge, it has interesting architecture as well as some museums. As of 2015 there was a market on the weekend (don't remember whether on Saturday or Sunday) with art and I think also some crafts. It's worth checking out the sightseeing pass; in smaller cities like Ljubljana, those can be good deals if you are interested in much of what they cover. You usually have enough time to go to most or perhaps all of the covered sights during the validity period of the card; the question is how many of them interest you. I think two days in the city would be about right. I like to do more wandering around than most, and I believe three days would be right for me, plus extra time for any day trips I wanted to take.

I agree that Ljubljana is a very appealing city. We spent 5 nights there in 2018. We did one day trip to Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge by rental car. Another day trip to Postojna cave, with a photo stop at Predjama Castle (which we could have skipped). The city itself is beautiful. There’s a great farmers market next to the river. A nice indoor market also. Tons and tons of restaurants along the river. A nice pedestrian are that felt like all the best parts of Paris. Lovely castle. Friendly people. Easily worth two days exploring the city itself.

I think the idea of basing there is a good one. Thus gives you some flexibility to plan your days based on weather. We had one day of pouring rain - the day we were supposed to go to Lake Bled. So we switched to the cave that day, and saw Bled the next day in gorgeous sunshine.

Ljubljana is one of my favorite cities so I think you could easily spend 5 nights (or more) there. I'm not sure about the train/bus connections but we rented a car for a day to drive to Lake Bled (40 minutes away), Vintgar Gorge and then around the area. The walk around the Lake is really beautiful.

We were happy with the restaurants in Ljubljana - many serving delicious, fresh vegetables and the local market is fun.

We had a really nice stay at B&B Slamič.

As others already mentioned, it is easy to get by bus from Ljubljana to Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj. I preferred to spend the night rather that doing it as a day trip. It is also easy to get a bus to Piran on the coast. Again, I spent a couple nights but you you do it as a day trip. With two people traveling, taxis might be reasonable for both trips.

LBJ is pretty small, 1 day at most. I'd rent a car to visit other places, generally public transportation is good with bus or train, but holidays will be tough to get around. The roads are good and easy to drive on.

I don't know if travel4fun will get this question, but I'm wondering why he described Predjama Cave as a stop they could have skipped. I've looked at the photos and read the comments on Tripadvisor and most people are very impressed with the castle. What am I missing?
Thanks!
Neil

I went to Slovenia years back and went to Ljubljana, then to Lake Bohinj (Ukanc was my base for 3 nights)
Then Piran for three nights. I visited Skocjan Caves from Piran as a daytrip. Slovenia is a joy not only because the Slovenes are great hosts, but because the country is quite small. You could spend the whole time in Ljubljana or choose another town as a base for three nights . Lake Bled is about a 40-minute drive from Ljubljana ( 1-hr by bus) Lake Bohinj is 30 minutes beyond Lake Bled ( 40 minutes by bus) . Skocjan Caves are a 1:45 minute drive from Lake Bohinj. (Beyond lake Bohinj, public transit takes significantly longer than driving; buses in Slovenia are generally faster than train travel).
Piran is a 40-minute drive from Skocjan Caves. I’m giving you the drive times just to illustrate how close everything is- I actually went everywhere by train and bus and hit everything in one week.
Postojna Caves make a nice daytrip from Ljubljana as it’s only a 45-minute bus ride. You can get to nearby Predjama and see the Predjama Castle ( “The Cave Castle”) from Postojna by bus in 25 minutes.
So, depending on your itinerary. You could split your time between two base towns or stay entirely in Ljubljana.
Have a great Trip!

Hi Andrew. I've been to Slovenia several times and am going back soon - it's a lovely place. Whether Ljubljana makes a good base depends on what you want to do. Most tourists stick to the western part of the state: Ljubljana, Lake Bled, possibly Lake Bohinj, a drive around the Julian Alps, one of the caves, and perhaps the lovely seaside town of Piran (but you are going to Croatia and presumably to the Dalmatian coast anyway?). Ljubljana is a small city or big town - lovely and charming, especially at night, with tourists but not mobbed with tourists. I'm not sure you'd find five days of things to do just there. It's more of a lovely place to come back to at night after some day trip - so if you have day trips in mind, you can certainly do that.

The Slovenian train system is not extensive; you'll probably rely on buses (which are pretty good) for day trips if you aren't going to rent a car. Getting to Lake Bled by bus and back is easy with frequent bus service. But personally, I would encourage you to rent a car at least for a day or two. It's very easy to drive in Slovenia (you might get a manual transmission car unless you pay for an automatic, which is common in Europe), and you'll make better use of your time with a car for some things. No need for a car just to get to Lake Bled, but there are beautiful scenic drives you can make in between, small towns you can stop it. (If taking the bus, you could stop at the old town of Radovljica for a few hours then continue on to Bled, which is not much of a town itself - just a convenient base for the lake, which is real attraction).

You don't really want to park a car in Ljubljana (in my opinion) - it's got big pedestrian-only areas, and you don't need one at all there. If you can be talked into renting a car, either rent it for just a day or maybe spend a few nights somewhere like Lake Bled for a second base, where it's much easier to have a car.

Hopefully you've already got Rick's Croatia/Slovenia book so you can consider what you'd want to do in Slovenia.