Hi all,
We wanted to write a trip report to help others who plan to travel here. This was part of a larger trip including Croatia, we followed RS’s 2 week tour traveling during the last two weeks of May. Overall we thought the 2 week tour was perfectly paced. We stayed at the following towns: Lake Bled (2 nights), Ljubljana (3nights), Motovun (2nights), Plitvice Lakes (1night), Split (2nights), Hvar (2nights) and Dubrovnik (3 nights). We are an active couple in our early thirties.
We first started in Lake Bled, which was beautiful and very relaxing, it was a great way to start out trip. We stayed at Hotel Berc recommended by RS, it was a great place to stay. In terms of sights to see we did a lot of the things RS recommends and loved the overlook/hike called Ojstrica, it gave you a beautiful view of the lake with mountains in the background. When we were there they had some type of music festival going on with food carts, which were actually really good. Another place that stood out to us was Okarina restaurant recommended by RS. We went to Vintar Gorge but unfortunately it’s not open until June, in RS book it says May. We were able to see only the beginning of the gorge and it was beautiful.
After 2 nights at Lake Bled we drove through the Julian Alps which was beautiful. If we had more time we would definitely stay a night in Soça valley. It’s such a beautiful area with, what it seems like, a lot of nice hiking trails. We couldn’t get enough of how blue the water was, we will always remember the teal blue water with the greenery and the mountains in the background. After we drove through the Julian Alps drive we headed to Ljubljana.
As soon as we got into the traffic free old town of Ljubljana it gave off a very relaxing fun vibe with people out and about and enjoying the many cafes along the river. The best part of Ljubljana is enjoying the ambience outside af the cafes and people watching, just as RS says in his book. We stayed in Mescanka apartments, which was an ideal location right in the center of everything. Despite being right on top of the busy cafe scene it was very quiet in the room. The one restaurant that stood out to us was Mostera Bistro where we had a 4 course lunch. The food was delicious, they use seasonal and local food. For the quality of the food it was a great price for 2 people with wine around $70 total. It seems that there are a lot of good restaurants in Ljubljana. The other 2 places that we liked a lot was TaBar (a tapas style restaurant with Slovenian ingredients and a great wine list) and we decided to give Pops Place a try and we were actually very surprised on how good the cheeseburgers were! They used grass fed beef from Slovenia. They also have a great craft beer list and it’s a great place to sit and people watch while enjoying dinner.
Overall we loved Slovenia, you can definitely spend 2 weeks there to experience the coast, Logarska Dolina or even the wine regions (they have delicious wine). Driving was also very easy and google maps worked well throughout the whole trip. The people were very nice and laid back. After Ljubljana we headed towards to Croatia. We’ll post the remainder of our trip on the Croatia forum.