We will be staying in a Ljublana hotel for 3 nights in early May. We would like to spend 1 day visiting both Vintgar Gorge and then Lake Bled. I have been trying to decide if we need to rent a car for that day and would appreciate suggestions. The public transport doesn’t work well for getting us to the Gorge for our morning timed entrance though we wouldn’t mind taking a bus back from Lake Bled at the end of the day.
I don’t really see Uber as an option but maybe some other type of car service?
Posted by
Minneapolis
1371 posts
Hi J L. We really enjoyed Ljubljana, and also the gorge. The bus between Ljubljana station and Bled works well. Renting a car would have pros and cons, but for me would not be worth the hassle. Even with a car, you park at a gorge lot and then take a shuttle to the gorge. Then (see later), you have to spend quite a bit of time getting back to that lot and your car after the gorge. Then parking in Bled might be a challenge. How early is your morning timed entrance at the gorge? If very early, you could change or abandon it and go later in the day to make it easier on yourselves. Once you get to Bled, there are 2 options to get to the gorge. You can pay $10 or so per person for a shuttle from Bled to gorge. Or you can take the free Bled bus to a point a few blocks from the gorge parking lot, and take a free gorge shuttle from there. NOTE: the gorge is a one way path, and at the end of the gorge, there is a long walk (a mile?) to get anywhere. One way is a mild upgrade thru the woods to a picnic area / food stand, which we enjoyed. You can buy food there, or eat your own snacks. From there, you are fairly close to Bled; the quickest way back into Bled is just to keep walking; maybe another half mile gradual downhill.
Posted by
OP
California
37 posts
Bob, thanks so much for the details. I have been trying to figure out the shuttles and whether it would be just a hassle to rent a car for a day anyway. I had not realized until recently that the hike after the gorge was so long. There are 3 of us and our main plan was to head to Lake Bled and walk the 3.5 km around it.
I then thought to add Vintgar Gorge but had booked the morning entrance time because people seemed to prefer the earlier times. Maybe we skip the Gorge?
Now someone suggested taking a bus from Bled to Bohinj and riding a tram into the Julian mtns. Have you ever done that?
Appreciate your input.