We were hoping to take the train but when I put the dates and stations in the website it cannot find anything. Would a bus or private car be a better way to go? We don't want to drive ourselves.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Some train schedules are not yet published past June 14. Train options take about 7 hours, either with 2 changes of train, or with the first half by bus. In addition to the private shuttle service, there's a private bus that runs once daily each way: http://www.drd.si/en/.
Posted by
california
22 posts
Today, May 31. 2014, I took GoOptivan from Venice Piazalle Roma bus station to Lake Bled. I was dropped off at my pension. I signed up online about a month ago. They have a drop down menu for where you want to be picked up and where you want to go. I paid 55 Euros with credit card online. This was a much better option than taking the train from Venice to Slovenia! I encourage Americans to use this option and visit the beautiful Alpine country of Slovenia!
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you so much for your valuable and current information using the GoOpti van. Can you tell me how long the trip took? We will be arriving after a long flight from US and could start our Slovenia adventure at Lake Bled which hopefully is shorter than the trip to Ljubljana.
Posted by
california
22 posts
Hi All,
I'm starting my journey in Lake Bled then touring the Alpine region before going on to Ljubljana. I do have a map of Slovenia and chose this route as from Ljubljana I'm going on to Zagreb to see relatives.
I, too, looked into taking the train from Venice to Slovenia and it just seemed too long and they make you go way out of your way up to Austria!
Someone told me about GOpti Van and it was a great experience, I got picked up in Venice at 12:30pm. We picked up other passengers at the Venice airport.
We drove first to Ljubliana and dropped them off. I got to my pension in Lake Bled at 4:00PM. The drive was all on a well maintained highway and the scenery was gorgeous. It cost me only 55 Euros. Please use GOptivan and post your experience. I asked the driver if they had many Americans using their service and he said very few. They've been in business for 3 years and were started mainly to take Slovenes to the cheap flights out of Venice (Ryanair, EasyJet, etc). Hope this helps.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
I will definitely use GoOpti van when we go to Slovenia in the fall!! Thanks for sharing your experience…it helps a lot. I'm getting very excited as it starts to come together.