Travel from Budapest to Ljubljana

A direct, daytime train departs Budapest at 8:30 and arrives to Ljubljana at 16:30. The online tour itinerary indicates that the first group meeting starts at 16:00, so you'd need to tell the tour department if you weren't going to make that.

Looks like you could get up at the crack of dawn and take an earlier train from Budapest with a change in Zagreb and get into Ljubljana at 15:10. Hustle and you might make that 4PM meeting time, assuming the train is on time.

If you leave Budapest a day earlier, you could spend an additional night in Ljubljana and do a quick day trip to a nearby town that won't be covered on the tour (Skofja Loka or Kamnik for example) in the morning and get back in the afternoon in time for the first meeting. Or stop overnight in a town like Zagreb or Ptuj on the way down from Budapest.

I would fly.

Thanks to all who've responded. We plan to make this trek the day before our tour starts, so the 4:00 meeting won't be a problem.