Traveling to Lake Bled from Venice

I would think you'd do better on buses. And the area north and east of the Adriatic is very mountainous. January may not be the best time of the year to go up to Lake Bled.
Come to think of it, November is not the best time to go to Venice, even. I was once there in February with water lapping up on St. Marks Square.

I have been planning the same trip for late April and am delighted to learn that

direct service from Trieste Centrale to Ljubjana and Bled has apparently been restored.

http://www.slo-zeleznice.si/en/

More times/added confusion can be found on Bahn.de

You could also ride the scenic Bohinj Railway (not the historic steam train, but the regular year-round service) from Nova Gorica to Jessinice, then transfer to the other side of the lake if need be.

https://jetsettingfools.com/riding-the-rails-scenic-train-in-slovenia/

I used the GoOpti shuttle to travel from my hotel at Lake Bled to Venice in July. I arranged the pick up and drop off through the GoOpti website. It was convenient and pick up happened as promised.

You can be dropped off and picked up on the island of Venice. I didn’t realize this when I booked my trip and booked my Venice drop off at the train station. Not a big deal, but would have saved extra hassle to have been driven across the bridge.

From Venice, I'd probably take GoOpti (a Slovenian transfer service) to Lake Bled. Getting there by train or bus will take hours longer.

FYI, Bled Jezero train station is across the lake from the town, up a hill. It's more doable as a day trip arrival than a place to arrive with luggage. And there's really no easy way from that little station into town, at least one I could see. (Probably you could call a taxi.) Lesce Bled station is even further from town but on a direct train line Ljubljana. A direct bus from Ljubljana to Bled (which stops at the Lesce Bled train station too on the way into Bled) is probably easier than a train, though.

Thanks. This information is very helpful.

Update from the guy in seat 61:

https://www.seat61.com/venice-to-ljubljana-and-zagreb-by-train.htm

The Man in Seat 61's suggested route from Venice to Bled by train involves:
- train from Venice to Gorizia Centrale (at least 2:13 travel time)
- bus from Gorizia Centrale to Nova Gorica (Slovenia)
- train from Nova Gorica to Bled Jezero (1:50 travel time)

And that puts you at the little train station above the lake across from the town of Bled. With bags, you're either going to have to hike about 40-50 minutes into town or take a taxi. Realistically, you're looking at 5-6 hours travel time, maybe more if the schedules don't line up well.

Or you could take GoOpti from Venice directly to Bled, probably in about three hours.

The train route is for train enthusiasts only - doesn't make a lot of sense for anyone else. (I confess, this is something I would be tempted to try, for the adventure, but I doubt most people would.)

Andrew, I think you missed the part I posted where direct trains from Trieste Centrale to Ljubjana were reinstated Sept. 8 2018.

You can take the train to Ljubjana, transfer to the train to Lesce-Bled.

Easy-peasy.

The route through Nova Gorica is if you want to take the more scenic Bohinj Railway, which also works for Lesce Bled, after a transfer in Jesenice.

True, the bus may still quicker, but...it's still a bus.

Happy travels!

It's still going to take a lot more time to train from Venice to Trieste, change to a train Trieste to Ljubljana, change to a third train Ljubljana to Lesce Bled, then finally change to a bus to Bled (3 changes) ...instead of taking a direct shuttle van (not a bus) from Venice directly to Bled. In fact, I think the reason the Man in Seat 61 still recommends the Nova Gorica route is that it is actually more direct than going all the way up to Ljubljana.

But it is great that there is finally direct train service between Trieste and Ljubljana again. That's still a little slower than taking a shuttle, but it's more practical than trying to get to Bled that way - only one change (in Trieste) instead of three changes. You may have to wait hours between trains in some cases if you can't time it right. Each change adds more potential delay.

Memberglen, I am thinking of doing the same trip, maybe 2019. Would you update us after your travels as to what worked or your lessons learned? I'd love to hear how it goes. Thanks!

As previous contributors mentioned, GoOpti is a great option to travel from Venice to Slovenia. We took this Shuttle from Venice to Ljubljana in September. It was 2.5 hours, very comfortable, reasonable & reliable. We would use this service again.