We are traveling in Slovenia for 2 weeks in September. We arrive 9/5 and depart 9/18. Renting a car from day 4 to departure date. Please look at itinerary and offer any suggestions. We are interested in culture, good food, wine, hiking.
Days 1-3 Ljublana 3 nights airbnb (would like to do a Michelin restaurant....suggestions?)
Days 4-6 Lake Bohinj 3 nights airbnb 1 dinner at Majerka. Hiking, seeing Lake Bled, etc.
Either taking the car train or driving the southern route to Kobarid...not doing 50 hairpin turns.
Day 7-8 Kobarid (dinner at Hisa Franko and overnight there) departing for Goriska Brda next day.
Day 9-10 Dobrovo, Goriska Brda, airbnb, hike, wine tastings, dinners....suggestions? We love Pinot Noir
Day 11-13 Vipava airbnb, hike, wine, caves as a day trip
Day 14 drive back to Ljubljana, overnight at Dvor Jezersek for last overnight and dinner at their restaurant for tasting menu.
Day 15 fly back to US.
We don't usually like to change lodging locations so much but it seemed logical since some areas did not need as much time.
Bovec seemed like it would be fun but the wine region was calling us. Mistake?
Thanks, Susan
Posted by
4 posts
We just got back from a 2 week Croatia and Slovenia trip. You will have a great time. We spent 5 days in Slovenia. On our way from Istria to Ljublana we visited the Škocjan Caves. This was really spectacular and there is a good hike after the tour. It’s about an hour from Ljublana. We did Lake Bled which was beautiful once you walk to the quiet part of the lake. You only need an hour or 2 here but it’s worth the stop. On our way back we stopped in Radovljica, which is a great medieval town without the tourist rush that is in Bled We had a great lunch with really good wine. I wish we had more time to explore it more. We found Slovenia a notch better than Croatia, which was spectacular to say the least.
Posted by
Grande prairie., Alberta, Canada
67 posts
Hi,
How did you find the costs in Slovenia vs Croatia? Less? Similar? I see you visited Radovljica. What drew you there? Would you go back? We are planning a trip to the area and looking at places others recommend next summer.
Posted by
16 posts
We are also travelling to Slovenia for just over 2 weeks and spending time in Goriska Brda. Your itinerary looks balanced to your interests but I’m interested in the feedback on your winery areas. Enjoy your planning and time in Slovenia.
Posted by
4 posts
We found the cost to be a little less in Slovenia. We went to Radovljica since we wanted to get away from the touristy places around Bled. The town was more authentic but not as picturesque. Both countries are great.
Posted by
108 posts
We stayed in Radovljica for 4 nights and took the train to Llubjiana for a day--that was enough for us. On other days we hiked at Vintgar Gorge and Mostnica Gorge/Waterfall. We stopped at Lake Bled but had trouble paying for parking so only had an hour there. We felt that was enough time there. Slovenia is beautiful, we also found it more interesting than Croatia. Skocjan Cave with the longer walk out was great and we also enjoyed Predjama Castle in that area.
Posted by
Idaho
24 posts
Hi Susan, I feel like I can now offer a bit of opinion now that we are back.
For your Bohinj portion:
Per advice on this forum, we did the Mostnica Gorge walk all the way to the falls, and the best strudel of the trip came from the hut right before the falls. Feeling like we'd earned the treat from walking in the heat surely contributed to the enjoyment.
We ended up using a late afternoon and evening in Bled for laundry and cream cake. I really wanted to go to Cafe Belvedere for the cake and the architecture but timing didn't work out. So we got up very early (for a vacation) the next day and walked the entire perimeter of the lake when almost no one else was out. It was really lovely, and then we were ready to move on, ha. We wanted to do Vintgar, but timing also didn't work out, and we'd already been to Tolmin and Mostnica.
We stayed in Radovljica near Bled and really liked the vibe there. Bee museum is a must, even if it seems like it wouldn't be!
The car train was a really fun thing to do, but I will also say that the Vrsic Pass wasn't that bad. The hairpin turns were less of the occasionally stressful element than the width of the road generally. But you will get used to that while in Slovenia!
For your time in Kobarid:
We loved the Soca Valley and wish we'd had at least one more night there. We paid to have a tour of the WWI museum and that was money well spent. The guide was a co-founder of the museum and he very clearly cares about telling the stories of the men who fought in that region.
My husband really enjoyed our time at Tolmin Gorge. It was surprisingly busy on a Saturday in June.
Probably the most memorable thing we did in this portion of the country was seeing the church at Javorca. We almost didn't make it because I wanted to turn around (except ha ha, there wasn't really a spot to turn around) as the drive was extremely nerve wracking. If you have interest in taking the time to see the church, I would recommend hiring a local to drive you.
Vipava region:
We loved Skocjan Caves including the longer hike back to parking. The stairs were no joke here, fair warning! Stanjel was a really cool little town, but deserved a guide. With your interest in wine, if you visit, use their webpage to book a guide!
Posted by
Edmonds
15 posts
If your schedule permits, the Friday night Open Kitchen in Ljubljana was lots of fun.