Venice and Slovenia Loop Itinerary Help

I like that pace very much. I haven't been to the Soca Valley, Vrsic Pass or Kobarid, so I'll only comment on the Vintgar Gorge. I enjoyed it and have recommnded it on this forum, but it reminded me of a gorge I had seen in NY State and photos of others in places like North Carolina. I've never been to Banff, but I doubt that Vintgar would be all that exciting to you, so I think you can safely skip it.

Hey, Mark. I'm glad you are going to Slovenia. It's gorgeous!

First, answers to your specific questions...

1. Here is a travel blog post about Vintgar Gorge with many, many pictures to help you determine if it is worth your time: https://www.earthtrekkers.com/ultimate-guide-visit-vintgar-gorge-lake-bled-slovenia/

2. I didn't think the hairpin curves on the Vršič Pass were that bad. Maybe Dramamine to help? There are multiple options to get from Kobarid to Bled (the order I would recommend). There is the Vršič Pass. Also... you can drive through the Soča Valley and then go north into Italy, cut across a part of Italy and then go back into Slovenia and head down to Bled. Alternatively, you can go south to Most na Soči and catch the.... Motorail. It's a train that you drive your car onto and it carries you through tunnels in the mountains to Bohinjska Bistrica, which lies between Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled. The Motorail is fun! You can check out videos on YouTube. If you are interested in this option, let me know, and I will give you hints on how to get a good place on the train. The Motorail website: https://potniski.sz.si/en/motorail/

3. It is hard to answer that question without knowing your interests. Honestly, I would put the Soča Valley ahead of Lake Bled, though I visited when Bled was crazy packed. Here's what I did with 25 days in Slovenia in 2023 (I was probably a little too hard on Bled): https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/25-days-in-slovenia

Now... for your more general initial questions...

I think you can order your trip differently to eliminate some back-tracking. With your current plans, I would do Piran then Kobarid then Bled then Ljubljana.

Having said that, if you can swing it to be in Bohinj Sept 17, do it. The Cow's Ball is scheduled for that date (subject to change due to rain). It's a really great folk festival where the cows are brought down from their summer homes in the higher elevations of the Alps. It is one of my favorite travel memories. If you go, try to arrive the night before and stay in Bohinj instead of Bled for that part of the trip. I highly recommend the Vila Park B&B in Ukanc. Great place to stay with great breakfast, evening snacks, and awesome host (who did laundry for me!). The B&B is across the bridge that serves as the entrance to the festival, so you get free entrance into the festival.

I do wonder about Škocjan Caves from a mobility perspective. It is about a 10-minute walk to the cave. And then the cave tour is about 2 hours. There are quite a few steps as I recall. I think Postonja Cave may be better for someone with mobility issues, and it is very close to Predjama Castle.

Piran -- Memento B&B is excellent. Newish B&B in a great old building right off Tartini Square.
Kobarid -- Tourist Farmhouse Kranjc -- up the mountain from Kobarid -- there is a beautiful white church at Drezniča

Hi Mark. You might consider flying round-trip into/out of Venice, since you might get much better flights vs. flying out of Ljubljana. You could take a bus or shuttle service like GoOpti from the Venice airport directly to Ljubljana (a little under 3 hour drive) to start the trip and do it in reverse. You could do it as planned and take the bus or shuttle to Venice Marco Polo airport the final morning too - I did that in October and it worked well, but some people might prefer to end in Venice and be near the airport the night before flying home.

I did an itinerary roughly similar to this (in reverse) some years ago: rent the car in Ljubljana, go to Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj, drive the Vrsic Pass, spend a night in Kobarid, and drop the car in Piran. The Vrsic Pass drive was very lovely, and I can see how some might not like the ride. I was driving so had no issue with motion sickness - but had I been a passenger I would have worried about the motion sickness issue too.

Kobarid was an OK little town but nothing special - I only stopped there for the war museum. I wouldn't have wanted to base there for two nights. Since you are doing a loop, it's hard to see all of this stuff without backtracking a little, but if you reversed what I did, you could stop in Kobarid, drove the Vrsic Pass clockwise and back to Bled. You wouldn't drive the Vrsic pass to get between Bled and Bohinj - Bohinj is a quick day trip from Bled.

Lake Bled is lovely, but it's not very big, and it's a bit touristy. Lake Bohinj is much bigger, more "back to nature," less developed. I didn't find the town of Bled especially charming, but it is practical to stay there and not a bad place. I preferred the town of Radovljica, a charming old town, nearby.

The Vintgar Gorge hike (easy side trip from Bled) was pretty but seemed pretty ordinary to me compared to hikes I've done in the US. I think you can safely skip it if you want to save the walking.

If you wanted to skip the Vrsic Pass entirely, as Dave says you could take the "car train" where you can detour through the mountains by putting your car on a train.

Ljubljana is a lovely little city, maybe my favorite in Europe. Three nights there might be more than you need without day trips at least one day. Consider a day trip to the town of Skofja Loka. It's about half hour bus ride from Ljubljana. Depending on how you drive, you can detour to Skofja Loka on the drive between Bled and Ljubljana (skip the fast highway and detour through the mountains via the towns of Jamnik and Kropa). This drive has some narrow roads that might challenge someone with motion sickness issues, but it's not as bad as the Vrsic Pass if you take it easy, and it's a lovely drive with some amazing scenery.

Thank you so much for the responses! I recognize you all as travel veterans from these forums and appreciate you for sharing your knowledge.

@acraven - thank you for the insight. Based on all of the input, I think we're going to skip the Gorge. BTW, I highly recommend Banff. If there were apple trees there, I'd have sworn it was Eden. The high mineral content in the various lakes makes them extremely unique and appealing.

@Dave - you've given me much to digest - thank you. I would indeed be interested in your hints re: the motorail, and will research the option. One of the reasons I had planned for a counter-clockwise loop was thinking that it would put the mountainside at my right, which is much less disconcerting for my wife. I remember being very glad I drove from San Clemente to San Fransisco on the PCH instead of driving along the cliff side. Please let me know if my geography is off, though. Re: the cut through Italy to bypass the Vrsic Pass, are there any hassles to be expected at the border crossings, especially in a foreign-rented car?

The Cow Ball sounds like fun, so I'll see if I can make the adjustments. Also, I think you're right that Postonja Cave might be a better fit for us the Skocjan.

@Andrew H. - thank you for the suggestions. My wife has two reasons for wanting to go to Venice first: 1) she would like for me to get all of the enthusiasm I have for museum/cultural sights out of my system as early as possible, and; 2) she (and in all fairness, we) would like to avoid the Agua Alta as much as possible, which we understand increases in probability the closer we get to winter. My reason is more logistical, as the ferry from Piran to Venice departs at 0815, which means we might have a few hours of carrying luggage until our hotel room is ready. I know there are lockers at the train station, but I haven't heard of any near the ferry port.

However, nothing I've said here prevents me from entertaining your suggestion of flying round trip from Venice, which I will research. I will also look into your suggestions re: alternatives to two nights in Kobarid.

Again, thank you all so much for the input - my wife and I sincerely appreciate it. If you have any other suggestions, we welcome them.

Warmest regards,

Mark

After looking at your suggestions, I wholeheartedly agree that a clockwise loop is more efficient. Here is what I've come up with - please review and comment.

Tue 9/12 Fly to Venice overnight

Wed 9/13 Arrive Venice early afternoon; transportation to accommodations; orient to city. Sleep in Venice

Thu 9/14 Tour Venice. Sleep in Venice

Fri 9/15 Tour Venice. Sleep in Venice

Sat 9/16 Catch remainder of sights in Venice. Take Ferry to Piran (leaves at 1700, 3 hrs.). Sleep in Piran.

Sun 9/17 Tour Piran. Sleep in Piran

Mon 9/18 Take bus to Koper, pick up car. Drive to Postonja Caves, Predjama Castle, Kobarid. Sleep in Kobarid

Tue 9/19 Tour Kobarid. Drive thru Soca River Valley and Vrsic Pass on to Lake Bled. Sleep in Bled.

Wed 9/20 Tour Lake Bled. Sleep in Bled.

Thu 9/21 Drive to Lake Bohinj, then on to Ljubljana. Drop off car. Orient to Ljubljana, sleep there.

Fri 9/22 Tour Ljubljana, sleep there.

Sat 9/23 Tour Ljubljana, sleep there.

Sun 9/24 Day trip to Skofja Loka. Sleep In Ljubljana.

Mon 9/25 Fly home

The trade-off of a full day in Kobarid for a day trip to Skofja Loka seems reasonable, and the option for the motorail is still on the table. Thank you all very much for your knowledge and insights.

Mark

I'm a little slow getting back. To get a good spot on the Motorail, arrive early. I got there about an hour early to try to figure out how things work. I probably didn't need to get there quite that early. When you pull into the parking area, you will see an asphalt "ramp" that leads up to the railroad tracks on the left. Park in the first parking spot by the ramp, and you will have the front spot on the the train, allowing you to have an unobstructed view as the train passes through the country side.

If I could please request a bit more help...

On the 18th, the plan is to pick up the car and drive to Postojna Caves/Predjama Castle, then backtrack a bit west before heading northwest towards Kobarid. However, after researching the rest of the available accommodations (Tourist Farm Kranj wants a 5-night minimum stay), I'm left wondering if there are better towns to settle in for the night before tackling the Soca River Valley and Vrsic Pass. Does anyone have any recommendations as to a good town and/or place to stay along the way?

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Mark, I'm not sure I completely understand your question. Are you saying you can't find a place to stay in Kobarid on 9/18? (Besides a tourist farm with a 5 night minimum?) I just checked Booking.com and found a number of options there for one night on 9/18 - some apartments and at least one hotel. Or are you wanting something else?

When I stayed there, I stayed in some sort of small studio apartment close to the center of the (tiny) town. I wanted to stay in a town anyway, but I picked Kobarid because I wanted to go to the war museum there. The owner of the apartment helpfully pointed out the nice waterfall, Slap Kozjak, which was a short drive plus short hike from town, and that was a nice find. I didn't find Kobarid especially charming, but it was a convenient place to stop (I did the Vrsic Pass before Kobarid - I was going the opposite direction from what you are planning).

I guess there are other towns like Bovec or more if you want to detour a little.

@Andrew, Thanks for responding !! My apologies if I was unclear. There are several nice properties still available, but some of the better ones are already booked. What I am looking for is whether there are better alternatives to Kobarid as a place to stay for the night, generally speaking.

The vibe I get from various posts to this forum, as well as research from other sources (e.g., TripAdvisor), is that Kobarid is somewhere between meh and good, depending on one's particular interests. For example, Kobarid seems great if you are an outdoor enthusiast. My wife and I are more appreciators/spectators than enthusiasts. So I'm just wondering if there are any towns along that general direction (e.g., Tolmin, Bovec, Kamno) that might hold a bit more charm, especially in the evening, when compared to Kobarid. Alternatively, if the towns themselves aren't any more special, then perhaps someone knows of a very special property in a nearby town that might provide a rewarding experience.