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Where should I spend an extra night? Itinerary help

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I am trying to plan a trip to Slovenia for the first time. I will have six nights in the country with my husband. I have a good tentative itinerary for five nights. I would appreciate some advice for the one extra night, which can be applied anywhere along the route, either to a new destination or an extra night at one of the others.
We are 60 yrs old but active- we enjoy light to moderate hikes and biking, but also exploring old towns but don’t want to spend a lot of time in museums. We are arriving on September 10, 2025 and will have a rental car the entire time. We will be leaving for Venice to fly home at the end. This is what I have so far…

Day 1 - arrive in Ljubljana and explore; do Ljubljanayum food tour (recommended by many reviewers); sleep in Ljubljana

Day 2 - travel to Lake Bled; explore the lake and hike Vintgar Gorge; sleep in Bled

Day 3 - travel to Bovec via Vršič Pass; explore Soča Valley hikes (suggestions welcome); sleep in Bovec

Day 4 - travel to Škocjan Caves; visit Predjama Castle; end and sleep in Piran

Day 5 - explore Piran; sleep in Piran then travel to Italy in the morning

So where should I spend the extra night?
My thoughts are
* A second night in Ljubljana (we won’t have much time to just explore since the evening will be consumed by the food tour)
* Lake Bohinj (we initially eliminated because of time and so much moving around)
* Another night in Bovec to explore Soča Valley further
* Somewhere else along the route (maybe wine country)

Thanks for your help

Posted by
3222 posts

Welcome to the forum! Here’s what would really make for a relaxing trip to Slovenia.
Add the extra night you have available to Lake Bohinj. Then take the night you’re staying in Bled and move it to Lake Bohinj. That gives you two nights INSIDE TRIGLAV NATIONAL PARK with Lake Bohinj only a 30-minute drive from Bled. You can still see Lake Bled and the Vintgar Gorge if you want, but staying in RIBCEV LAZ or STARA FUZINA will get you off the ant trail of the hordes of people at Bled. ( it’s like Disneyland on the Fourth of July)!
You can hike or bike all around Lake Bohinj, there’s a 5-hour hike at Mostnica Gorge ( or shorter if you prefer) and there’s also the cablecar ride to the summit of Mt. Vogel.

Bovec is near the one-hour gorge hike at TOLMIN GORGE, which is excellent and which you could swap in for the Vintgar Gorge.

Note that Piran allows no cars in the old town and you need to park in a lot just outside of the old town. So, check into where your hotel is located because you’ll need to transport your luggage from/to the car park.

Ljubljana is small for a capital city— only about 280K people with few museums. The best way to enjoy Ljubljana is to simply walk from the old town across the river over the Triple Bridge to Preseren Square and past all the monumental buildings up to Tivoli Park. Piece of cake that takes just a couple hours.

Have a great trip!

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you so much Kenko. I really needed this guidance. I have been back and forth on it, reading so many posts and guidebooks, so having a direct answer is just what I need to move forward! I will do just as you suggested, and stay two nights in Bohinj with a day trip to Bled. I really appreciate the other tips as well!

Posted by
3222 posts

Slovenia is a country unlike any other and, probably for that reason, is difficult to figure out itinerary-wise.
But the great thing is that distances are so small that a car makes it possible to see tons in just a few days. The Slovenes are great people and the country is gorgeous.

From Ljubljana to Lake Bled/Bohinj you might want to drive through SKOFJA LOKA—a really scenic medieval town with a castle about 30 minutes from Ljubljana.

One more thought crossed my mind…. Are you dropping off your rental car in Slovenia before going onto Italy? Usually the car rental agencies tack on a $500+ one-way dropoff charge for picking up a rental car in one country and dropping it off in a different country, www.AutoEurope.com may have good deals on cars out of Ljubljana. If you do need to return the car to Ljubljana, ( just 75 minutes from Piran) there are bus services from Ljubljana to Venice that take 3 hours for the trip.
We’re doing the bus trip from Venice to Ljubljana and then picking a car at the Ljubljana train station.

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