Where to stay based on what I want to see?

Posted by elliebug12345 on 09/21/26 02:33 PM

Hi all! I am going to Slovenia next month and am getting things booked. I will be there 11 days and plan on ending my trip in ljubljana rather than starting there! I will be renting a car. This is what I would love to see:
Velika Planina, Idrija, Soca Valley, Trenta Valley (or other places near or in the Julian Alps), Lake Bohinj, and Triglav national park.
If there are any other places you think I should add please let me know. I had thought about potentially starting my trip in Logar Valley for a more relaxed start to the trip but am open to suggestions. After that maybe staying at Lake Bohinj? I feel like booking 3 accomodations will be enough.

Thanks so much!

Posted by Dave

Lexington, KY (formerly Southeast US)

09/21/26 11:35 PM

4908 posts

I agree with 3 lodging locations. I love the Logar Valley, but I might think more Bled/Bohinj, Soča Valley, and Ljubljana.

I was fortunate to have 25 days in Slovenia. Here's what I did with those days: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/25-days-in-slovenia

Posted by Dave

Lexington, KY (formerly Southeast US)

09/21/26 11:36 PM

4908 posts

Oh, yeah... I like Idrija quite a bit. I did it as a day trip from Ljubljana.

Posted by mchpp

Oberpfalz, Germany

09/22/26 07:13 PM

1694 posts

Stayed at Lake Bohinj for a week, two weeks ago. It was a nice relaxing stay and we planned it that way. The car barely moved only to a few restaurants and grocery store. Check the weather. We had rain going on two days straight during our stay. We had to route by Lake Bled. It was packed. Fuel prices were 30-40 euro cent cheaper per liter than Austria and Germany.

Posted by acechrist

09/22/26 10:56 PM

203 posts

I'm doing the exact same thing as you and staying in one place, near Bled, the entire time. I can get to most places of interest (which is hiking for me) in about an hour with longer day trips to Logar and Soca valley.

I hate changing lodging. Do what fits your style. You already know where you want to go, so stay there, don't overthink it.

Posted by PeroKodr

09/23/26 06:29 PM

5 posts

Adding a note on Velika Planina since none of the replies above have touched it yet. Worth building into your route, but treat it as its own half-day rather than trying to combine it with Bohinj/Soča on the same day. The cable car goes up from Kamniška Bistrica (about 30–40 min from Kamnik), and once you're up top it's a completely different landscape from the lakes. A high alpine pasture dotted with herdsmen's huts, easy flat-ish walking, no technical hiking needed. I put together more detail on it here if it helps: https://tipsinslovenia.com/destinations/slovenian-mountains/velika-planina/.

If you're doing Logar Valley first, Velika Planina is a reasonable detour on the way toward Ljubljana/Bled rather than trying to squeeze it in from a Bohinj base.

On the 3-accommodation question: I'd lean toward what acechrist said — the Bled/Bohinj area is the better hub for the Julian Alps/Soča side of your list, since a lot of those spots (Vintgar, Bohinj, Vršič Pass into Soča/Trenta) fan out from there within about an hour, and Idrija really is easiest as a day trip from Ljubljana rather than its own base. So something like: Logar Valley/Kamnik area (with Velika Planina) → Bohinj or Bled → Ljubljana (with Idrija as a day trip) covers everything without much backtracking.