How would you burn two weeks in Slovenia and Croatia?

Renting a car in Ljubljana to explore Slovenia and Croatia works well. I did just that back in 2001, and I also rented a car in Croatia in 2008. Roads are generally very good, and there are fairly new expressways that ease the drives. Drive between Split and Dubrovnik will be mostly 2 lane (unless expressway has been extended since 2008). Car will be very convenient for Slovenia outside of Ljubljana, Istria and Plitvice. Split and islands are the places where you're least likely to need it. If your itinerary allows, a side trip to Mostar is worthwhile, provided your rental car company permits it.

Regarding the islands, Hvar is most easily reached by catamaran from Split. If visiting Korcula, you could drive from Split to Orebic and take the short car ferry ride to the island. You won't actually need your car while in Hvar town or Korcula town. Hvar is my personal favorite, but many people who post here prefer Korcula. Another option would be to visit Rab between Istria and Plitivice. Take your car to the island since the ferry arrives some distance from Rab town.

Thanks guys. Is the one-way car rental (in the same country) typical enough in Slovenia and Croatia that they don't gouge you too bad? That would actually be preferable to pickup/dropoff in either Venice or LJ that we're currently planning.

Hi Mike,

I'm not sure about the car rental. When we were trying to decide the best way to get from Ljubljana to Dubrovnik we opted to fly rather than make the 8-hour car trip. We took the train from Budapest to Ljubljana and stayed 4 nights, then train to Zagreb to fly on Croatia Air to Dubrovnik.

In Ljubljana we rented a car for a day to visit Lake Bled.

From Dubrovnik we took a bus to the island of Korcula.

For a one-way rental, you may do better renting the car in Croatia. Picking it up in Zagreb and dropping it off in Dubrovnik would work well. Uniline, a Croatian rental car company, has good rates and charges no drop off fee on rentals of 3 days or more. You can also arrange for them to pick you up during business hours (like Enterprise does in USA). I used Uniline in 2008 and wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Thanks again everyone, that helps a lot.

Sharon-Did you use a railpass or point-to-point tickets for your train travel. If railpass, which one? If p2p, how much did the Budapest-Ljubljana run you?

Hi Mike,

We used point-to-point tickets and bought them a day or two before our departure. I apologize but I don't remember how much they were. It is about an 8-hour train trip but we were at a point in our vacation that we found the train to be a relaxing break.

I hope that's helpful!
Sharon

Spend some time exploring the cave region. Well worth it. Posotjna as a start for the touristy side of things. Predjama is a great side trip from there. One of my favorite little castle in all of Europe. Skocjan cave is a bit more strenuous, but manageable for most. (These are all walking tours.)

There are also hard hat, mud crawling, and even scuba diving cave tours you can book.

On size alone the caves there are like nothing else. Worth the time! :)

We spent 9 days exploring Slovenia and Croatia and I wish we had more. We did rent a car for the whole time and Croatia has wonderful expressways. And we did pay a large fee for picking up in Slovenia and dropping in Croatia. It was unfortunate, but the trade off was less headaches, save time and more flexabilty. Slovenian roads are hairpin turns and constant switchbacks. Take dramamine if you get car sick!

We stayed in Bled, Slovenia. Beautiful, relaxing but not a lot to do in town other than go over to the island with the church. We took a day trip to the Julian Alps (fabulous! except the car sick thing). There was a WWII museum that was very impactful - highly recommend stopping at it (small town that I can look up if interested).

Then we drove to Plitvice National Park in Croatia. Stunning beauty. 100's of natural waterfalls. Green and lush.

Then we drove to Split - port city with interesting history.

Then we drove to Dubrovnik - we took a chilly dip in the Adriadic here (it was late Oct). Best memory is the seafood restaurant we ate at in the center of town. Oh how I wish I could go back just for that!

Then we flew home. If I had more days - I would have really wanted to get over to the Istrian Pennisula. I just didn't have the time.

sept 2009 we rented a car in ljub, toured bled area, south to skocjan caves, on to istria, plitvice, dubrov then to split where we dropped the car and got on a sailboat for a week.

the best car rental rate at the time was thru dollar/budget and with all airport, dropoff etc fees it was $702 for a week. shared with friends, not too painful and much more convenient than trying to rent twice or combine travel methods IMO.
the roads were great and they are working on the area between split/dubrov but still some areas on local tho scenic roads.
hubby and i both agree if we were to do it over we would skip istria and spend more time in slovenia or maybe dubrov.

Thanks everyone, very helpful! We're leaning on a Zagreb-to-Pula car rental, looping down to Dub and up to Ljub in between. Plan B has a lot more buses and trains, which really isn't so bad either.

Mike

We were in same dilimma, but for us 3 years ago, driving one way and drop fees was just to expensive.Train to Libjiana from Budapest, rented car there for few days, went to Lake Bled, both, cavescastle, horses, stayed at farm near caves then returned car to libjiana. Train to Zabgred, 1 nite there then bus to Split. Got off at Plivice for day then caught late bus to Split. Catamaran to Korcula. Bus from Korcula to Dubrobnik, rented car for drive to Bay of Kotor, Montregrego, then flew out at Dubrovnik Airport. It was a fabulous trip and easy to navigate.