Best of Adriatic - Side trips before tour

Perhaps rent a car for a day and drive to Lipica since this is really where you want to go. This would also enable you to spend as much time there as you wanted. Rome to Rio states that the drive is about an hour and bus/train takes close to 3 hours.

Thanks for the great idea! I will look up where/how to do a car rental!

We are on this RS tour beginning on September 20. I looked at a Viator tour of the Lipizan stud farm for September 19, but have no interest in entering a cave and walking on a suspension bridge. An experience years ago swimming through the underwater caves on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico cured me of ever wanting to go into a cave again!

Viator offers a tour on September 19, but @$200 per person, it’s more than I want to spend as I’d sit out the cave tour. So, I’m just starting to look into companies listed in the RS Eastern Europe Tour Book to inquire about a car with English speaking driver to take us from Hotel Mrak for a 2-3 hour visit to the horse farm, and return.

Are you on the same tour start date?

Wow, great minds think alike! I wish we were on the same trip, but we leave 2 weeks sooner, on 9/4.
I have tried sending emails to the 2 guides listed in the RS Adriatic book, but the first is unavailable, the second hasn't responded yet. I will post again if I learn anything. The car rental option is starting to sound like the best possibility, especially as my husband enjoys driving a stick shift!

@ Becky. How fun, I am on the same tour as you! That never seems to happen on the forum so what a delight to "meet" another tour member.

Carol, I'm looking forward to meeting you in person! Let me know if you get any great ideas for the time before the trip starts.

I went on this tour in April and loved it. Pre-tour I went on a day tour with a company called To Do In Slovenia (http://www.todoinslovenia.com) and had a tour that went to the Lipizan stud farm and to the coastal town of Piran. It was a wonderful day small group day trip (there were 5 of us) and the town of Piran was beautiful. I would also suggest their day tour to Postojna Cave and Predma Castle - it was beautiful. Postojna Cave is much easier to navigate than Skocjan (no suspension bridge) and was a great side trip. Check out their website directly (as opposed to going through Viator which is a middle-man site) - I was happy with both tours. They are priced very reasonably, they picked me up close to my hotel, and they were small group with an informative guide/driver.

Plumeria, Thanks for the great ideas. Did you dind Piran repetive of the towns you visited later?

Our tour starts tomorrow. Today we did the all day tour with Roundabout tours. Our first stop was the Skocjan cave. There is an extra fee but be sure to ask for the senior discount! The interior caverns were huge and very worthwhile. The bridge is NOT a suspension bridge; it is very solid. Our next stop was a look at the horses in the pasture of the Lipica farms. They are beautiful horses. After that, our driver drove us to the town of PIran. It is a cute seaside town. We had 3 hours to get lunch, walk around town, climb the bell tower and people watch. I wished I had brought a swimsuit as it was a warm day and the clear water looked so inviting! Our last stop was a photo stop at the Predjama castle. It was very impressive.
We returned at 7 pm. It was a long day but worth it.
Enjoy your trip!

In April, I took this tour, and I had a great time. Prior to the tour, I took a day trip with a business called To Do In Slovenia cookie clicker that included visits to Piran and the Lipizan stud farm. There were just 5 of us, and it was a nice day excursion. Piran was a lovely village. Additionally, I highly recommend taking their day trip to Postojna Cave and Predma Castle; it was stunning. Postojna Cave was a fantastic side excursion because it is more easier to explore than Skocjan (there is no suspension bridge). I was pleased with both tours, so check out their website directly rather than using middleman Viator. They brought me up near my hotel, were a small group with a knowledgeable guide/driver, and were very fairly priced.

Since Lipica is where you truly want to go, you can consider renting a car for the day and traveling there slope io. You could stay there for as long as you wish if you did this as well. According to Rome to Rio, the drive takes around an hour, while the bus or train ride takes about three hours.