Hi fellow travelers,
We are considering taking this tour. We always like to arrive a couple of days before the tour starts. Any suggestions for what to do/see not already included in the tour? Is there enough to see/do in Ljubljana for that time period? I see we have a free afternoon and evening there already on the tour itinerary as well. Any suggestions for this or maybe another nearby area to see and then arrive in Ljubljana on tour start date would be appreciated.
Perhaps look through this book --- https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/croatia-guidebook --- to see compare what is included in the tour and what else interests you
We wished we had gotten to Ljubljana earlier. It is a charming city worthy of more time. And, there are places nearby such as the Škocjan and Postojna Caves, which we also missed. If we had to do it over we would have arrived at least 3 days prior to the start of the tour. We also extended our time by visiting Montenegro for a week and that was great.
We loved Ljubljana. Hope you have our guide “Tina”. She suggested walk, bike, explore, or visit Enthographic Museam, Natl Museum of Contemporary History, natl Gallery.
We thought every day was special and the day in Bosnia was extremely special.
Just reviewed our photo album so many memories thanks for getting me to look.
Enjoy
Safe Travels
D
We spent 2 extra days in Ljubljana prior to the Best of the Adriatic. We booked an apartment on the river and enjoyed the charm and vibe during the day & evening. After spending a week in Venice it was a nice way to have some downtime prior to the tour. We enjoyed visiting the Jože Plečnik House, which gave us a prelude to his architecture throughout the city. We were very impressed to learn that Ljubljana was the European Green Capital award winner in 2016. It's pedestrian-only downtown center is due to their progressive mayor. Just strolling, visiting the open market, & wonderful cuisine was a perfect introduction to our newest favorite city! Truly another unforgettable RS Tour.
Thank you all for the replies. It sounds like 2-3 extra days in Ljubljana would be advised. I will be researching all the suggestions. We are also considering Kotor, Montenegro at the end so thanks for those comments as well. 😄😄
Don & Cyndi and Janis, what flights (& airlines) did you take to arrive & depart from this tour? We're also considering taking this tour and haven't seen a flight plan with great connections. As Jaye mentioned, we're wondering how much time before the tour to arrive, or even if we should consider flying into a more convenient location and then fly to Ljubljana a few days later.
Jean you didn’t ask me but I thought this might help. We did the tour in 2011 so maybe these flights don’t exist. But we booked through United flew Sacramento to IAD. Then Lufthansa to MUC then Lufthansa on a code share with Adria to Ljubljana. Similar going home.
Thanks, Alan! I wasn’t purposely excluding you or others - just saw the people I mentioned would have been flying from Washington State, too.
Jean, I fly out of Seattle and I think that I am going to fly into Venice, visit for a day or two. I'll take the train to Ljubljana 2 days before the tour. Afterwards I plan to fly to Munich where I will meet up with my sister for a week in Garmish-P and fly home from Munich.
@Jean, Hi neighbor! We flew Delta>AMS>Venice (spent a week). Took GoOpti shuttle to Ljubljana. We bought our tickets months ahead. It was reasonable, comfortable and short journey. We were dropped off across from the train station. It was less than a 10 min. walk to Apartment. Return: Croatia Air to Zagreb>AMS>Delta>Seattle. I would definitely recommend arriving in Ljubljana 2-3 days ahead. We stayed 2 nights at Meščanka Apartments on the river. Rick Steves staff stays there. www.booking.com. We had a lovely river view room. We took the free transportation called Kavalir (Electric car) to the RS Tour Hotel Mrak. What a concept! Such a progressive city.
Thank you for the transportation recommendations. Returning to our favorite European city, Venice, is always a great idea!
Jaye, I hope you have a wonderful trip! I’ve heard great comments about this tour!
Jean, great questions.
We always fly from PDX direct to Amsterdam with a connection from there to our final destination and reverse on way home. This trip we’ll be going elsewhere in Europe before and/or after tour so will probably end up taking a hopper flight or a train to Ljubljana.
Love all the helpful information in this site. Looking forward to seeing new countries this trip. 😄. We always struggle with going somewhere new to us versus previously visited favorites. (Great problems to have right?!). We usually do some of each on a trip. Happy Travels!
We absolutely enjoyed this tour! Extra time in Ljubljana is wonderful, walk to the castle, park, etc (lots of info Rick's tour book.) But also consider an extra day or two at the end in Dubrovnik. We added only one day there and had to choose between walking the wall (start as early as you can ! ) or a kayak excursion in beautiful weather and seas. Now we need to go back to do the things we missed. We flew into Ljubljana from Paris and out of Dubrovnik to Rome which allowed for other pre and post tour adventures in amazing Europe.
For what it's worth... We are spending a few days in Vienna prior to the Sep 25th tour and taking the train (six hours) through the Alps to Ljublijana. We saved several hundred dollars per ticket (flying out of Chicago) and I've been wanting to get back to Vienna
IrishEyes
A train through the Alps sounds amazing! Is your journey on Deutsche Bahn? We’ve been considering Salzburg/Vienna or Munich before our tour. Thank you! 😄
jaye in Salem. The Adriatic is my favorite of six trips. We flew direct Seattle to Paris and on to Ljubljana arriving at 10:30. Flew back from Zagreb through Amsterdam to Seattle. We particularly like getting the 9 hr flight on the first leg to allow us to adjust to time zone.
Two suggestions
go early as you can you will Love Ljubljana.
Stay over where ever you fly through. we didn’t and regretted it. Making up for it this year, spend a week in AMS on our way back from Best of England. Spent a week in London last year on our way back from Best of Spain.
what ever you chose you will enjoy that trip. Slovania is beautiful, Croatia coast relaxing, Bosnia was special for the wrong reasons (the War). Dubrovnik was awesome be sure to go out to the bar on the side of the wall and do it at night.
safe travels
d
D
Ps Delta - Virgin Atlantic work for us out of Seattle.
Thank you Don and Cyndi and all! Very helpful as always here. 😄😄😄❤️
I may have already mentioned this. Lake Bled offers a hot air balloon ride, and I believe there is an option for a hotel pick-up in Ljubljana. Seem it is around $200 dollars -- rather novel, and I found fun. It is based right across the hotel that RS uses in Lake Bled. I assume no liability. ---https://www.sloveniadventures.com/hot-air-ballooning-above-lake-bled
