Best of Eastern Europe

I was on the Adriatic tour in October, which starts in Ljubljana at the Hotel Mrak. I think almost everybody really liked Ljubljana, it's a really good place to linger.
Hotel Mrak was comfortable and in a convenient location.

Quite a few people find flights into Venice work well, and use a service called GoOpti to get to Ljubljana. We used it to get there from Graz in Austria. Worked great and reasonably priced.

We stayed at City Hotel Ljubljana. It was a very short walk to the main square. We had a car so needed a hotel with a parking lot. Ljubljana is a lovely, small city. It has a lovely history and castle to visit. We spent 4 nights there with one day trip to Lake Bled. It wasn’t too crowded in June and the people we very nice and English was widely spoken.

When looking for hotels, I search on booking.com then book directly with the hotel. You can set filters and see the location on their map and the amenities offered.

LizinPA (My husband is originally from Pa),
I'm not familiar with GoOpti; will check it out. I'm hoping that with our tour ending in Bled there might be others on our tour heading to Ljubljana. Appreciate the positive comments on that city.
Barbara: Good to know about City Hotel. We had signed up for the Eastern Europe tour for 2020...and had booked a room at City Hotel, following the tour. Thanks for reaffirming the City Hotel). I too search on Booking to read reviews and book directly with the hotel.

Carol, we took the Adriatic Tour in September 2018. We spent 4 nights in wonderful Ljubljana. Hotel Mrak was not available prior to the tour so we stayed at Meščanka Apartments on the river. Lovely accommodation, & centrally located to sights and restaurants. Highly recommend a couple nights in Ljubljana. It’s magical. The city lends itself to sightsee at your leisure and enjoy the ambience of this charming city. Prior to our tour we spent a week in Venice. We hired GoOpti for our transfer to Ljubljana. We were dropped off at the train station. It was an easy walk to town. GoOpti provided excellent service. We would definitely use them again. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwidsd7F2Pf7AhW8KDQIHTe9D24QFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goopti.com%2Fen%2F&usg=AOvVaw3lDHMeR2NJZaye7b9mH0Gj
Edited to add: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiS9ZGH5vf7AhXlMDQIHao_AsgQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmescanka.si%2F&usg=AOvVaw3b5IqCBWooxWbwITK1MFEj

I loved the Best of Eastern Europe tour, so good choice! Ljubljana is one of my favorite cities! And Hotel Mrak is great but if it’s not available or priced to your liking, I also like Hotel Slon, also convenient to the city center. And I second using GoOpti. It is convenient and a great price, especially if you book early and aren’t particular about the pickup time. I took it to Trieste and enjoyed that city for a few days. Then took the train to Venice. I recommend a food tour in Ljubljana! And since it’s pretty small, you can walk everywhere. I basically did all the suggested things in the RS guidebook. On Fridays, (hopefully again next year) Ljubljana has Open Kitchen in the market square-tons of amazing food and drink stalls. And if you like craft beers, there’s a beer cruise down the river. Makes me want to go back there!

We spent 3 days in Ljubljana before the Adriatic Tour last May and and loved it. We also stayed at Mescanska Apartments and would highly recommend!

From Ljublijana to Venice is about 150 miles, and it's a 3 hour bus ride. The fare should be around €28.00.

Go for it.

My husband and I were on this tour in September, and unfortunately couldn't finish because he got Covid and we had to end the tour after a week. When we were good to travel again, we went on to Ljubljana for a couple of days before we headed home. We loved this city, and it's a great place for some time to relax before continuing your travels. It's a lovely town and a great place to walk around and take lots of photos. I can't recommend our first hotel (we took what we could get on late notice), but we stayed at Hotel Mrak the last night and it was very nice. And I can recommend a restaurant - Sokol was wonderful! They serve tasty Slovenian food and it has lots of atmosphere.

I spent 5 nights in Ljubljana in the fall of 2019. I very much enjoyed the city. I stayed at City Hotel Ljubljana and liked it quite a bit. Ljubljana is a city that is well worth some extra time.

We did the BOEE tour in June. We did our mid-day travel break there and I know several members went back for a couple nights before heading home. For me Ljubljana wouldn't have had enough to do to merit going back. If we had wanted to stay we probably would have stayed in Bed and done some area hiking. As it was we had a private driver from MyDayTrip take us from Lake Bled to Venice which worked just fine. My sister and I were dropped off at the airport to head to London and my husband and his mom where the boats on the Grand Canal start, Piazzala Roma I think.

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions.
Janis: Thanks for the GoOpti link for travel between Ljubljana and Venice. It probably would be more helpful to be "dropped off" in Venice by GoOpti, than the bus.
Barbara, you also mentioned Hotel Sion. When I was searching in 2020, I would have stayed there just because they used L'Occitane toiletries, which I love...but then decided it wasn't a good reason for staying there. It cost more than City Hotel. But...a Food tour? Do you remember the tour you took? That sounds like a great idea because hopefully the food in the city is unique to the area/country. Right now I'm thinking we would only be able to spend 2 nights in Ljubljana so not sure we would have time for a tour. "Open kitchen" sounds great, but unfortunately we won't be there on a Friday.
David: The bus fare you quoted is really reasonable.
Diane: Thanks for the restaurant recommendation.

Carol, when we took GoOpti we did the shared ride. Our pick up was at Piazzale Roma. It would be a good drop off as well.
If interested in another restaurant I can recommend our favorite- Julija. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj-r9_sjIL8AhX8GjQIHfWEDd8QFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.visitljubljana.com%2Fen%2Fpoi%2Fjulija%2F&usg=AOvVaw0jpL3DESHPy7dk_-WYoMoC

Carol, I just booked this tour for Sept/Oct 2023. Very excited!

Yea, Jill!
I still haven’t committed….haven’t been too worried because the date we want is still available. My fear is that numbers will be low so some start dates might be cancelled.
Are you extending your trip? Or adding cities before the tour?

Carol, unfortunately I can't take any more time off than the additional day before and the tour dates. Can't wait to retire so I will have more flexibility!