Best of Eastern Europe Tour-First and Last Locations

Carol, in case you’re looking for a hotel in Ljubljana, we stayed at Hotel Mrak with the Best of the Adriatic tour. And I used the GoOpti shuttle between that hotel & Ljubliana airport.

Did the tour guide help in grouping people together and arranging an efficient and convenient transfer?

I took the tour this past June and yes, the tour guide collected everyone's departure time/destination and helped group people together where possible for transfer. And also arranged everyone's transfer. In my case, it was a taxi to the train station. Edited to add: this was at the end of the tour at Lake Bled.

When we took a day trip to Lake Bled, precovid, we just took the public bus back to Ljubjuana. It was easy and comfortable. We were not part of any tour.
In Prague, we loved Hotel Metamorphosis, again, we were not part of any tour. The hotel set up a taxi to meet us. The hotel offers a free taxi if one is staying so many days, maybe they would cover it if you are arriving early? The RS guide book at that time warned about dishonest taxis, so I was happy to have the hotel set it up.
Safe travels!

Jean: I would have loved staying at Hotel Mrak, but the rates (not-RS tour members) were much higher than the Hotel Slon, which I booked. I can't remember what the rate at the Hotel Mrak was, but we are paying €178/night at the Hotel Slon, which is much less than the Hotel Mrak.

min: Your information is what I was hoping for. We need to get to Ljubljana the day the tour ends, but our time is flexible, so hopefully there'll be others who are going there.

Pat: You must have been in Prague several years ago. We will be staying at the Hotel Metamorphis 4 nights total (2 with RS tour + 2 pre-tour), and the price for a "private transfer" from airport is €36/car. Rate might have gone up since I booked several months ago.
Good to know there is a bus from Lake Bled to Ljubljana if we are the only ones heading to Ljubljana following the tour.

Hi Carol, in case you haven’t added this to your list, yet, check out the Postojna Cave/ Predjama Castle tour from Ljubljana. The cave experience was amazing!

https://www.slovenia-explorer.com/daytrips/trip/predjama-castle-and-postojna-cave-tour-from-ljubljana

Jean, I would have loved to do the Cave tour...but we really only have 1 ½ days in Ljubljana; part of that time spent doing laundry...and "regrouping" for the next 2 ½ week of independent travel. I wish we could have added more days to the city, but I chose to add days to the Dolomites. I love being in the mountains.
"so much to see....so little time." sigh

If you stay at hotel metamorphosis don’t accept a room overlooking the street. The bars across the street are VERY noisy until 3-4 o’clock in the morning. We had them change our room the second night. Note we came in a day before the tour began and requested the change first thing the day the Eastern Europe tour began. Other tour participants complained of the noise later. It is a fabulous trip. Covers a lot of history and countries. We enjoyed the small Mucha (so?) art museum. His art noveau women are classic. Small and within walking distance of the hotel.

We took public transportation into town and walked rolling our bags across the main square and by the cathedral through a pedestrian walkway to the hotel. It as a 3 or so block walk to the bus to continue the tour.

Last time I was in Prague, I just used Uber to get to my accommodation from the airport. I think they also have Bolt as an option. It was quick, convenient, and affordable.

We were there in 2019. The hotel booked us a taxi from the airport to the hotel. I don’t recall how much it was. In lake Bled we stayed an extra night and rented bikes. Our tour guide arranged a taxi for us to the train station as we were going to Munich. But I am sure he/she will be able to arrange transportation to Ljubljana. If you’re arriving early in Prague I highly recommend taking the Eating Europe Food tour. Wonderful experience!

Racquet: Thanks for the tip to avoid getting a room overlooking the street. Yikes! Would not appreciate being adjacent to a late-night bar.

Mark: We did book the Food Tour, so good to know you highly recommend it.

I’m back again. The hotel we stayed in at Lake Bled had free bikes to use. The ride around the lake was a joy. I checked out the RS tour hotel and they said the bikes were available. Go Opti is a reliable way to get a shuttle to Ljubljana including the airport. We took it to Venice and another trip to Venice airport. Making the reservations early gives you a better price. They will give you some time options.

I'm doing this tour here in a couple of months, and given how tired I'll be when I arrive, regardless of ease or cost, I'm going with Uber to get from the airport to the first hotel. Will likely take a taxi on the return trip home because I'll (hopefully) have a suitcase full of wine and souvenirs. 😊 Thanks for the info about how the guide can help coordinate. Will be my third RS tour, but I sometimes forget the little things!

We did this tour last year. We didn't have the hotel book transportation. We took the bus from the airport to the city and walked to the hotel from there. The bus was very easy to do. There is a kiosk right outside the airport near baggage claim area where we bought our tickets. I am fairly certain it was less than $4 for both of us. The bus was right there at the curb. Doubt we had to walk more than 5 minutes or so to get to the hotel from the stop.

At the end of the tour George offered to help with any arrangements we needed. Some people were able to share a ride to their next destination. The flights from Ljubljana to Texas were crazy long. After talking with the people on the RS FB group, I made reservations to fly home from Venice. We took a shared GoOpti Shuttle to Venice and spent a couple of days there before heading home. It was pretty easy and reasonably priced. They also do private shuttles. Have fun. It was a wonderful trip!