I want to visit Slovenia for a long weekend visit from Spain, and figured out that it's probably easiest/cheapest to fly roundtrip to Venice and then take the train from there to Ljubljana and back. I know there is a connection, it's mentioned in RS and I keep seeing a night trained mentioned on blogs, but I have been unable to track down any concrete information (and say a place to buy tickets!) yet after hours of fruitless searching online. For instance, I tried the Slovenian Rail page, then clicked on the link to International Time Tables, and it redirected me to the German rail website, which then didn't have Ljubljana listed anywhere...:s So if someone could let me know if you have found this in the past, and where to do so, or if there's a special name to enter on the German website, I'd be much obliged!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33533 posts
I'm sorry you spent so many fruitless hours. I just went into bahn.co.uk, the British arm of Deutsche Bahn and popped it in and got (the other way around: Ljubljana Tu, 18.01.11 dep 09:12 EC 212 Eurocity Please reserve, Non-smoker train, business-compartment, parent-and-children compartment Kranj dep 09:34 Lesce Bled dep 09:54 Jesenice(SL) dep 10:09 Villach Hbf Tu, 18.01.11 arr 10:49 5B walk 5 min. Adjust the transfer time Villach Hbf (Bussteige 1-4) Tu, 18.01.11 dep 10:56 Bus 833 ÖBB-Intercitybus Subject to compulsory reservation Udine stazione(Viale Europa Unita) Venezia Mestre stazione(Viale Stazione) Tu, 18.01.11 arr 14:05 walk 5 min. Adjust the transfer time Venezia Mestre Tu, 18.01.11 dep 14:12 R 5808 Regionalzug Number of bicycles conveyed limited, 2nd class only, space for wheelchairs Venezia Porto Marghera dep 14:16 Venezia Santa Lucia Tu, 18.01.11 arr 14:24 You still have to get to and from the airport near Venice. The airport is not served by train. Seems like a lot of work for a weekend. That one above is the fastest of several choices. Doesn't anybody fly there? Spelling is critical. You must spell in European, for example Venice doesn't work, you need Venezia. There are several choices, Santa Lucia is the one for the centre of Venezia.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
The German Rail website is pretty spelling tolerant. If you enter "Venice" on the German Rail query page, it will change it to "Venise" on the query, then change that to "Venezia Santa Lucia" or "Venezia Mestre" for your schedule. There are night train connections, but you only spend 3-4 hours, not enough time for a good sleep. You probably should think about a day connection. One of the fastest connections is to take the Austrian Rail Intercity bus from Venice to Villach and a train from there. You can probably get an ÖBB Sparschiene ticket for a discount from Austrian Rail, www.oebb.at.
Posted by
St. Paul, MN, USA
43 posts
There is one daily direct bus from Venice (Mestre) to Ljubljana. These links should provide all the information you need. http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/is-it-really-so-difficult-to-get-from-venice-to-ljubljana.cfm http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g274873-i1320-k3079507-Venice_to_Ljubljana_by_train_or_bus-Ljubljana.html We plan to take this bus in May. Hope this helps with your planning. Ellen