Slovenia, Croatia and Venice Report

Thanks for the report, Peggy. I remember chatting with you about this trip, but I don't recall your exact itinerary or your mode of transportation. How many nights did you spend in each place? How did you get from place to place? Did you rent a car? Ferries? How did you get from Dubrovnik back to Venice?

Next time you visit Slovenia, there is much more to see: the Julian Alps loop drive, Lake Bohinj, cute little towns near Ljubljana and more scenic drives, the tiny coastline with gems like Piran, eastern towns like Ptuj and Maribor...it's really a lovely little country. If go back to Croatia, you can see parts of Bosnia and Montenegro - a whole new world even beyond Croatia.

Hi Andrew! Yes, I remember your helpful answers to my questions - many thanks. We flew from PDX to Frankfurt and then on to Ljubljana. We spent 3 days there since we were really in the area for a bike tour of Croatia. But we fell in love with Slovenia and I'd definitely go back! We took a train from L to Zagreb, very easy. Could have done the bus but I do better with trains. Once there, we could walk everywhere from train to hotel and hotel to town, etc. We met our bike guides in Zagreb and they had a van so we were driven to the parks, etc. It was a 10 day bike tour. Once we were in Split, we took ferries and boats to the different Islands but there was always a van for support and to get us to our final destination, Dubrovnik. So we never had to drive ourselves - pretty nice! We met some Aussies on the bike tour who did then go on the Montenegro and rented a car and their trip looked amazing. I have really fallen in love with these countries and their people, food etc. Can't wait to return!

NIce report. Beautiful places, glad you enjoyed it!

Bok Peggy!

What a lovely description and enthusiasm for this impressive region. Much thanks for all your tips & emails as we prepare to follow a similar route (opposite direction) at the end of Summer. We are certain that your report will inspire others! Can hardly wait to sit outdoors at Julia and enjoy the wine, cheese, bread and PUMPKIN SEED OIL! So happy you enjoyed your journey.

Hvala

Forgot to mention that we flew from Dubrovnik to Venice - a short, easy flight. Our bike tour guides kindly drove us from our hotel to the airport. Once in Venice, we took the Zapretto (?) public water bus from the airport to Venice. We were only there 2 night and one full day but I felt that was enough for me, not liking crowds, cities etc. We took a private water taxi back to the airport the morning we left, just in the interest of time. But it does cost $$$. We had the extra time bc we flew on Condor - my favorite direct flight from PDX to Europe and they only fly certain days of the week.

Thanks, Peggy. I'm always baffled that more people haven't discovered Slovenia especially (I think Croatia has long since been discovered, though). Slovenia like the rest of Europe is getting more tourists than before but it still seems behind everyone else. I was just in Portugal last month and found it mobbed with tourists in May - much busier by far than Slovenia a year earlier.

That's right, I remember now that it was a bike trip all the day down from Zagreb. About how many miles or kilometers a day did you ride? Did you always stay in the major towns? How many cyclists were in your group or did it change as you headed south?

Did you visit Plitvice Lakes National Park?

Sounds wonderful, thanks for the report.
We would love more details should you wish to provide them.

Thanks for the great trip report. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Slovenia and Croatia so much. I haven't been there yet, but they are definitely on the list of places to go.

I agree with you, Andrew, that Croatia has been "discovered", especially towns like Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik (although still worth seeing.) We did visit Plitvice and although the major part of the park was very crowded, our guides took us to a much less trafficked part; it might have been the south part? We found that the islands and the peninsula were not that touristy (even Hvar, at least where we were riding). I hope RS won't mind if I give the link for the bike tour we did - just so any of you who are interested can see more about the trip: cyclingcroatia.com I was really impressed by this small, family run bike touring co. They were terrific. We did the 10 day tour and during the first part (the National Parks) it was just my husband and me and the other couple we were travelog with - basically a private tour of the NPs by bike! Then we switched guides in Split and were joined by 5 more people, all of whom were great (4 our of the 5 were Aussies - so much fun!) and we all agreed it was the best run bike touring we'd ever done - small, personal with attention paid to every detail. We may do another tour with them to revisit Slovenia, which I feel we didn't get enough of!

Peggy, when I was in eastern Slovenia (Ptuj and Maribor) I ran into some American tourists there who were doing a bike trip across Slovenia. So I think it is pretty popular! I'm not a cyclist myself, but I'll bet that would be a lot of fun.

Eastern Slovenia is more flat and less obviously picturesque than the western side, so the countryside may not be as pretty, though some of the towns (like Ptuj, oldest town in Slovenia) are really nice - and not very touristy at all! At least, they weren't in 2011 when I was last there. (I was in Ljubljana last year.) But you definitely get a better overview of the country by exploring them, at least for a day or two.

Zagreb seemed touristy - really? I haven't spent time there in a long time, other than driving through it a few years ago. Ljubljana has gotten more touristy for sure than when I first visited but still nowhere near say Dubrovnik or Venice!

I'd think all of these places were less busy when you were there (just recently, right?) than in the summer! Plitvice is really idea at 7am when the park opens, before the tour groups arrive.

In any event, I hope you manage a trip back soon! I'm going back for sure, sooner or later. There are still things in Slovenia I haven't seen...

We went to Ljubliana a couple of years ago and can't say enough good things about it. My niece is going in a couple of weeks due to my bathering about the whole visit. Your trip sounds great.

None of these places was as crowed with tourists as, say, Venice - especially in May. Even "walking the wall" in Dubrovnik was fine - we went in the evening around 5:00 or 6:00 and it was very pleasant. Our friends did it in the early morning. Actually, the most touristy place was Split, due to the cruise ships unloading of people. Zagreb was fine - no trouble seeing the sights or enjoying the museums (very uncrowded, actually, and both the art museum and the "Museum of Broken Relationships" are delightful!)

Pituj (Great name, BTW!) and Maribor look wonderful (just googled them) - definitely going on the list!!