Trieste to Slovenia

[mskaufman]

Any recommendations for how to do a day in Slovenia (from Trieste) that includes Ljubljana and Lake Bled.

[Hlitner]

Rent a car.

 

Hank

[mskaufman]

Thanks Hank,

 

Still would like to see other options.  

[mapleleaves]

FlixBus ?

 

Check the Tourist Info Centers for Trieste and for Ljubljana.  Since they're geared towards tourism. they usually provide options on how to get there.

[mskaufman]

We thought of renting a car, as Hank suggests.  The other option seems to be an organized tour (about $100 - $130 per person).  For two people the cost is similar to renting a car from a major agency (when you consider gas, parking, etc).  However, would like to hear a good review on the tour option.

[alserrod]

On 2/25/2024 at 3:54 AM, mskaufman said:

Any recommendations for how to do a day in Slovenia (from Trieste) that includes Ljubljana and Lake Bled.

 

On 2/25/2024 at 5:20 AM, Hlitner said:

Rent a car.

 

Hank

 

I was in that area several years ago.

 

I had a direct (and very cheap) flight from my hometown to Venice airport. I wondered how to move from Venice to destination in Slovenia and Croatia and, later, rent a car there.

 

It was almost impossible. It is awful but in railway terms, a lot of countries work like islands. This is, a better or worse national network but barely linked with other boundaring countries (for instance, AFAIK, Bosnia hasn't international trains, thus it is a "railway island").

In this case you will see a lot of trains from Trieste to the rest of Italy but not with Slovenian, Austrian or Croatian cities in the surroundings.

 

 

I rented a car. I remembered to compare different prices, terms and conditions. Half out of them didn't accepted international voyages, other ones had an extra for border crossing. I found a major company with an offer that let me cross any border without an extra fee.

 

 

 

 

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, alserrod said:

 

 

I was in that area several years ago.

 

I had a direct (and very cheap) flight from my hometown to Venice airport. I wondered how to move from Venice to destination in Slovenia and Croatia and, later, rent a car there.

 

It was almost impossible. It is awful but in railway terms, a lot of countries work like islands. This is, a better or worse national network but barely linked with other boundaring countries (for instance, AFAIK, Bosnia hasn't international trains, thus it is a "railway island").

In this case you will see a lot of trains from Trieste to the rest of Italy but not with Slovenian, Austrian or Croatian cities in the surroundings.

 

 

I rented a car. I remembered to compare different prices, terms and conditions. Half out of them didn't accepted international voyages, other ones had an extra for border crossing. I found a major company with an offer that let me cross any border without an extra fee.

 

 

 

 

We had no problem arranging for a rental car with Europcar.  Would have also been fine with both Avis and Hertz.  There was no extra charge for driving into Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany as long as we dropped the car back in Italy (we are flying home from Malpensa).  In the last few years we have had very few issues with driving into some of the Eastern European countries and things have really improved in the last 20 years.  But, it can be very difficult (or expensive) to do a one-way rental between countries.   The one country that causes me a lot of heartache is when we want to drive into Switzerland where they only sell long-term Vignettes for about 50 Euros!  I find their system annoying and anti-tourist so will sometimes design my routes to completely avoid that country.

 

Hank

 

 

[alserrod]

Hello

 

Slovenia has a vignette too. You can buy (I am not sure if things have changed) for 1 week, 1 month or 1 year (in that case it is from December previous year to January next year so you do not have to change vignette exactly on January 1st).

 

You can buy in several shops, petrol stations, all borders with motorway and in some motorway entrances.

 

It is a fee.... but the rest of motorways are free after paying

[Hlitner]

34 minutes ago, alserrod said:

Hello

 

Slovenia has a vignette too. You can buy (I am not sure if things have changed) for 1 week, 1 month or 1 year (in that case it is from December previous year to January next year so you do not have to change vignette exactly on January 1st).

 

You can buy in several shops, petrol stations, all borders with motorway and in some motorway entrances.

 

It is a fee.... but the rest of motorways are free after paying

Yeah, we did notice that little requirement.  The good news is that they sell a 7 day Vignette and its now possible to simply do it online (the Vignette is electronic with no sticker).  The 7 day will be fine for us since we will quickly transit Slovenia on our way to Croatia.

[bzeus1924]

Hello, 

 

We have a trip booked through TripAdvisor for Lake Bled and Ljubljana Tour from Trieste.  Looking forward to it!  They pick up at hotels in Trieste or at the cruise port if you prefer.

 

B

[mskaufman]

7 hours ago, bzeus1924 said:

Hello, 

 

We have a trip booked through TripAdvisor for Lake Bled and Ljubljana Tour from Trieste.  Looking forward to it!  They pick up at hotels in Trieste or at the cruise port if you prefer.

 

B

We are going in July.  If you are before us, a review would be great,  Thanks

[bzeus1924]

We are going in May and will review for you.  Can't wait!

 

B

[mskaufman]

Great!!

[bennybear]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:37 AM, Hlitner said:

We had no problem arranging for a rental car with Europcar.  Would have also been fine with both Avis and Hertz.  There was no extra charge for driving into Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany as long as we dropped the car back in Italy (we are flying home from Malpensa).  In the last few years we have had very few issues with driving into some of the Eastern European countries and things have really improved in the last 20 years.  But, it can be very difficult (or expensive) to do a one-way rental between countries.   The one country that causes me a lot of heartache is when we want to drive into Switzerland where they only sell long-term Vignettes for about 50 Euros!  I find their system annoying and anti-tourist so will sometimes design my routes to completely avoid that country.

 

Hank

 

 

Surely 50 euro is not a deal breaker for such a beautiful country🤷‍♀️.    I think I have spent more in tolls in Italy.  Switzerland is one of the most expensive places to visit but the scenery is sublime.   Full disclosure I am part Swiss.  😁

Edited March 2 by bennybear

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

Surely 50 euro is not a deal breaker for such a beautiful country🤷‍♀️.    I think I have spent more in tolls in Italy.  Switzerland is one of the most expensive places to visit but the scenery is sublime.   Full disclosure I am part Swiss.  😁

We can agree about Switzerland and have been there many times.  But when just wanting to get through a small part of the country on our way to other places. we have no use for a 1 year Vignette.  If we plan on spending some time in the country, then no problem.

 

Hank

[mskaufman]

We have done some more research and are likely to spend another day in Trieste and save this part of Slovenia for a future cruise.  There seems to be enough in Trieste to keep us busy.