Slovenia anyone been

miss choc

Thinking of going here next year few questions.

Best time to go I was thinking Spring?
Best city to fly from want least amount of hanging around hassle
What is public transport like? we are thinking of doing 10 days maybe 4 in capital and 5 in Lake Bled so don't know transport time between both.
Would we be better doing a package or organising ourselves?
Apart from lake bled what are the must sees, nice restaurants, cafes bars
Is it expensive too eat/drink out at night?
Any accommodation advice?

If anyone been advice be appreciated

imme

Slovenia is a pleasant enough little place, nothing too hectic.

Spring is an ideal time to visit.
The capital Ljubljana is a small capital city for a small country.
4 days is a good long time unless you have found stuff that you think is unmissable.

They were getting a good deal of tourists when I visited in late spring 3 or 4 years ago.
A lot of buses of photo snappers who jump off and then on after doing the obligatory photo snapping.

The numbers of them felt a bit overwhelming for the size of the place and the slow pace of the place.

Prices were a bit unexpectedly high for a former Yugoslav republic. The Euro has probably added to that.

A glass of wine in a restaurant was €5 which surprised me.

Public transport was good, a decent train system and good bus service.

No public transport would generally be needed in Ljubljana as it is so small.

To get there? fly to Vienna and train or bus via Trieste to Ljubljana would be a possibility.

http://www.seat61.com/venice-to-ljubljana-and-zagreb-by-train.htm

Or you can fly via Paris or with Lufthansa via a German city in April 2016 for about €250 return.

No need for an organised trip unless you want to. People are friendly, tourists offices exit. Public transport is good, English is widely spoken in tourist related stuff.

miss choc

Great thanks for your help I don't think Dublin fly to Triese must check was thinking flying to UK either Stanstead/Easyjet or Luton/Wizzair. Thats great can get a bus to Lake Bled do you think 10 days too much maybe 3 days in capital how many would I need for lake bled I don't even know how far it is from capital. Wont be going till Spring 2016 but good to have some research done.

imme

I can't remember that much to do in Ljubljana,
there is a beautifully situated castle on the top of a hill with views of the Julian Alps in the distance.

They'll be snow-capped in Spring, should be breathtaking.

There's a little train up to the castle or you can walk it, a nice walk, not quite a hike as it is paved.

The castle at the top is very picturesque from a distance as it lords it over the city. The castle complex itself at the top isn't that much to write home about, a lot of reconstruction.

The Celica Hostel is worth a look even if you aren't planning on staying a hostel. It is a former, they have a cafe/restaurant/bar open to general public.

http://www.hostelcelica.com/en

There isn't a great deal to do in Ljubljana. The day of arrival and a full day would be enough to get to know the city imo.

Lake Bled, just over an hour from Ljubljana by bus, is a beautiful area.
It can get busy in the day time but the evening is generally less people busy. There are hotels on the shores of the lake to stay in.

You could incorporate Trieste or Venice in the trip.
A pity to go to that region and not visit Venice if you haven't been there before.

Zagreb is about 3-4 hours by bus from Ljubljana. A bigger city than Ljubljana again not a great deal of wow sights but a pleasant city with some fine public buildings, a nice open air market, a neo-Gothic cathedral.

miss choc

Thanks for that been to Venice and all of Croatia except Zagreb so might try that maybe could do Slovenia in a week then. spend the bulk of it in Lake Bled for hiking the scenery looks lovely.

nemises

We have travelled to Slovenia every year for the last 4 years. Absolutely love it there. Think we have seen it all at this stage. I would definitely recommend it. I don't really know much about public transport though as we have always hired a car. My advice would be to fly to Ljubljana from the UK if you intend to hire a car. Car hire in Venice and Trieste is expensive but is at least 40% less if you hire a car at Ljubljana airport instead.We travelled around all of Slovenia this year over 10 days. If you are into scenery then the Julian Alps and famous tourquise river Soca is a must see. Stay in Kobarid as a base for a few days. Accommodation is cheap there and eating out is very reasonable also. The Kozjak waterfall ,Nadiza river (thermal river) and Tolmin Gorges are all close by.
Lake Bled is beautiful also but can be busy during peak season. Hire a boat out to the island. Its well worth it. It can be expensive to eat out there. Lake Bohinj is only 25 mins drive from Bled and is truly breathtaking. The Vintgar gorges are close by also and we'll worth a visit. Slovenia has only a small piece of coastline but again it's beautiful. We stayed in Piran for a few nights this year and will definitely be back again. Other places that might be of interest are Postonja caves and the castle that's close by that's built into the side of the mountain (Sorry can't remember it's name) Trust me it's a beautiful country to visit and we found the people there to be very friendly and helpful.
pm me if you need info on good accommodation in Slovenia or if you need more info on the tourist attractions there.

otnomart

I second Piran, beautiful spot