Slovenia itinerary advice please

[sequin2000]

Hi all, I am planning a trip to Slovenia in August with 2 teenagers. We fly into Zagreb and have a few nights there. We were planning a few nights in Ljubljana and have also provisionally booked an apartment at lake bohinj which I hear is less touristy but now wondering if we would be better near lake bled to access the main sights or even somewhere more rural. We may book a car but probably only for a few nights. I would be very grateful for advice/ itinerary from anyone who has been or knows the area and also recomdations of things to see. Our children enjoy lake swimming but also some chilling out. Many thanks

Lake Bohini is definitely a lot more relaxed with only a few shops so not much to do once you've looked around them - you might be more than happy with that if you just want to relax as a family. Very pretty and your DC can easily swim. If you're looking to do different things each day, you won't find them unless you drive or use the bus.

We stayed on Lake Bled in the main bit, but there is another area on the lake that's quieter (campsite end). You can walk or cycle around and DH and DD went swimming. Also, boats - you can take one to the nice little island in the middle. There's a toboggan on the hill, but I wouldn't take small DC on there. More choices in terms of buses and coach trips. It's also very pretty.

Ljubljana is a small city, but very nice by the way.

We did the following:

5 nights Lake Bohinj
Train from Venice then bus for last bit
Stayed at the campsite.
Days spent as follows

• walk to waterfalls at head of lake
• cable car to Vogel and 12km walk back to lake
• kayak hire paddling all round the lake and stopping at beaches / jumping platform
• bus to Lake Bled, walk around lake, bus back

2 nights Ljubljana
Bus from Bohinj
City is nice but 1 day was enough for us.
Could have done day trip to caves but didn't fit in easily with onward travel plans

3 nights Piran
No beach as such but we enjoyed piran. Sea was lovely.
Bus from Ljubljana

• paddle board hire 1 day in neighbouring bay
• exploring town on foot + sea swim

Onward bus to Trieste to fly home

There's an amazing festival called Punk Rock Holiday some time in August!

Today's teenagers probably wouldn't appreciate it though!

I know it's "how long is a piece of string" but may I ask this kind of holiday cost?

@Snappyteabread
That's a good question!
It was as economical as possible, but still not cheap.
We stayed in backpackers in Ljubljana and Piran, the old vans on the campsite in Bohinj and a B+B in Venice and Trieste. Public transport throughout.
From scribbles in a notebook it was £2460 + flights for 13 nights for 4 people (me and 3 teens - adult prices and food requirements!).
5 evening meals out (pizzas), not much alcohol, lots of ice creams.

Thank you. I think the days of doing anything cheap in Europe are definitely over! Flights mount up and I know my family wouldn't be prepared to "rough it" even though I totally would!

@Snappyteabread if you haven't booked flights already it's worth playing around with arriving in surrounding countries, and also using 2 different airports.
What we saved by flying to Venice paid for 2 nights there, and the train journey was cheap and fun. Trieste was lovely too.

Thank you

You’ve made the right choice with Bohinj rather than Bled, imho. Bled is much more ‘coach party of seniors spend two hours taking pretty photos and raiding the souvenir shops’ while Bohinj is more authentic and good for activities. We actually hiked up into the mountains above the lake, but in summer there are some bus services that take you quite high up for little effort. As a pp said, the walk to the waterfalls at the far end is really pleasant, and it’s easy to hire a kayak from the youth hostel. The village of Bohinj was delightful, but our vegetarian DD did struggle finding non-meaty food (very much not a problem in Ljubljana).
More recently we’ve holidayed in Bovec, which is the main centre for outdoor activities, with an amazing green river. But I still think Bohinj is better for your first trip to Slovenia.
Ljubljana is great, by the way. We did a walking tour, went to some of the museums, walked around the old town a lot, up to the castle, a day trip to the caves (Postojna?) and the nearby medieval castle (sorry, forgot name), a day trip to Trieste - there was loads to do.

Thanks so much for all the replies. Did anyone hire a car or is it just as easy to arrange public transport?

Public transport is really good. We've never hired a car.

You can also get a (very scenic) train from Bled to Nova Gorica which straddles the Italian border. If you go to the Italian side, the town is stunning. Train is really cheap (I think it was €6 return).

And Ljubljana is utterly charming.

Going back in September Can't wait!

You don’t need long in the capital. It’s pretty and all, but a day would do. Spend the time elsewhere to better effect.

Following as we are considering this. Maybe with some beach time in Istria as well.

If you google “family itinerary Slovenia” you can get some ideas from tour operators who offer trips here.