Austria / Slovenia / Croatia

[NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy]

Just planned and booked a 3 country holiday over 10 nights for me, DH and our 2 teens. Any recommendations or top tips? I'm very excited!

The itinerary is:

Fly London to Ljubljana, pick up hire car

Drive 3 hours to Zell am See, Austria for 2 nights

Drive 3 hours to Lake Bled, Slovenia for 3 nights

Drive 2 hours to Porec, Croatia for 5 nights

Return to Ljubljana Airport

All in for £3.5k, hoping that gives us mountains, lakes, forests and sea ... beautiful!

Watching with interest as we are considering this sort of area for our next summer holidays - me DH and 11 year old DD. What sort of accommodation are you staying in?

I went to Slovenia getting on for 20 years ago and loved it. Me and then partner stayed in Kranska Gora (sp?) which was very pretty and I remember doing a "3 countries" walk from there which crossed the borders into Italy and Austria all within am easy day's hike. Lake Bled was also gorgeous though it did tip it down with rain the day we went there (it was May/June and lovely weather most of the week so think we were just unlucky)

Does your accomodation in Zell include the summer card? If so plan carefully to get the most out of it and the cable cars. You can use it on the first and last day too. Sledging on the glacier, the maisieflitzer, frisbee golf from Sonnkogelbahn and the lido in town were popular with my teens.
We spent 8 nights there.

Bled - take the bus to lake Bohinj for a day - more mountainous less built up.

Is everything booked? I'd change the plan if not, and spend more time in fewer places.
All 3 are fab but you are flying through.
Austria we did 8 nights in Zell, 4 in Salzburg.
Slovenia - 5 nights lake bohinj (with a day trip to lake bled), 2 in llublijana and 4 in piran.
Another 2 weeks trip to Croatia.

Great tips thank you!

Yes, all hotels booked now. It's hard to find the balance between seeing a lot of the world and relaxing and enjoying the places...

So bizarre reading this as I'm sitting in Zell on holiday at the moment & in the summer we are also going to Lake Bled in Slovenia & then Rovinj in Croatia! Never been to any of these places before but fancied some variety.

Whilst in Bled we're planning on a 2 day hike staying overnight in a mountain lodge.Then 7 nights in a hotel in Croatia.

No idea how we're getting from Slovenia to Croatia though.

I love the alps, but really didn’t enjoy Slovenia or what we saw of it. We stayed in Lake Bled and travelled a bit around. I found Lake Bled pretty, but really boring. I was also really disappointed in the food in Slovenia. I am probably a lone voice as plenty of people who have been and loved it.

We loved Slovenia this summer, especially the quality of the food!! I guess it depends where you stay.

I'm jealous. It sounds like the trip we have been speaking about for years !

Oh really. I was so disappointed. We spent a fortune eating in recommended restaurants and didn’t have one memorable meal. Felt the same about Croatia.

We loved Slovenia and Croatia! Austria a bit meh. A highlight of Slovenia was Vintgar gorge. Stunning. Montenegro is an unspoiled gem, for now. If you have time.

Postojna Cave in Slovenia is really spectacular. Would highly recommend.

We stayed near the Italian border in Slovenia this summer and it was fabulous. Second the suggestions to walk Vintnar Gorge and visit Postojyna (sp? ) caves. The zip lining over the river from Lake Bled was a brilliant trip.

Ooh I've just been looking at flights to Slovenia today for next May. Shamelessly place marking for itinerary ideas

Oh we are doing this next summer also ! Flying Dublin to London , night in Ljubljana, 3 nights in Bled .
Planned paddle boarding , kayaking, white water rafting .
The train to Austria with 5 nights in a lovely all inclusive in Saalbach .
Have skied a lot in Austria so have been to Saalbach and Zell many times .
Skied in Slovenia too so cannot wait to see all these places in the summer !

Did all of those places in our campervan in 2019. Slovenia is, on my opinion such an underrated place. It's often a bit of a pass through place en route to Croatia but I'd definitely return for more time.

Idealrent is the best car hire company, local Slovenian company, if you've not booked already, great price and very personal service. We booked a tiny seat mii and they arrived with a mercedes. We did the zip lining in Lake Bled, agree it's a fab trip and very much worth doing. We had 4 nights in Bled, and another night in Ljubljana. We went to Skocjan caves and Predjama castle as a day trip, you could do some/all of this on the day you drive to Porec. Plus there is lots to do in the Bled vicinity like Bohinj, Vingtar gorge, a walk round the entirety of the lake, visit to the castle and a row out to the island in the middle. You have loads of options. We spent 4 nights in Rovinj on a previous trip, visited Porec, Pula, Rovinj itself and Motovun, so also lots of options there too. I haven't yet been to Zell am See.

Thanks so much all! Great advice here!

It's a shame not to spend a little time in Ljubljana, if that's where you're flying in and out of. It's a lovely city.

If your travelling in Summer, allow a for traffic. The A10 road from Slovenia up to Salzburg is notorious for being busy at peak times. The border at Slovenia/ Austria is also busy, especially on weekends daytime in July and August.
So if possible I would aim to cross the border either very early or later in day. We aim to cross between 7-9am latest and just have breakfast on the other side somewhere.

The main road out to the Croatian coast can also be traffic in peak summer. Use Satnav as often it’s quicker to take the back roads at least for a section, and it’s nicer way to see the countryside

If you also go to the Postojana caves or predjama castle in Slovenia also aim for early.

If you want to break up the Ljubljana to Zell and see journey ( or Zell back to Ljubljana/ Croatia) , Stop off at the Millstattersee on route, it’s only 10 mins detour off the a10 motorway.

Slovenia has some of the best food.
Try and see Ljubljana itself also.

Croatia at the coast you should be able to get excellent seafood

Loved Slovenia. Went with two teenagers and we really enjoyed rock climbing, canyoning, and kayaking underground through an old mine. You can book in advance, pick ups from lake bled so you don't need your own transport. It is also great just hanging around the lake and hiring some paddle boards for an hour or two.