Slovenia- when to go?

[SimoneSpeaksSoftly]

Slovenia has been on our bucket list for a while and kids are old enough now where I think they would enjoy it too. I'm trying to work out the best time to go within the confines of school holidays. The two main options would be October half-term (which this year would be week of October 20) or early summer- likely early July. We'd want to go to Ljubljana, Bled or Bohinj, the caves, hiking in Julain Alps. Has anyone been in October? Is it worthwhile that time of year? Thinking the upside would be thinner crowds, but weather seems iffy for outdoor activities. On the flip side, in July weather would be warm, swimming would be an additional possibility, and we could potentially extend a few days to go to the coast. But are the crowds and heat unbearable, paritcularly in Ljublijana and Lake Bled?

My other thought for October would be to go south to Montenegro, so watching the other thread too..... 😉

We‘ve been twice in the summer and didn’t find it either too overcrowded or overly hot - but then we already live in central Europe so 30+ temps are not unusual. Bohinj is definitely better in every respect than Bled, which tends to attract coach parties rather than hikers.
On the first holiday we had four days in Ljubljana, and spent one of those going to the caves and castle, and another on a daytrip to Trieste. Then we had a week hiking around Bohinj and sleeping in alpine huts. That was just delightful, but you have to book a good time in advance in summer. We managed on public transport fine for everything.
The second time we had a week in Bovec and just did day hikes from there, including the cable car up to the Italian border, the source of the Soca river, and a whitewater rafting lesson (we were crap but it was fun). That time we stayed in a holiday rental and took our own car to get around.
The mountains do tend to have big thunderstorms in late summer, but you should be ok in early July. I think October would still be doable for hiking but the evenings would be a bit nippy and the days wouldn’t be as long, obviously.

We went last summer - end July into August. 3 days in Lubljana and 5 in Bled then on into Italy - all travel by train.

Neither place was crowded at all and we loved both. Plenty to do with 2 teens.

Thanks for the replies! Sounds wonderful. That's also good to know that some of this can be managed via public trasnport- we're not opposed to renting a car but if we don't need to that would be fine too.

Another late July/early August one here.
Flew to Venice, train to Bohinj, bus to Bled then on to Ljubljana. Bus to Piran on the coast. Then bus to Trieste to fly home.
Busy but not too busy.
If you get the Vogel cable car up, once away from the chair lifts we barely saw a soul for the rest of a whole day hike.

I love lake Bohinj. Bled felt too touristy. Go in the summer if you want to swim. When I went in mid-September it was too cold to stay in for long on cloudy days.

We went in July, pre kids, for about 10 days and managed by getting buses around. We wouldn't usually holiday at that time pre kids but had to because of work commitments. It wasn't too hot at all, it's a good choice actually for somewhere that won't be too warm. I wanted to take the kids this year but DH wants to go to places we haven't already been so we're going to Montenegro. Enjoy OP, I loved it there.

We stayed in Kranska Gora in June. There was a fair bit of rain. We had a car, drove to Bled but didn't even stop, it was too busy, but drove on to Bohinj, did the cable car and the boat trip which was lovely. We'd intended driving to waterfalls etc further south but actually the roads are quite limited so there arent te djrect roads to places youd expect(get a decent map if you get a car!), but there is a lovely (touristy) mountain pass to do, and also some little lakes over the border in Italy to walk round.

We went in July, not too crowded, perfect weather (sunny and high 20s), plenty to do with teens 😊

We went late July and it was great- did a few days in Ljubljana, 6 days in an air bnb in Bohinj, then a few days out of bovec via the mountain pass. There were a couple of stormy overcast days but the lake was perfect for swimming (bohinj is colder than bled). Kids say it was their best ever holiday. It wasn't cheap though- if you can go early enough you miss the main European holidays that might make accommodation cheaper.

It was quite hot in Ljubliana and we did a hike one day which was a bit too hot for the kids but you are at altitude so it's never awful.

We did it all by public transport. The only place I wished we had a car was for gorge hikes in Bovec as the busses were a bit intermittent, but it was still doable, and would be more so early in the season.

Where would you fly to to visit these places please? Happy to use trains when we get there.

@Topaz67 you can fly to Ljubljana, but I found it was so much cheaper to fly via Italy. Infact the difference covered 2 nights accomodation in Venice. We flew home from Trieste.

Many thanks, I’ll look into that.

We flew via Venice too. The drive from Venice to Bled was lovely, we took the scenic route through the mountains and DH loved the twisty roads!

Also spending a couple of days in hot, busy Venice made us appreciate the mountains and clean air even more 😄

We went last week in August in 2022. It wasn't overly crowded, or massively hot, and I think October would be on the chilly side. We flew to Zagreb and then took the direct train to Ljubljana.

Thanks all, it sounds wonderful! Sounds like summer is the way to go so thinking we will hold off until next year. Now I still need to figure out something for October, ha 😂

Hi team, hope it's ok to jump on this thread. We (my husband and 3 yr old) are planning 7 days (could possibly extend to 10 depending on cost) at the end of July and looking to build a trip that possibly includes Trieste, Piran, Lake Bled but keen to hear of any other experiences with little ones and must-visit spots. We probably won't be doing mega hikes as I'm pregnant and our little one's too big for the carrier. Looking for a combo of lovely/interesting old towns and nice beaches. Happy to rent a car and/or train. Any tips welcome! :)

Bohinj is also lovely and there's an amazing cave with a train in it which kids would love (we went pre kids) - Postojna?

Slovenia was my favourite trip of 2024, if not the last 5 years, and I travel A LOT. It’s perfection. I went in August and didn’t find it unbearably busy.