Where in Slovenia?

[SoftOctoberNight]

Hello hive mind
planning a trip to Slovenia in late June/early July. We’re doing a leisurely drive down, and will be staying in Slovenia for a week, before the leisurely drive up again. I’d like to see Ljubljana and Lake Bled. I plan to self cater, probably Airbnb. What mustn’t I miss? And if anyone has specific recommendations of anywhere lovely accommodation to stay, that would be brilliant! TIA

We had 5 nights when we went to Slovenia, we flew in and out of Zagreb and stayed there too to make a full week trip. We spent 1 night in Ljubljana and 4 in Lake Bled, staying at Penzion Berc in Bled. We used train between Bled and Ljubljana and to come in and out from Croatia. We only had a car for 3 days whilst in Bled and enjoyed day trips to Skocjan caves and Predjama castle on one day. Another we went to Lake Bohinj and up the cable car to Vogel ski resort and walked in the mountains. We also enjoyed walking through Vingter Gorge near Bled and stopping enroute for Bled cream cake near Saint Katherine's church. You can spend a full day walking the entire loop around Lake Bled, it's about 6/7km but if you stop for various things along the way the whole day is gone. So there is Bled castle at the Eastern end, then at the western end you can climb up to a few view points with great views of the entire lake, also at ground level at various points of the circuit you can hire rowing boats to access the island in the middle of the lake. Lots of cream cakes to be had on this loop too. Things we didn't get to do, Piran on the coast and near Bled there is like a scenic loop through the mountains, you can drive to Kranjska Gora and then take route 206 up over Vrsic pass for scenic mountain views and hikes and then eventually you reach a point where you can put your car on a train and it brings you back to a location between Bohinj and Bled. You probably need to Google to really understand the whole circuit and car train thing! Slovenia is fab, but expensive!

Probably not helpful but I found Slovenia one of the most underwhelming countries I have been to. Lake bled is tiny and really nothing there. I thought I would love it as usually live a lake and mountains holiday.

Slovenia is stunning, 100% spend some time in the alps and Vrsic pass is stunning but a little scary. Bled is fine but unless doing all the hikes up when walking round then is maximum a few hours. bohinj was pretty but part of the path way flooded so couldn’t do a full loop when were there. The gorges and waterfalls along the way are varied and make sure you read how much effort the hikes will be. Piran is also beautiful on the coast.

I did Slovenia last March, went to lake bled and then piran. Both lovely places and I loved lake bled. The atmosphere, people and food are all lovely. In bled there is a lovely restaurant owned by an Olympian and such lovely food. We loved the island in the middle of the lake aswell and some people get the boat there and swim back. We flew into Venice and hired a car. It’s only 3 hours roughly from Venice. Piran is on the coast aswell and lovely.

We stayed a week in Lake Bled and 3 nights in Ljubljana. We hired a car and travelled round. Postjana caves are amazing - don’t miss those. We visited bohinj and went up the Vogel cable car. We did lots of activities- zip wired through the valleys, tobogganed down the hills and white water rafted in the rivers. It was an amazing holiday.

Thank you so much everyone, very helpful! I will get planning immediately!

Gosh really? I definitely want to return, I thought it was great and would return there over Croatia.

We do still laugh though as after travelling inland through Europe in our van we decided to try Slovenia's little bit of coast. Baking hot day. Found a space on an aires. .....wasn't prepared for the death metal night at the next door restaurant!!

We drove into Slovenia from Austria. Had a few days in Ljubljana and Lake Bled before the coast. We extended our days as it was so good.

We had a great holiday flying to Venice and spending two nights there then driving to bled for a week, then north Croatia. We stayed in this gorgeous guesthouse about a mile outside Bled: https://house-troha.com It is B&B but our room was a self catering apartment.

From Bled we visited Ljubljana and Lake Bohinj. We loved our stay there, especially after being hot and crowded Venice.

Love Slovenia! We flew in and out of Ljubljana and spent a couple of nights in Lake Bled but if I went again I’d add a few nights in Lake Bohinj - it was beautiful.

Then we spend a few nights in Ljubljana itself and really enjoyed it. We also went to Piran but I would say it’s not worth it - very pretty little place but not dissimilar to the Croatian bit of Istria (Porec and Rovinj etc) which we’ve also been to.

However I would really recommend a day trip from Ljubljana to Postojna caves. They were incredible!

Had a great fortnight in Slovenia a few years ago.

The first week we were doing a hotel to hotel walk organised by Inntravel. After a couple of days in Llubjana we then visited Kransky Gora, Bohinj and Lake Bled.

The second week we stayed self catering at this place Lipizzaner Lodge which I can recommend very highly. Most of the rooms were B&B but they had a self catering apartment which we booked, although we did eat in their restaurant a couple of times. The owners are so helpful and gave us loads of tips on places to visit and even arranged some for us.

We did:

• Postonja Cave
• Predjama Castle ( actually walking distance from the Lodge using the route our hosts showed us)
• Piran
• Trieste
• Bear watching from a hide in the forest arranged for us by the hosts, and yes we did see a bear!

If you want an alternative to Postonja caves (which I think are a bit more touristy with the little train running though) check out Skocjan Caves which are UNESCO listed and jaw dropping.
Also if you do go to lake Bohinj, you could hike up through Mostnica Gorge to the waterfall.

Lake bohinj is far better than bled.

I agree with @purpleygrey . I've been to Bled for the day as part of an organised swimming holiday. It's pretty but full of coach trips.

Bohinj where we were based is beautiful and quieter.

Thank you, everyone. I can’t wait to go now.