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Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:41 pm
by brewcrew1000
This August we decided to cash in some airline miles to fly to Europe, the trip starts in Venice but we are completely skipping Venice due to expensive hotel costs and hoards of tourists so we turned our attention to Trieste, Croatia and the Istria Pennisula. We were pumped for Croatia but then out of nowhere I see this country that borders Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia called Slovenia (I"ve heard of it before but never really put much thought into the place) - So I look it up and it looks amazing, it has mountains to the North (Julian Alps), A lake with an island that has a church on it, it has a small coastline to the South West, it has caves, it has a spa/thermal region to the east similar to Hungary and it has a super/laid back chill capital. This country looks super underrated after doing some research on it and i'm really excited and it looks like it will not very crowded compared to the rest of Europe in August.

If anyone has been any advice it would be great. We are thinking about spending the entire trip in Slovenia or possibly spending a couple nights in Salzburg or a couple nights in Hungary.

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:54 pm
by flyingember
Pay attention to your boundaries and what it means for travel

Slovenia is in the EU with Eurozone and Schengen
Croatia is in the EU but not the Eurozone or Schengen

So before deciding know how hard it is to get between countries, visa requirements and such. Haven't checked if EU without Schengen requires a different visa from inside it and know what it will cost you to change currencies again

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:10 pm
by swid
I haven't been to either Slovenia or Croatia, but both are high up on my to-do list for future European adventures. Slovenia was effectively untouched by the 90s wars in the former Yugoslavia and has done a very good job at marketing itself as a lesser-visited alternative Alpine destination. A friend of mine did a long hiking tour of Slovenia a few years back and had a great time there. By all accounts, the Croatian coast is very beautiful as well.

BTW, any holder of a Schengen visa does not need an additional visa to visit Croatia. Also (and this goes for any foreign travel in general), if you don't have a debit card from a bank that waives ATM fees, make sure you get one before you leave, as most countries in Europe have far stronger cash-only cultures than we do for shops, restaurants, etc. Since you mentioned you used airline miles for the flights, I assume you have at least one credit card that doesn't charge any international transaction fees, but if you don't, get one of those as well.

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:38 am
by Highlander
brewcrew1000 wrote:This August we decided to cash in some airline miles to fly to Europe, the trip starts in Venice but we are completely skipping Venice due to expensive hotel costs and hoards of tourists so we turned our attention to Trieste, Croatia and the Istria Pennisula. We were pumped for Croatia but then out of nowhere I see this country that borders Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia called Slovenia (I"ve heard of it before but never really put much thought into the place) - So I look it up and it looks amazing, it has mountains to the North (Julian Alps), A lake with an island that has a church on it, it has a small coastline to the South West, it has caves, it has a spa/thermal region to the east similar to Hungary and it has a super/laid back chill capital. This country looks super underrated after doing some research on it and i'm really excited and it looks like it will not very crowded compared to the rest of Europe in August.

If anyone has been any advice it would be great. We are thinking about spending the entire trip in Slovenia or possibly spending a couple nights in Salzburg or a couple nights in Hungary.
Slovenia is a really beautiful country. I've spent a little time there including a short hike in the Julian Alps and a visit to the lake with the island. That is Lake Bled. It was very much worth seeing. We spent an entire day there and stayed in a local bed and breakfast and the area was still somewhat old style eastern Europe - but quaint. May have changed by now. I did not go to the capital of Jublijana. Not far from Lake Bled is a gorge called Soteska Vintgar and it has a boardwalk through the gorge that is really pretty. We did some short hikes in the Triglav peak area which is on the western side of the country on a pass separating it from the south and Italy. Slovenians like to kayak the river that comes off the peak and runs south towards Trieste. After we passed through Slovenia, we did go up to Salzburg, as you are contemplating. It's a fantastic place with great scenery along the way. I'd highly recommend the Gross Glockner road if you go that way and take the spur to the Gross Glockner overlook (highest point in Austria). Glaciers still abound (well they did 15 years ago). That road will take you straight north to Salzburg. Salzburg is great but expensive. A trip to adjacent Obersalzburg in SE Germany is worth it if you go to Salzburg - especially the Kehlstein.

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:34 am
by FangKC
I've been reading a lot of articles recently about how great Slovenia is. If I were going to Europe, I'd consider a visit there. I've read that Croatia is being over-run with tourists, and the government is considering, or has, started to limit the number of visitors to the old part of Dubrovnik; as well as further north in Krka National Park. I've also read that tourist behavior is out of control in the island towns of Hvar and Novalja.

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:42 am
by brewcrew1000
Highlander wrote:
brewcrew1000 wrote:This August we decided to cash in some airline miles to fly to Europe, the trip starts in Venice but we are completely skipping Venice due to expensive hotel costs and hoards of tourists so we turned our attention to Trieste, Croatia and the Istria Pennisula. We were pumped for Croatia but then out of nowhere I see this country that borders Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia called Slovenia (I"ve heard of it before but never really put much thought into the place) - So I look it up and it looks amazing, it has mountains to the North (Julian Alps), A lake with an island that has a church on it, it has a small coastline to the South West, it has caves, it has a spa/thermal region to the east similar to Hungary and it has a super/laid back chill capital. This country looks super underrated after doing some research on it and i'm really excited and it looks like it will not very crowded compared to the rest of Europe in August.

If anyone has been any advice it would be great. We are thinking about spending the entire trip in Slovenia or possibly spending a couple nights in Salzburg or a couple nights in Hungary.
After we passed through Slovenia, we did go up to Salzburg, as you are contemplating. It's a fantastic place with great scenery along the way. I'd highly recommend the Gross Glockner road if you go that way and take the spur to the Gross Glockner overlook (highest point in Austria). Glaciers still abound (well they did 15 years ago). That road will take you straight north to Salzburg. Salzburg is great but expensive. A trip to adjacent Obersalzburg in SE Germany is worth it if you go to Salzburg - especially the Kehlstein.
Thanks, I'm not sure what we are gonna do on our 2 night side trip. Salzburg looks beautiful and the Summer Festival is going on during that time, however I did not realize its really fancy, basically a tuxedo type affair to watch concerts/operas. The Western Hungary Spa/Lake region also looked interesting, tons of thermal spas but not sure there were many other things to do, we probably won't have enough time to make it to Budapest

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:28 pm
by AlbertHammond
I spent some time in Ljubljana a decade ago and the city center was quite nice. It surprised me with the number of young people (college age) in the city. The bicycling culture was starting to compare to Amsterdam. There were cycling facilities everywhere. It was a great visit.

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Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:18 pm
by auntbigdog
The parts of Slovenia I saw were lovely. We stayed at a charming cottage on Lake Bohinj and wandered around, ate a lot of the local trout and went on a terrifying (to me) horseback ride in the mountains. Very nice people everywhere we went.

Then again, you wouldn't be *that* far from Salzburg or Vienna, which are both great cities. Hungary was wonderfully interesting (and ridiculously inexpensive at the time), but it was a lot of work in the smaller towns west of Budapest, because Hungarian is impenetrable to me and English is not as commonly spoken.

Re: Slovenia for 7 nights

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:13 am
by Roanoker
Thank you for the lovely pictures and a mind-opening consideration for vacation destinations.