Croatia Holiday - Venice and Slovenia?

Foxriver8

Hi guys, we are going to the north of Croatia in May (staying in Rovinj). We are hoping to visit Venice and also Lake Bled etc in Slovenia whilst we are there. I know there will be organised trips to both (ferry to Venice etc) however we tend to prefer to do our own thing on holiday so I was thinking of hiring a car and driving.


Does anybody have any experience of this? I was planning on driving to, for example, nearest train station or something, leaving the car there and then exploring on foot etc, but I think we would prefer to drive ourselves the bulk of the distance rather than be herded about to tour groups timetables etc.


Any advice or tips welcome

richardw

Yes drove from Trieste to Rovinj, no problems, but check hire car small print that allows driving in all countries to be visited. Some brokers said pick up in Italy, drive in Italy only.

If the ferries are running in May, Rovinj to Venice ferry could be good.

Small places in say Piran may not be that visitor car friendly, even in low season.

Foxriver8

Thanks Richard


Yes, I don't think we want to be driving about right in the midst of things, but I thought it would be nice to see some scenery whilst we drive and then park up and use public transport.


Ferry defo still an option but I get very sea-sick A big advantage to us of having a car is being able to just go to our own schedule.


Noted about the car hire - will be very careful of that!

skint_chick

Parking in the big car parks outside Venice is a total nightmare so you might want to consider driving to somewhere on the train line in as the station is central and train tickets in Italy are a lot cheaper than the UK. I've never driven in Croatia/Slovenia because public transport is cheap and regular enough from Rovinj it should be easy to get around. The Brijuni islands are worth a visit if you can deal with the seasickness, also there are some lovely caves in the hills above Trieste or at Postojna. You can do everything yourself on public transport rather than go on organised trips, I'm not a fan of being herded about to someone else's timetable either! I've taken the bus from Koper to Trieste which takes about 40 mins and then got the train to Venice which was about an hour and a half

zagfles

Driving in Istria is easy - good roads and mostly empty, even driving in towns was no problem. Getting to Venice would be different though - you could get the ferry but as I remember it was quite expensive and doesn't give you a great deal of time there, we decided to save Venice for another holiday.

If you drive to Venice/Slovenia you'll need to make sure you're allowed to take the hire car out of the country, I think the default usually is that it's not allowed so make sure you check. You also need a vignette to drive in Slovenia, I'm not sure if this applies to all road or just the motorways.

Foxriver8

skint_chick wrote: »

Parking in the big car parks outside Venice is a total nightmare so you might want to consider driving to somewhere on the train line in as the station is central and train tickets in Italy are a lot cheaper than the UK. I've never driven in Croatia/Slovenia because public transport is cheap and regular enough from Rovinj it should be easy to get around. The Brijuni islands are worth a visit if you can deal with the seasickness, also there are some lovely caves in the hills above Trieste or at Postojna. You can do everything yourself on public transport rather than go on organised trips, I'm not a fan of being herded about to someone else's timetable either! I've taken the bus from Koper to Trieste which takes about 40 mins and then got the train to Venice which was about an hour and a half

Thank you I haven't even heard of The Brijuni islands - will need to do some more reading, thank you for the tip!


That is good to know that the public transport is good, we will maybe just play it by ear then and find our way about when we get there rather than trying to plan in advance.


Thanks

Foxriver8

zagfles wrote: »

Driving in Istria is easy - good roads and mostly empty, even driving in towns was no problem. Getting to Venice would be different though - you could get the ferry but as I remember it was quite expensive and doesn't give you a great deal of time there, we decided to save Venice for another holiday.

If you drive to Venice/Slovenia you'll need to make sure you're allowed to take the hire car out of the country, I think the default usually is that it's not allowed so make sure you check. You also need a vignette to drive in Slovenia, I'm not sure if this applies to all road or just the motorways.

Thanks Zagflegs - yes, that was the impression I got from what I have read about the organised ferry trips, you don't get much time there. That is why I had thought going in the car (at least the majority of the way) ourselves would be a good idea, but we'll have a think, maybe we will have to save Venice for another trip as well.


Hadn't thought about a vignette, thank you

Alidolly

Drive to Porec and get the catamaran over to Venice. Am sure you can. Buy tickets that are not part of any tour - it's a bit of a trek from the dock to St Marks Square but follow the crowd and you should get there. You can either walk or get a water taxi back to get the boat back but leave PLENTY of time for both as can get VERY busy and you may get lost...the catamaran won't wait if you're late either.

Can drive up into Slovenia but wil need your passport at the border. Lipica stud farm and Postonja caves worth a visit. Not done Lake Bled tho.

Motovun is pretty (hillside town) but the road up can be scary (I went as a kid and the driver had partaken in the local brew and drove the tour bus down the hill with no Headlights on in the dark - scared the living day lights out of those on the bus!! That's when it was still Yugoslavia and he's probably retired now though.

Porec is also a pretty town and not as claustrophobic as Rovinj. More shops and restaurants as well.

Beautiful part of the country and the people are more friendly than down by Dubrovnik (been to both within the last 5 years and preferred the North).

Foxriver8

Thank you, lots of good tips there 😀 And yeah, we deliberated over Porec / Rovinj for ages; we are staying in Rovinj but defo want to visit Porec.

Lol at the retired Yugoslavian bus driver

skint_chick

Foxriver8 wrote: »

Thank you I haven't even heard of The Brijuni islands - will need to do some more reading, thank you for the tip!


That is good to know that the public transport is good, we will maybe just play it by ear then and find our way about when we get there rather than trying to plan in advance.


Thanks

They're a National Park off the coast by Pula, Tito had a house there and there are photos of world leaders and celebs visiting him, there's also some ruins and lovely walks. You can get a ferry over without doing a tour. Pula is lovely to visit as well, the Roman ruins are well preserved. There's a castle at Predjama which you can do the same trip as Postojna caves. Lake Bled might be one of those places that would be better on an organised tour because the bus journey is quite long and then you have to coordinate your boat trip out to the island, and getting up to the castle - it's quite a lot to organise yourself and having done it on both an organised trip and by ourselves I found the organised trip less stressful - even having to be back at the bus at a certain time. There's not really much else to see/do except get a drink and look at the view or walk around the lake so it didn't bother me.

Foxriver8

skint_chick wrote: »

They're a National Park off the coast by Pula, Tito had a house there and there are photos of world leaders and celebs visiting him, there's also some ruins and lovely walks. You can get a ferry over without doing a tour. Pula is lovely to visit as well, the Roman ruins are well preserved. There's a castle at Predjama which you can do the same trip as Postojna caves. Lake Bled might be one of those places that would be better on an organised tour because the bus journey is quite long and then you have to coordinate your boat trip out to the island, and getting up to the castle - it's quite a lot to organise yourself and having done it on both an organised trip and by ourselves I found the organised trip less stressful - even having to be back at the bus at a certain time. There's not really much else to see/do except get a drink and look at the view or walk around the lake so it didn't bother me.

Thank you, that's some really good advice 😊 I love Roman ruins so will definitely try and check that out.

Getting really, really excited now, roll on May :T:T:D