Ljubljana
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Getting there
From Italy overland
There are plenty of links in this text, so please check the timetables before you rely on any information given here. There is also different information on different websites, I chose to rely on the bus companies operating the routes, rather than on the bus station.
Timetables:
Slovene railways (domestic lines)
Italian railways (prices within Italy included; sometimes the cheapest tickets can be sold out earlier, but they can be bought also in Slovenia)
from TRIESTE
The only direct connection is by bus:
1) Veolia: Trieste 14:00 - Ljubljana 16:46 / return Ljubljana 6:25 - Trieste 8:56am | €11.60 daily Mon-Sat, except Italian public holidays (e.g. 1st Jan, May, Nov, 25-26th Dec - but it goes on 6th Jan and 2nd June)
2) Florentia, every day: Trieste 19:20 - Ljubljana 21:00 / return Ljubljana 5:10 - Trieste 7:05am | €7.00, students €6.50, return €13.00/12.00 | make a reservation in advance - this is part of the route Florence/Firenze - Sofia (Bulgaria), so it can be already full in Trieste/Ljubljana; contact info on the website
a) There are also buses to/from Ilirska Bistrica and Slovene coast
If the bus times aren't convenient or you want to visit some other place before Ljubljana, here are the alternatives (train station is next to bus station in Trieste):
3) By train from Villa Opicina: dep. 23:48 - arr. 1:41am / return Ljubljana 2:30 - Villa Opicina 4:28am | €15.00, U26 €10.00 - There is no public transport between Trieste and Opicina or in Ljubljana at these hours, so you need someone with car or a taxi in both places
4) By bus to Sežana: from Trieste at 8:45, 11:45 and 18:45, from Sežana at 8:00, 11:00 and 16:30, Mon-Fri except public holidays in Italy and Slovenia. It takes 30 minutes and costs €1.00. From Sežana by train (13 times daily Mon-Fri, 6-7 Sat-Sun | fast €8.02, local €6.48) or bus (€8.30-8.70) to Ljubljana.
5) By bus to Koper (bottom of webpage, Mon-Sat except public holidays in Italy) for €3.00, luggage €1.30, then by train (5-6 daily | fast €9.57, local €8.03) or bus (2h20min, €10.70-11.10) to Ljubljana. Bus & train stations are next to each other.
6) On Sundays the only alternative to Florentia bus (no. 2) is taxi to Sežana. From Trieste it costs about €25. You can also take the city bus or tram to Opicina, but I'm not sure there are taxis waiting in that place. It works in reverse direction though - there are taxis in Sežana near train station, you can take it only to Opicina for about €15 and then bus/tram to Trieste.
7) Hitchhiking: take bus/tram to Opicina and start there, or bus to Sežana (no. 4 above)
from TRIESTE AIRPORT
Trieste airport is about 40km by road from the city of Trieste, here is the timetable for buses to all the neighbouring cities. If you just want to get to Ljubljana, it is much easier to take the bus to Gorizia (€2.65) and continue from there to Ljubljana (see below). If you want to visit also Trieste, take the bus there (€3.25) and then follow the points above.
from UDINE and GORIZIA & NOVA GORICA
From Udine you can take a bus or train to Gorizia Centrale, then walk 3 km / 30 min or take a taxi or possibly city bus across the border to the train or bus station in Nova Gorica. Train station (6 daily, 3h-3h30min, fast €9.57, local €8.03) in Slovenia is actually right on the border at Piazza Transalpina, there are signs when you get close. The train journey via Jesenice is very scenic. Bus station (13 daily on weekdays, 7 on weekends, 2h-2h30min | €10.30-10.70) is about 200 m away. For timetables see top of this page.
Another option from Udine is train via Austria with a change in Villach: Udine 17:37 - Ljubljana 21:08 / return Ljubljana 7:26 - Udine 12:17 | €38.90 (regular price) or €28.90 (Smart price = bought at least 7 days in advance, limited number of tickets)
from VENICE/VENEZIA and ALL OTHER PLACES IN ITALY
There are plenty of train connections from all over Italy to Venice. If you are not stopping there, you change trains at the station called Venezia-Mestre, this is also where you are picked up by the two buses listed below. Venice airport (Marco Polo) is easily reached from Mestre train station. From some places in north-eastern Italy you don't need to go through Venice, check the Italian railways' website.
1) There's only ONE direct train from Italy to Slovenia: Venice 21:20pm - Venezia-Mestre 21:32pm - Ljubljana 1:41am / return Ljubljana 2:30 - Venezia Mestre 7:04 - Venice 7:16 | €25.00, U26 €20.00
2) Florentia bus, every day: Florence/Firenze 13:30 - Bologna 15:00 - Venezia-Mestre 16:50 - Trieste 19:20 - Ljubljana 21:00 / return LJ 5:10 - TS 7:05 - VE - 9:00 - BO 11:25 - FI 13:05 | Venice-Ljubljana one way €20, students €18, other prices in the link | make a reservation in advance - this is part of the route Florence/Firenze - Sofia (Bulgaria), so it can be already full in Venice/Ljubljana; contact info on the website
3) DRD bus, every day: Venezia-Mestre train station 11:30 - Ljubljana 15:00 / return LJ 8:15 - VE 11:30 | €25, return €45 | reservation recommended; more details in notes below (1).
4) Train via Austria with a change in Villach: Venice 15:48 - Venezia-Mestre 16:00 - Ljubljana 21:08 / return LJ 7:26 - VE-Mestre 14:11 - VE 14:20 | €38.90 (regular price) or €28.90 (Smart price = bought at least 7 days in advance, limited number of tickets)
5) Train from Venice to Trieste (2h-3h30min, €9-15) or Gorizia (2h-2h30min, €8-12), then follow instructions above.
6) From Venice-Treviso airport you can take a bus to Venezia-Mestre train station, but it's easier to take a city bus to Treviso and then a train to Gorizia (about 2h, €8).
going from Italy to BLED and BOHINJ
If you plan to visit also Lakes Bled and/or Bohinj, you can go first there via Gorizia. Take a train from Nova Gorica to Bohinjska Bistrica (which is still 6 km from the lake, but there are regular buses, or you can hitchhike) or Bled Jezero (which is on the other side of the lake, 3 km from town). From the lakes there are hourly buses to Ljubljana and also trains.
New Year events
There are concerts in the streets, the main square hosts concerts every evening, on New Years Eve there are usually 3 stages (roughly: jazz/oldies - pop for adults - pop for kids/poprock), in 2008 also a 4th with hard rock/punk, we will see about this year and the crisis, maybe they will go back to 3. All Slovene bands, but you will probably find something for your taste. The concerts last 9pm-2am, later there a few clubs open till morning. In 2007 and 2008 we have had CS meetings for NYE and we had great fun.
Smaller shops are not really into working on holidays, but large shopping malls are usually open till 4-6pm on 31st December, mostly closed on 1st January, but back to business already on 2nd. No problem to find an open supermarket.
No Burger King, 2 McDs in centre are open every day till 11pm, probably also around NY, but the "traditional" late night snack here is at a 24h burek-pizza-kebab joint around train station :) Other restaurants are open, not all, but you'll find something.
Notes
- We took the DRD d.o.o. bus from Venice to Ljubljana in September and had a very good experience – once we figured out how it works. DRD doesn’t have any apparent office or signage in Venice, nor could we find anyone who know anything about the bus service. But an hour before departure we found two 9 passenger vans labeled DRD across the street from the Venice Mestre mainland train station (not the Venice Santa Lucia station). There was also a man in a red shirt with the DRD logo standing in front of the station and he connected us up with one of the drivers. We left promptly at 11:30 and he drove us 3 blocks to an unmarked bus stop where other passengers, mostly Eastern European workers returning home, were already waiting. Then we got on a nice 50 passenger bus (after waiting half an hour for the drivers to clean the bus). The bus made two 15 minute stops enroute to Ljubljana at highway gas stations/restaurants. On arrival just outside Ljubljana we were transferred back to a 9 passenger bus and taken directly to our city center hotel, arriving about 2:30. The bus and most of the other passengers continued to additional destinations. This was much better for us than any of the alternatives we could find. (By portofino1 @ Lonely Planet Thorn Tree travel forum)
