Our visit to Slovenia was part of our road trip from the UAE to the Czech Republic. It was towards the end of the trip so we didn’t have much time and squeezed everything into “2 days” (barely 2 days).

Day 1: Drive to Ljubljana

We arrived in Ljubljana in the late afternoon straight from Samobor, Croatia. To save money, we didn’t pay for the road toll in Slovenia and took the country roads. It added at least an hour and a half to our journey but we actually have to recommend it because it was one of the best drives of our travels.

Since we were tired after some busy days in Croatia, we decided to book a night on Airbnb. We were planning on going to see the city when it was dark but the drive and an early morning wake-up got the better of us. We cooked dinner and stayed at the accommodation.

Day 2: Ljubljana and Bled

We were up early in the morning to have enough time to get the car ready, explore Ljubljana, and still be able to come back to the Airbnb if needed.

First, we headed along the river to the downtown and checked out the Prešeren Square with its churches, old buildings, and monuments. We were then just navigating the small side streets while looking for the National Museum and National Gallery buildings. We then circled back to the Prešeren Square when to see the Saint Nicholas’s Cathedral on the other side of the Ljubljanica river. From the cathedral, we walked up the hill towards the Ljubljana Castle (we decided not to go in because of the time restrictions and also because we were broke by then). The castle is nicely located on the top of a hill in the middle of the city surrounded by trees. We walked through the park and back down to the other side near our accommodation.

From the capital city, we drove straight to the town of Bled. We drove around the lake and were looking for the best shots of the famous Assumption of Maria Church on Bled Island.

It's not allowed to park at the side of the lake at many locations, and where you can, you're going to be skinned alive on the parking fees.

We parked at the train station and first went along the road into the town of Bled. After we reached the beach, we turned around and followed a path along the lake up through the trees towards the Bled Castle.

We finished the circle back at the train station, hopped in “Rambo”, and headed for the border with Austria. Since we didn’t have the vignette, we took the less traveled crossing at Ljubelj (Loibi) pass at 1,367 m. Of course, it started snowing on our way up…

Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to visit Slovenia again and have more time to explore it. Places we would like to visit: Triglav National Park, Postojnska Jama (cave), Predjama Castle, and more…