I hyped this trip all year. At the end of 2018, I knew we were going to Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. We typically take an international trip every other year. We had enough points to fly to anywhere in the world for free.
I wrote Croatia on my bucket list in 2015. This is the traveler equivalent of saying you liked an artist before they were popular. I saw an image of Plitvice National Park online. I didn’t know when I would visit, but I knew I would go. We added Slovenia to the list based on a recommendation from a friend who stopped in Piran on a Mediterranean cruise and Rick Steves. I’m so glad we did. Slovenia was my favorite destination in 2019.
Two Weeks in Croatia and Slovenia Itinerary
Day 1+ 2: Fly into Zagreb + half day + drive to Plitvice National Park
We stayed at Canopy by Hilton. They arranged a car to pick us up from the airport and had a welcome gift with local beers waiting in the room. We tried to explore the city. We made it until 6 p.m. and promptly fell asleep from jet lag.
We spent a half day exploring the city. We bought tickets to use the tram system. It’s an easy hop on / hop off situation. We picked up a Sixt rental car. I probably won’t ever rent from them again. They didn’t tell me online it was a price for a manual. Jon agreed to drive a manual to save us roughly $150 dollars but regretted it for the rest of the trip. We drove to Plitvice National Park area. We stayed near entrance 3 at this cute little guest house. The host didn’t speak English, but we were able to communicate through broken English and pointing. She was very gracious and lovely. We ate dinner at the B&B up the road. They were roasting an entire pig in the fireplace. We didn’t eat it, but we did drink the cheap, delicious house wine. I would recommend staying at either place.
Day 3: Spend all day in Plitvice National Park
Buy your ticket in advance for Plitvice National Park. It does sell out. They have 10,000 visitors a day. They will not let you in before your arrival time. I booked a place near entrance 3 before I realized you couldn’t buy a ticket for entrance 3. They make you choose an entrance in advance. Since we couldn’t walk to entrance 1, we started to drive there. We drove past entrance 3 and asked the gate attendant if we could enter here. He said yes, but we had to wait until 9 a.m. I wouldn’t count on this option. We later heard him turn a couple away who had bought a ticket for a different entrance. If you do use entrance three, be sure to walk around outside the park. We took this beautiful shot just feet from the entrance.
Plitvice National Park was the whole reason for this trip. I wanted to make a whole day of it. We started at 9 a.m. and walked home exhausted around 6 p.m. The main trails are easy to follow, but the markings and maps are slightly confusing for the longer trails. We definitely ended up hiking the complete opposite direction.
It is a very popular destination, so expect it to be crowded. Before I went a coworker was telling me about an influencer she followed who had recently visited. She took a pretty shot of the waterfalls and then panned to all the tourists beside her. I 100% believe it is worth visiting. However, if I was going to do it again, I’d also check out Krka National Park
Day 4 – 5: Drive to Lovran + full day
Honestly, I want everyone to fall in love with Lovran like me. I love small walkable towns. The internet is a magical place where you can find places you’ve never heard of like Lovran. I wanted to do the Istrian region because the second half of our trip would be in Slovenia. Istria is also known for its food and wine.
A recommended stop was Opajita, a popular resort town during the Austro-Hungarian empire. After some deep-dive research on travel forums, I read that Opajita was similar to Atlantic City. That’s an immediate no for me. But there was Lungomare, a seaside promenade, that ran on the coast across several towns. At the very end of the promenade was Lovran.
We stayed at Villa Atlanta which has a beachfront area reserved for their guests. We spent the day lounging by the pool and the sea. The water is quite cool for people from Texas who are used to 80-degree water temps. We walked the promenade and the small town. Pure relaxation.
The food we ate was okay. Jon ordered a margarita at the hotel bar. It was a terrible idea. We didn’t get a chance to eat at Ganeum, but it had a lovely back terrace. Be sure to book in advance.
Day 6 + 7 : Drive to Motovun: Truffle Hunting & Wine Tour
This is where things started to get interesting. I had only booked the first five nights of our trip. Read here to learn more about booking hotels last minute like a crazy person.
On Day 5, I booked us at Villa Borgo in Motovun. If you do stay in Motovun, I highly recommend Villa Borgo, especially if you have a car. They let you park your car behind the cemetery. All other visitors have to take a bus into town and park their car at the bottom of the hill. Upon booking, Villa Borgo recommended a truffle hunting tour. We booked with Miro Tartufi. It was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend this experience and especially with Miro. We learned so much about truffles. There are black and white truffles. White truffles are sold for a higher price. Black truffle season was just ending and white truffle season was about to start. If you are into truffles, Motovun is your town.
I booked us a hotel room with a view. It was fabulous. You don’t have to book at Villa Borgo to enjoy their wonderful view. They have a back patio where you can drink beverages bought at the wine bar across the street. For dinner, I ate the wild asparagus and prosciutto gnocchi from Pod Voltom. It was incredibly rich but delicious.
The next day we did a self-made wine tour. We checked out a few different wineries in the Istrian region. Read this post for more tips on doing a wine tour. I learned about a new to me grape varietal, Tehran. I also decided the next time I will pick one winery and drink there for half a day.
Day 8: Stop in Piran on the way to Bovec
We couldn’t decide if we wanted to stay in Piran. We drove into town and quickly learned you can not park in the city center. They have parking garages available for parking and buses into the city. The garages are a short distance from the main square. You could also easily walk to Tartini Square. Slovenia has only a small part on the coast. Piran is a popular destination to visit the Slovenian coast. I preferred Lovran’s beaches to Piran. After a few hours, we decided instead of staying on the coast we were ready for the mountains. We drove on to Bovec near Triglav National Park.
Day 9 + 10 : Bovec
Urgh, I love Slovenia so much. Bovec is the perfect town along the Soca River. On our first day, we drove along the river and stopped at random points to get out and hike.
Gorges became my new favorite thing. They are a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it. And they are gorgeous. It became my personal mission to find all the gorges.
We went white water rafting with Alpska Šola Bovec. It was a fun group to go rafting with for our first time ever. The water is freezing or as the guides like to say fresh. At one point, they had everyone get out of the raft. They flipped it over onto a rock and created a slide. We also stopped and a few of us jumped off a tall rock into the water. The water is normally a brilliant blue color, but it has rained the night before. On the way back from rafting, our guide shared some of Bovec’s history. Apparently, it used to be occupied by the United States after World War II.
Every night we’d go to Thirsty River Brewing for few cheap pints of beer and played a round of Phase 10. We ate dinner at Sovdat.
Day 11 + 12: Stop at Tomlin Gorge and Lake Bohinj
I searched on google map for gorges between Bovec and Lake Bohinj. We took a longer route so we could stop at Tomlin Gorge. I was slightly disappointed because all the gorges we’d seen so far were free. It’s fairly cheap, but we weren’t expecting it. You also need cash to park in the lot outside of the gorge. We spent roughly an hour and a half walking around the gorge.
I can’t say enough good things about Lake Bohinj. We stayed in Ribčev Laz at a hotel that was walking distance to the lake. We relaxed by the water and walked around the lake. We tried to see a gorge, but it was cash only. Womp womp.
We stumbled across this trendy restaurant, Majerca. It was so delicious. Oh, I almost forgot. We were often offered house-made liquor as a welcoming or at the end of the meal in both Croatia and Slovenia.
Day 13: Drive Ljubljana and stop at Lake Bled
We stopped at Lake Bled on the way to Ljubljana. Have you seen a picture of a lake with a building on an island in the middle? This is Lake Bled. 9 out of 10 times when I see a picture of Slovenia on Instagram it is Lake Bled. Lake Bled is lovely, but Slovenia has so much more to offer. It was rainy by the time we got to Ljubljana, so we didn’t get to explore much. We stopped in a bar and had a local pint and ate Indian food. I booked us in a semi-sketchy nearly launch hotel. I’m thankful we were only there one night.
Day: 14 Fly home
Things I would Do Differently
Every time I plan a two-week trip, I say we are going to slow down. We will try to do less. It never happens. I always simultaneously wish at the end that we had more time and that we were already home with our dog.
- Add in Krka National Park
- Don’t stay in Motovun to do wine tasting, try out Rovinj instead.
- Consider adding more time to see Ljubjana
Favorite Part of the Trip
- Truffle Hunting in Croatia
- White Water rafting because we’d never done it before and the tour company was awesome
- Plitvice National Park
- Bovec
In my element. Drinking wine in a new country with Jon.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out two weeks in Ireland, Italy, France and Switzerland