Slovenia

From Austria

Vienna → Graz → Å entilj → Maribor

Villach → Karavanke Tunnel → Jesenice

Villach → Wurzenpass → Podkoren → Kranjska Gora

Klagenfurt → Loiblpass → Ljubelj → Kranj

From Italy

Venice → Trieste → Koper

Venice → Gorizia → Nova Gorica

Tarvisio → Rateče → Kranjska Gora → Jesenice

By bus

The Ljubljana Bus Station Avtobusna Postaja Ljubljana provides composite information about international and airport bus services. Phone: 090 93 42 30 inland only, website in English: (http://ap-ljubljana.si/eng/).

Connections between the Italian city of Trieste and nearby Koper and Piran are frequent on weekdays. There's also a daily bus between Trieste and Ljubljana. In addition, services between Gorizia Italy and its twin town of Nova Gorica Slovenia are at least hourly throughout the day although the journey is easily walkable. This offers an ideal connection between the Italian and Slovene railway networks or an alternative entry point from Trieste's Ronchi Airport or the city of Venice.

By plane

Ljubljana is Slovenia's primary international airport and the hub of national carrier Adria Airways (http://www.adria.si/), which flies to a number of European cities and offers connections to Southeast Europe. The cheapest ways into the city, though, are via easyJet's daily flight from London-Stansted.

There are a few other options worth exploring. Ryanair also runs flights from Dublin to Pula across the border in Croatia. Another convenient gateway, especially to western Slovenia, is via Italy's Trieste airport, which is but an hour's drive from Ljubljana via super highway. Klagenfurt, in Austria, is also an option. Although further away, the Italian airports in Venice and Treviso called 'Venice Treviso offer other entry points to Slovenia or good day trips to/from Slovenia. Note that railway connections between Slovenia and Italy are rather poor, though see below.

By ship

There is a fast ferry between Venice and Izola, running with an irregular schedule mainly during the summer season for the timetable see (http://www.kompas-online.net/pages/CruisesFerries/prince.aspx). The journey takes 3 hours.

Venezialines (http://www.venezialines.c...) run one fast ferry per week between Venice and Piran.

During the summer months, there is a fast craft service operated by Trieste Lines between Trieste Italy, Piran Slovenia, Poreč Croatia and Rovinj Croatia. The portion of the journey between Piran and Trieste lasts 30 minutes, which is pretty much the same as the same journey in a car.

By train

Slovenia is well connected to Austria, Croatia and Hungary by train. The most popular routes connect from Vienna or Villach in Austria in good weather, this journey past the Julian Alps is spectacular, from Budapest in Hungary and from Zagreb in Croatia. All lines converge on the capital Ljubljana.

Italian Railways have slashed the only remaining cross-border service. To get around this poor connection, one can take a train to Nova Gorica Slovenia and then walk or take a bus to its neighboring town of Gorizia Italy from where there are frequent trains to Trieste, Udine, Venice and further afield. For trips to Trieste, it may be more advisable to take a train to Sežana and then take a taxi on to Trieste about 10km, €10 or a connecting bus 3 times a day, weekdays only, €1.

English website of the Slovenian Railways company (http://www.slo-zeleznice....). There are numbers of international routes (http://www.slo-zeleznice....) and special offers exist for some destinations, so you should consider informing yourself about that in advance. There are destinations, which have tickets on contingency basis, meaning that they could run out fast, but are usually a lot cheaper, such as Ljubljana - Prague line cooperation between SŽ and Czech railways, €58 for a return ticket compared to a normal price of €200. For return trips originating in Slovenia, "City Star" tickets, which are open-dated, but usually require a weekend stay, are often the cheapest choice (http://www.slozeleznice.s...). Also, be aware that you also receive a discount with the Euro<26 youth card (http://www.euro26.org/ope...) on most international lines of course the discount does not stack up if you already have a special deal. The same card also applies for all domestic lines, with a 30% discount.

The quality and comfort of the trains on international routes varies significantly. The unwritten rule is that everything heading up north from Ljubljana has a pretty good standard. The trains usually have restaurants on board, with clean and modern toilets. The same can not be guaranteed for the lines heading south such as Belgrade, Sofia, Skopje or Thessaloniki, so be sure to carry a supply of food and beverages on board water (and coffee is available in every sleeping compartment), when heading to or from Ljubljana from the Balkans, with the train. However, the express services which run to Zagreb usually starting in Munich, Germany are very high quality - but the price shows this.

By car

Slovenia has an excellent highway network (http://www.dars.si/?lang=2) connected to neighboring countries. Slovenia demands that all vehicles with a permissible weight of up to 3.5 tons buy a vignette road tax before using motorways or expressways. For passenger vehicles, the vignette costs €15.00 for a week, €30.00 for a month, or €95.00 for a year. For motorcyclists, this costs €7.50 per week, €25.00 for 6 months and €47.50 for a year. (http://www.cestnina.si/Do...). Using motorways without a vignette will result in a fine of €300+. Vignettes are actually sold at the border, and the border agents are supposed to give you a flyer advising you to buy one, but they don't always do that. There are also signs advising you to buy, but they are in Slovene only.

When entering through northern neighbor Austria, you also need a separate vignette to use the Austrian highway network.