17 January 2012. Train times valid from 11
December 2011 to 9 June 2012.
UK to Slovenia by train?
Above: The Dragon Bridge, Ljubljana. Ljubljana is a wonderful city to
visit, easy to reach from the UK by train without
flying...
Why not? It's very easy and affordable to travel
from the UK to Ljubljana by train. It's safe and
comfortable, too. This page will explain the routes,
train times, fares and how to buy tickets.
Option 1: Afternoon Eurostar to
Paris, sleeper train to Munich, EuroCity train to Bled & Ljubljana...
This is the easiest, most time-effective
and affordable way to travel from the UK to Slovenia by train.
Take an afternoon Eurostar to Paris, the excellent City
Night Line sleeper train to Munich, then a scenic EuroCity
train ride over the Austrian Alps and along the River Sava
into Slovenia. Wonderful! If you prefer daytime trains, see option 2
below, which uses daytime trains all the way with an
overnight stop in Munich.
London ► Lake Bled & Ljubljana
Day 1: Travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:01 (15:31 at weekends), arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
It's then a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est. By
all means take an earlier Eurostar if you'd like to spend
some time in Paris, or if it has cheaper seats available.
Day 1: Travel from Paris to Munich
overnight by the City Night Line sleeper train
'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est daily at 20:05 (20:20 at weekends) and arriving in
Munich at 07:10 next morning. It has a sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments,
standard with washbasin or deluxe with shower),
4 & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats, see the photos & information
below.
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line train.
Day 2: Travel from Munich to Villach by modern,
air-conditioned Austrian EuroCity train, leaving Munich
at 08:27 and arriving in Villach, near the
Austrian-Slovenian border, at 12:43. A restaurant
car is available for breakfast. At Villach it's a
simple cross-platform change onto the waiting
Slovenian/Croatian/Serbian EuroCity train to Ljubljana.
Day 2: Travel from Villach to Bled & Ljubljana on a modern,
air-conditioned EuroCity train, the "Sava", leaving
Villach at 12:52 and arriving at Lesce-Bled at 13:51 and Ljubljana at 14:31. A Serbian restaurant car is usually available between
Villach and Zagreb. However, don't expect the
Serbian restaurant to sell any hot food, just
sandwiches, cheap beer and coffee. If you want a
hot lunch, eat early in the Austrian restaurant car.
At Lesce-Bled, the station is 4km southeast of Bled
town, taxis are available for 10 euros or there's a bus
between Lesce-Bled station & Bled town every 30 minutes
for 2 euros.
About the journey: After leaving the Munich
suburbs the train snakes through pretty Bavarian scenery
to Salzburg, past churches and picturesque villages.
Just before arriving at Salzburg, look to your right as
you cross the River Salzach for great views of Salzburg
citadel. Soon after Salzburg, the train enters the
Austrian Alps proper, climbing through vast mountains.
Look out for the magnificent fortress at Werfen
(although the train doesn't call here), perched on its
hilltop on the right hand side, guarding the approaches
to Salzburg along the Salzachtal valley. After entering
Slovenia, the scenery flattens out, and the train snakes
along the pretty river Sava all the way into Ljubljana.
Ljubljana & Lake Bled ► London
Travel
from Ljubljana or Bled to Munich by air-conditioned EuroCity train
"Sava",
leaving Ljubljana at 15:05 or Lesce-Bled at 15:52, you
need to make a simple cross-platform change of train at
Villach (arrive 17:03, depart 17:16) and you arrive in
Munich at 21:33. Enjoy the excellent scenery, a
Serbian restaurant car
is (usually) available until Villach on the Austrian frontier, reached about
17:00. The station at Lesce-Bled is 4km
southeast of Bled town, taxis available for 10 euros or
bus every 30 minutes for 2 euros.
Alternatively, you could take
the earlier EuroCity train
and spend the afternoon in Munich,
leaving Ljubljana at 09:12 or Lesce-Bled at 09:53, arriving Munich at 15:33.
This is an Austrian train with 6-seater compartments in
both 1st & 2nd class, and it's direct
Zagreb-Ljubljana-Munich with no need to change trains at
Villach. Take your own provisions as
there's no restaurant or buffet car until the Austrian
frontier, reached around 10:47. This is a safer connection
into the sleeper from Munich to Paris, as the
afternoon "Sava" has been known to miss the connection
at Villach.
Left luggage lockers are available in Munich.
Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:30.
Introducing
the City Night Line sleeper from Paris to Munich...
The Paris-Munich overnight train is one of the German Railway's excellent
City Night Line sleeper trains. Called the
'Cassiopeia', it has a modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-car
(1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe compartments with private shower &
toilet, 1, 2 &
3-berth standard compartments with washbasin). There is a shower at
the end of the corridor for passengers in standard rooms,
and all rooms have powerpoints for laptop computers.
There are also
modern air-conditioned couchettes, choose between a berth in a 4 or 6-berth compartment,
and ordinary seats (not recommended).
Inclusive fares are charged covering travel plus
sleeping accommodation. The sleeping-car fare includes
a light breakfast.
Click for more pictures
& information about this train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a classic
Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper train in
Paris, why not catch the earlier 14:02 Eurostar from
London & dine at the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard with
washbasin or deluxe with shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
Above: The
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of the Paris to Munich
sleeper train boarding at Paris Gare de l'Est...
This is
actually two trains, a smart modern Austrian
EuroCity train with restaurant car from Munich to
Villach on the Austrian/Slovenian border, then an
equally
smart air-conditioned Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian EuroCity train
from Villach to Ljubljana and Zagreb. Usually, but not always, a Serbian restaurant car is
attached between Villach &
Zagreb. The
scenery along this route is superb, taking you from
the Bavaria through the Austrian Alps, into Slovenia
and along the Sava river to Croatia. Sit back with a
glass of red, catch up on your reading and enjoy the views...
Above: This is
the EuroCity train "Sava" from Munich to Ljubljana
& Zagreb. This is the
Slovenian air-conditioned coach, the one to sit in if
you can. The Serbian coaches are two-tone grey.
Through the Austrian
Alps... Clinging to the mountainside high in
the Austrian Alps, the train snakes along between
snow-capped mountains on its way to the Slovenian
frontier.
Above: A beer
in the Serbian restaurant car. Now across the
border in Slovenia, the EuroCity train runs along
the pretty River Sava all the way to Ljubljana...
Comfortable seats: Half
the seats in the Slovenian coach are 1st class, half
2nd class (seen here), but the 2nd class seats are
also arranged 2+1 abreast, the same as 1st class!
* If you have children aged 4- 5 or 12-14,
please read this note
before booking the City Night Line sleeper train.
** This is
the supplement you pay if you have a railpass. A 1st
class ticket or pass is required for deluxe sleepers.
Savings fare = cheap fare,
price varies, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Full price =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
3. Munich
to Ljubljana
Special
fares from 39 euros (£34) one-way, 78 euros (£68) return
if you book
in advance. Price varies, limited
availability.
Full price one-way: £52
2nd class, £81 1st class.
Full
price return: £104
2nd class, £162 1st class.
How to
buy tickets online...
The cheapest way to book this journey is online, as there's
no booking fees and all the cheap deals are there for you to
see. There are two ways to book it, and I'd suggest
trying both as prices vary between the two:
It's best to book London-Munich in two stages. Step 1,
book the sleeper from Paris to Munich. Enter 'Paris'
to 'Munich' and your dates of travel.
Step 2, after booking the Paris-Munich train, stay on
www.raileurope.co.uk
and click 'continue shopping'. Now book a Eurostar ticket from London to
Paris and back to connect with the sleeper. Use the recommended
Eurostar times above as a guide, but by all means book an
earlier Eurostar outward or a later Eurostar on the way back
if these have cheaper seats available or if you'd like to
stop off in Paris.
Step 3, now go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, use the journey planner to bring up the
connecting trains from Munich to Ljubljana shown in the train times above, and buy the ticket. It
will show if any cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself. I
recommend registering when it asks you before completing the
purchase, so you can easily retrieve any bookings.
If you have any problems with
www.raileurope.co.uk,
try this option instead. It involves 3 websites, so do
a 'dry run' first on all 3 sites to check prices &
availability before booking for real.
Step 1, go to
www.bahn.de, the German Railways website.
Book from Paris to
Munich and back on the overnight sleeper train.
Availability of cheap 'Savings' fares and
fully-flexible normal fares will be shown, for each type of
seat, couchette & sleeper. You pay by credit card and print out
your own tickets in .pdf format. Easy! Note that
the prices shown on
www.bahn.de are in euros, and are the total cost for
all passengers selected, not per person. I
recommend registering when it asks you before completing the
purchase, so you can easily make the next booking and
retrieve any bookings later.
Step 2, go to
www.eurostar.com to book your connecting Eurostar
tickets between London and Paris, using the Eurostar times
above as a guide. By all means book an earlier
Eurostar outwards, or a later Eurostar on the way back, if
this has cheaper seats available of if you'd like to stop
off in Paris for a while. Eurostar tickets can be sent to any UK
address, self-printed, or collected at the station.
Step 3, now go
back to
www.bahn.de and use the journey planner to bring up the
connecting trains from Munich to Ljubljana shown in the train times above, and buy the ticket. It
will show if any cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself.
How to buy tickets
by email...
If you'd prefer to have someone book it all for you,
just click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they'll send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy tickets by phone...
If
you prefer to book by phone, just call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge but no charge for debit
cards), or a booking agency such
as
European Rail
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday, £35 booking fee).
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
trip with all your rail travel expertly booked for you and
good quality hotels arranged, UK residents can call
www.railbookers.com on 020 3327 0761. US
residents can call them on (646) 770 2894 (please
quote seat61) and Canadian residents on (416) 800 0732
(please quote 'seat61'). Australian residents can call
their Australian office,
www.railbookers.com.au on 02 8096 0550. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you, hassle-free. They get
very positive reviews and take good care of their guests.
Browse suggested holiday itineraries &
prices.
Option 2:
Using daytime trains (with overnight stop)...
This option takes longer, but is useful if you prefer daytime travel.
London ► Ljubljana
Day 1, travel from
London to Munich by daytime trains either via Paris or via Brussels & Cologne.
See the London to Germany page
for train times, fares & how to buy tickets.
Day 2, travel from Munich to
Ljubljana on modern, air-conditioned EuroCity train, leaving Munich at
08:27 by smart Austrian EuroCity train. You need
to make a simple cross-platform change of train at
Villach on the Austrian/Slovenian border (arrive 12:43,
depart 12:52)
and you arrive in Lesce-Bled at 13:51 and Ljubljana at 14:31.
A restaurant car is available on the Austrian train serving drinks, snacks and
affordable full meals (treat yourself to an early lunch!),
and there's usually a Serbian restaurant car with more
limited food on the Villach-Ljubljana part of the journey.
The scenery through southeast Germany & Slovenia is
stunning, with views of snow capped mountains, lush
meadows & winding rivers,
see the photos above.
Ljubljana ► London
Day 1, travel from
Ljubljana
to Munich by air-conditioned EuroCity
train, leaving Ljubljana at 15:05 or Lesce-Bled at 15:52
and arriving in Munich at 21:33. You need to make
a simple cross-platform change of train at Villach on
the Austrian/Slovenian border, arrive 17:03, depart
17:16. Enjoy the
excellent scenery over lunch in the restaurant car.
Day 2, travel
from Munich to London by daytime trains, either via Paris or via Cologne &
Brussels. See the London to
Germany page for train times, fares & how to buy
tickets.
Then use the
journey planner at the German Railways website
www.bahn.de to bring
up the Munich-Ljubljana-Zagreb train
shown above, and buy the ticket. It
will show if any cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself.
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
travel service with all your rail travel booked for you and
hotels arranged, contact
www.railbookers.com,
020 3327 0761. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you. They get
very positive reviews.
Browse suggested holiday itineraries &
prices.
Option 3:
London to Ljubljana or Lake Bled via Venice...
The direct
EuroCity train 'Casanova'
between Venice and Ljubljana was withdrawn a few years ago,
as the Italians insisted on all trains being fitted with a
special Italian signalling system, and it wasn't economic
for the Slovenians to fit this to their entire Pendolino
fleet just for one pendolino train a day into Italy.
This left one remaining conventional train
a day between Italy & Slovenia, a sleeper train to Budapest
which passed through Ljubljana at 1am. This was itself
withdrawn in December 2011 due to high charges imposed by
the Italians, meaning that there are now no trains
whatsoever crossing the border between Italy & Slovenia.
So much for the EU! For railway purposes, this border
is closed, and it seems that EU transport policy incompetent
Italian Railway authorities have done what 50 years of
Communism failed to do, bring an Iron Curtain down across
this border!
However, here is a cunning plan... You can still
travel by train from London to Venice, stop off for a day or
two in Venice, then travel from Venice to Ljubljana. You
simply use an Italian regional train to Trieste, then take the historic tram from Trieste
up the escarpment to
Villa Opicina (an experience in itself), take a short taxi ride
across the border to Sezana and then a comfortable Slovenian
domestic train to Ljubljana. If this sounds
complicated, it isn't. It's actually cheap, very
scenic, interesting, and runs every couple of hours through
the day.
This
Venice-Ljubljana journey is explained in detail here.
There's also a cunning way to get from Venice or Trieste to
Lake Bled, via Gorizia and Nova Gorica, where Italian and
Slovenian stations are just a few km apart.
The
Venice-Lake Bled journey is explained here.
Visiting Ljubljana...
Ljubljana is a wonderful city to visit, you'll find tourist
information at
www.visitljubljana.si. The station is
just a few minutes walk from all the central hotels and you
can easily walk between all the sights and places of interest.
See the Dragon Bridge, the Franciscan church, the triple
bridge, and of course take the funicular railway up to the
castle. The
Best Western Premier Hotel Slon and
City Hotel are both good choices. Try the
traditional Slovenian dishes served in the
Sokol restaurant
just to the left of the town hall, one of Ljubljana's
best-know eateries.
Map of Ljubljana.
You arrive at Ljubljana
railway station, only a few minutes walk from the city
centre and all its hotels.
The famous
Dragon Bridge, guarded by four dragons...
Ljubljana Castle
watchtower...
Take the
funicular railway up to the castle and climb the
watchtower for spectacular views over the city to the
ring of mountains beyond.
The old town main square, town hall & cathedral. The
excellent Sokol restaurant is in the background.
Trains link Ljubljana with Koper five or six times daily,
journey time 2.5 hours, fare 10 euros. No reservation
is necessary, just buy a ticket at the station and hop on.
If you arrive in Ljubljana off the EuroCity from Munich, a train
leaves Ljubljana at 15:40 arriving Koper at 18:08, 2nd class
only. For
other options, see
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si.
Koper
► London
Trains link
Koper with Ljubljana five or six times daily, journey time
2.5 hours, fare 10 euros. No reservation is necessary,
just buy a ticket at the station and hop on. You can
check times at either
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si. Allow plenty of time for
connections at Ljubljana, at least an hour.
Buy tickets and
check fares from London to Ljubljana
as shown above.
then simply buy a Ljubljana to Koper ticket at the station
when you reach Ljubljana.
..The train
to Koper, at Ljubljana. Most trains to Koper are
modern, air-conditioned regional trains like this.
Inside,
these regional trains have comfy seats, air-conditioning
and information displays...
Thanks to Trenitalia, Europe's most incompetent
railway operator, there's now only one train a day across
the border between Ljubljana and Italy, namely the
Venice-Budapest overnight sleeper which passes through
Ljubljana at 2am. So much for Slovenia and Italy both being in
the EU, it was easier to travel between them in communist times. But there's
a clever way to travel between Venice, Trieste & Ljubljana
that's frequent, cheap, historically interesting and very scenic.
I haven't seen this wonderful journey explained anywhere, so I'll explain
the secret here! If you want to travel direct between
Lake Bled and Trieste or Venice,
see the next
section.
Ljubljana
► Trieste & Venice
Step 1, take a local train from Ljubljana to Sezana, the
Slovenian border town. Trains run every hour or two,
journey time 2 hours, the fare is just 6.68 euros, no
reservation is necessary you just buy a ticket at the
station and hop on. You can check train times at
either
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si, the latter will also confirm the
price. The journey is relaxing and very scenic as
the train first crosses the plain, then wends its way up
into the hills past pretty villages. At one point it
enters, circumnavigates then leaves a long green valley,
climbing for height all the while. Lovely!
Example: I left Ljubljana on the 08:12, arriving
Sezana at 10:01. Later trains are available too,
throughout the day.
Step 2, take a taxi the 4 miles from Sezana across the border to Villa Opicina, the Italian
border town. Slovenia & Italy are both 'Shengen'
countries, so there's no border control. The taxi
costs only 10-11 euros. You're unlikely to find a
taxi waiting at Sezana station, so pre-book one via
slavisa.jovic1@siol.net,
website
www.taxikras.com. though if you just turn up
there are taxi phone numbers posted at the station, so
you can call one. Example:
The taxi was waiting for me when I arrived at Sezana at
10:01, and I was at the Villa Opicina
tram stop just before 10:20.
Step 3, travel on the historic Villa Opicina to Trieste tram. This runs every 20 minutes
07:00-20:00, journey time 25 minutes, fare 1.10 euros.
Easy! The tram is an old-fashioned piece of Trieste
heritage, and unique in that for 10 minutes of the journey
it buffers up to a 'drogue' and becomes a funicular
railway down the steep escarpment into Trieste.
Leaving the drogue behind, it runs a few hundred yards
more to the Trieste Piazza Oberdan tram terminus.
This is only 3 minutes walk from Trieste Centrale station
(walk back a few yards along the tram tracks, then turn
left).
Map of Trieste. Example: I bought a ticket in
the tram terminus buffet, and caught the 10:20 tram to
Trieste, arriving in
central Trieste by 10:45. The tram website is
www.tramdeopcina.it/tram.
Step 4, travel from Trieste to Venice by
hourly regional train. Cost around 14 euros. I
could have caught the 11:44, arriving Venice at 13:49.
You can check train times and prices at
www.trenitalia.com (pick a date within the next 7 days
to see prices for regional trains). No reservation
is necessary for regional trains, you buy a ticket at the
station and hop on.
Easy! A good, cheap,
scenic and interesting way to travel between Italy &
Slovenia! Total cost Ljubljana-Venice around 32
euros.
Trieste & Venice
► Ljubljana
Travel from Venice to Trieste by
hourly regional train. Cost around 14 euros.
You can check train times and prices at
www.trenitalia.com (pick a date within the next 7 days
to see prices for regional trains). No reservation
is necessary for regional trains, you buy a ticket at the
station and hop on. On arrival in Trieste, walk 3 minutes from Trieste Centrale to the Piazza Oberdam
tram terminus.
Map of Trieste
Travel on the historic tram from
Trieste Piazza Oberdan tram terminus to Villa Opicina, the
Italian border town. The tram runs every 20 minutes
07:00-20:00, journey time 25 minutes, fare 1.10 euros.
Easy! The tram is an old-fashioned piece of Trieste
heritage, and unique in that for 10 minutes of the journey
it buffers up to a 'drogue' and becomes a funicular
railway up the steep escarpment out of Trieste. The
tram website is
www.tramdeopcina.it/tram.
Now take a taxi the 4 miles from
Villa Opicina the 4 miles across the border to Sezana, the
Slovenian border town. Slovenia & Italy are both 'Shengen'
countries, so there's no border control. The taxi
costs only 10-11 euros. You're unlikely to find a
taxi waiting at Villa Opicina station, so pre-book one by
email to
slavisa.jovic1@siol.net, website
www.taxikras.com/kontakti.html. If you want, you
can cut out the tram and take a taxi from Trieste station
to Villa Opicina, it's a shame to miss out the tram ride but
you'll find lots of taxis waiting outside Trieste Centrale
station.
Take a local train from Sezana
to Ljubljana. Trains run every hour or two, journey
time 2 hours, the fare is just 6.68 euros, no
reservation is necessary you just buy a ticket at the
station and hop on. You can check train times at
either
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si, the latter will also confirm the
price. The journey is relaxing and very scenic as
the train wends its way through the hills past pretty
villages, and finally down into the plain to Ljubljana.
At one point it enters, circumnavigates then leaves a long
green valley, climbing for height all the while.
Lovely!
Ljubljana to Sezana by train... The train
from Ljubljana, arrived at Sezana. Most trains to
Sezana are
modern, air-conditioned regional trains like this.
Inside, these regional trains have comfy seats,
air-conditioning and information displays. You can
find train times at www.slo-zeleznice.si.
The train
to Sezana wends its way through the hills, though great
Slovenian scenery. A treat! Then take a
taxi 4 miles from Sezana to Villa Opicina...
Villa Opicina to Trieste
by historic tram. An experience in itself!
This is the tram terminus at Villa Opicina. See
www.tramdeopcina.it/tram.
There's also a cunning, cheap and scenic way to travel
from Venice or Trieste to Lake Bled in northern Slovenia,
via Gorizia and Nova Gorica, where Italian and Slovenian
railway statiis are just a few kilometres apart.
Trieste & Venice
► Lake Bled
Step 1, travel from Venice Santa Lucia station to
Gorizia Centrale by regional train. Trains run
direct every 2 hours, journey time between 2 hours 15
minutes and 2 hours 40 minutes, fare 12 euros in 2nd
class or 19 euros in 1st class. No reservation
necessary or possible, just turn up and buy tickets at
the station. You can check times and fares at
www.trenitalia.com (use a date within the next 7
days to see fares or buy a self-print ticket).
Coming
from Trieste, regional trains link Trieste with Gorizia
every hour or half-hour, journey time 43-52 minutes,
fare 3.90 euros in 2nd class, 5.85 euros in 1st class,
check times and fares at
www.trenitalia.com (use a date within the next 7
days to see fares or buy a self-print ticket).
Step 2, at Gorizia centrale,
take local bus number 1 from the station to the bus
terminus at Piazza Transalpina, which is the border
point with Slovenia. Fare 1.60 euro, buses run
every 10-15 minutes, buy a ticket
from the machine outside the station. Walk across the border into
Slovenia, Nova Gorica station is just 100 metres from
where the bus terminates. Gorizia station to Nova
Gorica station is 2.44 miles, 3.93 kilometres, you could
walk it in 45 minutes.
Step 3, take a Slovenian
domestic train from Nova Gorica to Bled. Trains
leave Nova Gorica direct to Bled Jezero every couple of
hours, journey time 1 hour 50 minutes, fare 6.22 euros.
You can check train times at either
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si, the latter will also confirm the
price.
Lake Bled ► Trieste & Venice
Step 1, take a Slovenian
domestic train from Bled Jezero to Nova Gorica.
Trains leave Bled Jezero for Nova Gorica every couple of
hours, journey time 1 hour 50 minutes, fare 6.22 euros.
You can check train times at either
www.bahn.de or
www.slo-zeleznice.si, the latter will also confirm the
price.
Step 2, at Nova Gorica, walk
100 metres across the border into Italy to the Piazza
Transalpina and take bus number 1 to Gorizia Central
station. Fare 1.60 euro, buses run every 10-15
minutes. Nova Gorica station
to Gorizia station is 2.44 miles, 3.93 kilometres, you
could walk it in 45 minutes.
Step 3, travel from Gorizia
Centrale to Venice Santa Lucia station by regional
train. Trains run direct every 2 hours, journey
time between 2 hours 15 minutes and 2 hours 40 minutes,
fare 12 euros in 2nd class or 19 euros in 1st class.
No reservation necessary or possible, just turn up and
buy tickets at the station. You can check times
and fares at
www.trenitalia.com (use a date within the next 7
days to see fares or buy a self-print ticket).
For
Trieste, regional trains link Gorizia Centrale with
Trieste every hour or half-hour, journey time 43-52
minutes, fare 3.90 euros in 2nd class, 5.85 euros in 1st
class, check times and fares at
www.trenitalia.com (use a date within the next 7
days to see fares or buy a self-print ticket).
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Winter/Spring 2011/12 edition (Dec 2011 to June 2012) or
(when available)
Summer/Autumn 2012 edition (June to Dec 2012)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
You
should take a good guidebook. I think that the Lonely
Planets and the Rough Guides are easily the best for the
independent traveller. Both guides have plenty of
background historical and cultural information, plus lots of
practical information. You won't regret buying one of
these guides..!
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to
Europe based on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008, and
is available from Amazon.co.uk with shipping worldwide.
Personal recommendations: The
Best Western Premier Hotel Slon and
City Hotel in Ljubljana are both excellent choices, 5-10
minutes walk from the station and 2 minutes walk from the old
town main square.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Other hotel sites worth trying...
www.tripadvisor.com
is the place to find
independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
www.booking.com is my own preferred hotel booking system
(Hotels Combined being a search/comparison system). It
has a simple interface, a good selection in most countries
worldwide, useful online customer reviews of each hotel, and
decent prices, usually shown inclusive of unavoidable extras
such as taxes (a pet hate of mine is systems that show one
price, then charge you another!).
Backpacker hostels...
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
www.hostelbookers.com.
Railbookers can
tailor-make a flight-free holiday to Ljubljana & Zagreb, with train
travel, transfers & hotels all arranged for you, for however
long you like, leaving on any date you like. If you tell
them what you want, they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you. They get a lot of
repeat business and a lot of recommendation by word of mouth!
See the
Railbookers website for suggested itineraries and
prices.
Travel insurance & health card...
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself).
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a spare credit card, one designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card
to save on mobile data and phone calls...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
Backpacker hostels...
In
the UK, try
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, try
If you live in the USA or Canada, try
