Why travel to Croatia and Slovenia? Croatia has long been on both our travel bucket lists. Our initial motivation stemmed from falling in love with pictures of Plitvice Lakes National Park several years ago, where canyon-constrained electric blue lakes are interconnected by spectacular waterfalls. Not long after, the epic Game of Thrones tv series pointed us towards the Pearl of the Adriatic, the walled medieval seaside old town of Dubrovnik, known for its famous collection of baroque buildings on marble streets and for providing dazzling views of the sea.

Although these two highlights were enough to convince us to start planning a trip, we were enthralled to learn that Croatia has so much more to offer: 1) It had an endless supply of coastlines along the Adriatic. 2) Istria-often referred to as the Croatian Tuscany-a region that specializes in truffles and wine. 3) It can serve as a strategically positioned gateway to other former Yugoslavian countries, such as Montenegro, where we visited the spectacular Bay of Kotor. 

Although the addition of Slovenia to our itinerary initially began as a “why not” following a friend’s recommendation, it turned out to be quite the gem. In fact, one of our Coup de Coeur’s was the Lake Bled area, in northern Slovenia, which offered spectacular scenery, great restaurants, and easy access to great hiking trails and the increasingly famous Vintgar gorge. We also found Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana to be both very lovely and charming, even in the rain.

Finally, because we arrived in and departed in Venice, this offered us the opportunity to explore this canal-filled city. We chose Venice as a starting point because significantly cheaper to fly into and it is a stone’s throw away from Slovenia.

Croatia & Slovenia trip summary
Duration: Two-week itinerary
Start/Endpoint: Venice (Italy)
When: September 2016
Transportation: Roadtrip + ride share service