Driving to Slovenia

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Wed 20 Jan 2010 13:43
Driving to Slovenia - Felix
Hi,
We're thinking of taking the new Octavia (it's fabulous but that'll be for another thread) on holiday with us this summer to Slovenia. Looks like a very interesting country. We're planning to take the trip in a pretty leisurely fashion and camp along the way. Haven't planned a route yet (in fact I've never embarked on a cross-europe drive before), but have any of you any suggestions, as well as experience of good campsites en route? Unfortunately (cos SWMBO's a teacher) we're stuck with going in the smmer hols.
Thanks!
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 03:25
Driving to Slovenia - Nickdm
Your first cross-Europe drive? You'll love it! Get some good maps and start thinking about where you want to go and how many days to spend on the journey down to Slovenia.

In general, North/Eastern France is a bit dull but you can press-on from the Channel ports and get to Switzerland in a day. Or... Head across Belgium and get a cheap tax-free fill-up in Luxembourg and some good campsites in the Ardennes nearby.

Prettiest way in to Slovenia is arguably via southern Austria and down to Lake Bled. Italian riviera route invariably has more traffic. At the Swiss & Austrian borders you'll need to buy a motorway pass - a sticker that you put on your windscreen. It's a flat fee for a calendar year in CH, whereas I think in Austria there are cheaper alternatives for shorter periods.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 10:10
Driving to Slovenia - b308
Might be worth getting a cheap satnav as well, unless one of you (not the driver!) is a good mapreader...
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 10:38
Driving to Slovenia - Altea Ego
and you will need to get maps of eastern europe on it, very few of them come standard.

And buy your swiss motorway carnet before you travel.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 11:19
Driving to Slovenia - Alanovich
When Lidl last did a satnav, it was fully loaded with all of Eastern Europe. Can't remember the brand name for the life of me now.

Slovenia's hardly Eastern, though.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 11:56
Driving to Slovenia - Altea Ego
It counts as eastern or central europe in sat nav parlance.

For example, my tomtom came with all roads of western europe. Stops at the italian border.

Which is the way i would go btw. I was planiing a trip to Ljubjana for a sporting dog event. The route was going to be Milano/Venezia/ corss the border at Gorizja and onto Ljubjana on the H4/A1


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Fri 22 Jan 2010 11:59
Driving to Slovenia - bell boy
as i understand it a lot of eastern europe is still un sat navigated so maps and a phrase book is a definative extra (watch out for the ladies waiving at you as you drive too, they arent selling lashings of ginger ale)
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 12:08
Driving to Slovenia - Alanovich
He's going to Slovenia, not Leeds.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 12:11
Driving to Slovenia - bell boy
its similar
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 12:13
Driving to Slovenia - Alanovich
Oh dear.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 12:36
Driving to Slovenia - tyro
I've never driven to Slovenia, but have driven to Hungary a few times, and one can take more or less the same route that I tended to take: Calais, Charleroi, Luxembourg, Stuttgart, Munich, Salzburg, Klagenfurt.

That avoids 1) having to pay to use the Swiss motorway system, and 2) having to face the horrors of Italian driving. Negatively, it means that you see less alpine scenery en route.

It's fairly similar to the Michelin recommended route (which is Calais, Brussels, Aachen, Stuttgart.)

Interestingly enough, the Michelin "sight-seeing route" also avoids Switzerland and Italy!
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 12:40
Driving to Slovenia - Statistical outlier
Reminds me of the best thing to come out of the Iraq war. (Quote from about 2003 before it had really kicked off).

Reporter: "People are saying Basra is a bit like Southampton?"

Squaddie: "Absolutely wrong. There's no beer, there's no women, and people are shooting at us. It's more like Portsmouth".
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