Hiya!
My parents and I are heading to Croatia and Slovenia this summer (early September) by way of Italy and I'm trying to figure out the most fluid way for us to hit all of our destinations.
Renting a car is a must; however, I would like to not be tied to having one for too many days and having to deal with parking.
We're flying into Venice and out of Ljubljana.
Along the way, we're hitting the following:
Trieste
Rovinj with a day trip to Pula
Plitvice Lakes National Park (will need an overnight)
Lake Bled (may need an overnight)
We will need a car to reach Plitvice Lakes and will likely need one to explore the Lake Bled region. We can reach points in Istria (Rovinj and Trieste) by bus.
Any recommendations for best way to organize our trip without having to be tied to a car for too long and incur a drop-off fee?
Note that the summer Venice to Istria ferry schedules will still be available. I had originally thought to go to Rovinj from Venice via ferry and then up to Trieste and onto Ljubljana by bus--BUT, Plitvice Lakes got in the way of that plan and now I cannot fathom removing that park from the itinerary. Which now means a car. Which is fine, but I don't want to worry about it (parking and whatnot) for too many days. Ideally, maximum of 2-3 days with the car. Our trip, right now is a total of 14 days on the ground but we do have a day or two of wiggle room, if needed.
Any ideas?