Tucked up close to the Austrian border, as little as an hour away from the Slovene capital Ljubljana, getting to Bled by train, bus or car is a relatively painless experience.
Arriving by Plane
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is located approximately halfway between Ljubljana and Bled, and you can expect to pay around €45 for a taxi into town. Buses are considerably cheaper at under €5, with many connections roughly every hour daily - but check the schedule in advance as some buses go via Kranj, which adds about 20 minutes to the journey. There are also up to six direct shuttles per day (€13). You can see the full schedules on the airport's website at www.lju-airport.si.
Arriving by Bus
Buses leave daily every 30-60 minutes from the main bus station. The journey time is 57 minutes - 1 hour 20, the latter going via Kranj. You can hop off at Bled Union, which you’ll reach first, then walk down Ljubljanska Cesta to the lake or continue on the bus until you reach the main bus station. The walk from there will take you along Cesta Svobode. Either way the walk is less than 10 minutes to the town centre and the waterside. You can check the schedule and prices at www.ap-ljubljana.si/.
Arriving by Train
Bled has two train stations, but unfortunately neither is located in the centre of town. Over 20 trains a day from Ljubljana call at Lesce-Bled station, which is on the main line but is 4km away, meaning you will either have a lengthy hike or short bus ride into town. Buses are frequent though, and the journey time is under 10 minutes. The other station is Bled-Jezero which is a couple kilometres to the west, and only sees about five trains a day from the capital. However, the transfer at Jesenice can lead to a total journey time of almost 3 hours. Check out Slovenia Railways' incredibly user-friendly website for a complete schedule and prices at www.slo-zeleznice.si.
Arriving by car
From Ljubljana, take the A2 highway northwest out of the city and follow the signs for Kranj or Jesenice. From Austria, pass Jesenice following signs for Ljubljana. Bled is well sign-posted. The journey time is around 40 minutes from Ljubljana, and it may get very crowded on Sundays in season at the end of the highway. Once you reach the town, ample parking is available, mostly to the eastern side of the lake. Do check in advance because not all parking is 24 hours. If you’re staying overnight, then inquiring about the various options at your hotel prior to arrival is usually a good idea. For those with electric cars, there are now 14 charging stations, which you can read more about at chargemap.com/cities/bled-SI.
Vignette (Motorway Tolls)
Slovenia requires all motor vehicles travelling on Slovenian highways to have a valid e-vignette (veen-yeh-tah), which has now replaced the old sticker in the window system and exists in lieu of tolls. The e-vignette can be easily obtained at nearly all gas stations and kiosks, including those in neighbouring countries, before entering Slovenia. Check here for the list of authorised e-vignette sellers. Yearly/monthly/weekly prices are €117.50/32/16 for cars, €235/64.10/32 for larger vehicles (i.e. with a height of over 1.3m above the front axis) and €58.70/32/8 for motorcycles. Also, be aware that border police will likely not remind you to purchase a vignette when entering the country but are highly likely to issue you a steep fine when leaving if you've failed to do so. For more info check www.dars.si, or go straight to the online shop www.evinjeta.dars.si/ where they can be purchased up to 30 days in advance.
Ride Sharing
The Slovene version of BlaBlaCar without the stupid name (it just means 'transport' in Slovene, although according to Google translate it does mean 'seduction' in Russian), since time immemorial Prevoz.org has been the preferred method for students and other budget travellers to get around Slovenia faster and cheaper than public transport. And the same applies for those travelling to or from neighbouring countries or any former Yugoslav states - we frequently use it to get between Ljubljana and Belgrade, as the €30-50 cost and five-hour journey time can't be beat. Perhaps the only downside is that the site is only in Slovene, but is no obstacle that Chrome's auto-translate feature can't overcome, and you also need to register or link your Google account to be able to see the contact numbers of the drivers.
