Lonely Planet Slovenia - European Travel Books

Paperback - July, 2004 - Lonely Planet Publications
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By: Steve Fallon
ISBN: 1741041619

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Reviews by readers

Still the best guide to Slovenia

I took this book with me on a trip to Slovenia in September-October 2004, when it was hot off the presses. My travels didn't cover the whole country, just the western half, so I can't speak for all of the book's recommendations. But, in general, I found it immensely helpful, both for planning my trip and for day-to-day guidance while traveling. Some comments:

1. Slovenia's currency hasn't stabilized yet, so expect prices to vary upward, especially now that the Euro is so high against the dollar. Big deal; it's still a comparatively inexpensive country. (I went to a rip-off-the-tourists but very good restaurant in Ljubljana, had a full dinner and a half-liter of wine -- and my total bill was $20!)
2. The famous disappearing Lake Cerknicka does indeed disappear for a large part of the year, so it's likely that all you'll see is a bumpy plain covered with grass. On a related subject, the Soca River valley is beautiful, but in the fall the water is low, so anyone expecting a kayaker's paradise would be disappointed.
3. Renting a car is expensive, and the train and bus system, while not perfect, is still very good. So I used this book to plan ahead: I took public transportation most of the time, then rented a car for one day to visit some areas that are difficult or impossible any other way (e.g., the church at Hrastovlje, which is amazing even if you're not a fan of medieval religious art).
4. The church of St. John the Baptist near Lake Bohinj, with the interesting medieval wall paintings, is closed for repairs, completion date uncertain. However, if you walk up the road to Stara Fuzina, the church there has some arguably medieval paintings in the front porch; it's a lovely walk, too, and you can continue on to Studor and admire the antique hayracks.
5. I totally agree with the book's description of the Skocjan Caves: I'm not a big fan of caves, but these were special, and fully worth the effort. (The tour requires considerable walking and step-climbing, so it's not for the weak or the faint-hearted.) The bus access to the site is poor, but some tour companies run day trips from Ljubljana, and the prices I saw were pretty reasonable.
6. The book's restaurant recommendations are generally excellent: Delfin, in Piran, has the best grilled squid on the planet, and the mussels aren't bad either.
7. Fall can be rainy: I encountered a couple of wet, chilly days that made me wish I'd brought waterproof shoes and a heavier raincoat. But, the rest of the time, it was warm enough that I wore sandals.
8. In the fall, many museums and other sights cut back their hours drastically, so be sure to check before you go, especially if a long trip is involved. (I arrived too late for the day's last tour of Sneznik Castle; on the other hand, I visited the Dormouse Museum -- which is utterly mad and not to be missed -- and hung out in the pub next door with the locals practicing their English on me, and that was way more fun than seeing some rich German family's old furniture!)

Gianni Italy

Lots of news and helpful book to read if you are going to visit this country.
I reccomand it to everyone!

Terribly updated and poorly organized

Slovenia review.

We traveled for two weeks in Slovenia in August 2004, one month after the publish date for this current edition. Lonely Planet putting a 2004 date on this book is egregious; most information was completely out of date. We found prices to be off by as much as 50%, some hotels and restaurants were non-existent, and tourist offices had moved. The amount of inaccuracies were far too great for a one-month-old book, even allowing for several months of "print time."

Additionally, the organization of the book was terrible. The chapters of the book were aligned to Slovenia's political jurisdictions instead of organizing the content by the country's regions that a visitor would be interested in. For example, the Julian Alps information was split into two chapters (nonconsecutive), each of which were not limited to the Julian Alps. The Karst region, likewise, was split across two unrelated chapters (one of which had some of the above Julian Alps information.) So using this book requires endless flipping back and forth, and scouring the insufficient index. Perhaps most frustrating was that Slovenia is best visited by private car (limited train service, decreasing bus routes), and while so many other Lonely Planet volumes are organized in a linear manner, as if driving, this one was not.

Slovenia has so many wonderful tourist information centers with great free booklets on accommodations and attractions, and the staff is unbelievably friendly. If the author had only updated his listings with this free information, this book would be more useful. However, armed with this knowledge, you can make good use of the information from these centers, and choose a guidebook with more colorful writing (such as Rough Guide) to take with you, passing on this poorly organized and outdated book.

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