Any information on Koper Slovenia?

I can't find any information about this port other than it has a beach.

I heard Slovenia is a beautiful country, but I can't find anything near Koper.

Any suggestions?

Thanks !

Robin

Use the serach this forurm feature for KOPER. You should get a number of posts

Use the serach this forurm feature for KOPER. You should get a number of posts

What am I missing here? I thought the ports of call link was where you inquire about ports of call. Koper is a port of call on the May 30 Silhouette cruise.

Robin

Followed your advice and found what I was looking for!

Thank you!

(I am still a little confused about what the difference is between these two

links, but thanks nonetheless!)

Robin

What am I missing here? I thought the ports of call link was where you inquire about ports of call. Koper is a port of call on the May 30 Silhouette cruise.

 

Robin

Robin, you should come join us on the roll call for the May 30 Silhouette sailing. I don't believe you have signed on there. There are about 70 of us on the roll call so far for that sailing. We've been sharing quite a bit of info including planning notes on the ports and have also organized some small group tours. The roll call is at the following link. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1380901

I am pasting the notes that I have compiled from various cc threads....hope they may be of use all in one place.

Koper, Slovenia - Slovenia is small, from one end to another, u need aprox. 2h drive. At the harbour is a pleasant walk and a few cafes but it does present as a very quiet, sleepy place especially on Sunday. You just walk off the ship here into the old town. On the day we went there was a local food/wine tasting market (don’t know whether this is a weekly feature though) which provided some character and colour to the town. There are some cafes around but not much in the way of shops – but a pleasant place for a stroll through the old town (interesting square with palace – although not much in the palace to see). The Bell Towers is definitely open; it cost just 3 euros, and you get some stunning views. The Church to the left of the tower is also worth a visit, as is the Museum, which for 2 euros is great value, and has a lovely garden. If you’re VERY energetic you can walk up to the fort but be warned – they say it will take 45 minutes but I reckon that’s for a mountain goat!!! Last year we gave up at the little church (third of the way?) after almost 40 minutes so you’d have to be a very fit and serious walker to do it in that time-scale.

Ljubljana is in the middle of Slovenia, highway all the way from Koper to Ljubljana, so drive is fast. Very old town, with castle in the middle. Ppl lived here since 2000 bc, it was a swamp and houses were on sticks. Also it was roman city, so you can find some ruins. Sunday afternoon is nice, walking by the river, having coffee and so on. Take a trip inland to Ljubljana (train is 2.5 hours), which is much more 'alive' on Sunday having a craft market, a busy riverside cafe culture, some interesting buildings/architecture and is popular with local families. (The main shops are closed on Sunday though.) It’s a lovely drive there with a flat hour long guided walking tour of this small, compact but quite lively capital city. Many locals were around with their families and some local markets of glass and craft products as well as a fascinating (and somewhat bizarre) flea market and a café culture with open air seating along the riverside.

Bled is another 30 min from Ljubljana, also highway, so fast trip. Lake with island, and castle is really nice. Also one thing you can see is Postojna cave, very nice, you go in with a train and then walk around stalactites. Lake Bled is magnificent and the drive is on highway, goes fast. Total travel time from Koper to Lake Bled is about 2 1/4 hours. This is a beautiful lake setting with fairytale castle and island. Can take a rowboat out to the island and bike, walk or tourist train around the lake. Can take the train or bus from Koper.

Alternatively, catch the local bus to Piran - which is a very interesting pretty coastal town. Piran is in the opposite direction to Ljublijana. Piran isn't far from the port - perhaps only 20 minutes by taxi compared with the local bus which takes about 45 mins. It is really easy to get to Piran yourself by bus for 6.20E p.p. (return). It takes about 45 minutes. They hand out very good maps of the town at the tourist desk on the dock and you can ask the guy there to show you on the map where the bus stop is to. If you turn right out of the port, follow the road round by the waterfront, carry on outside the walls on this road - 'Pristaniska ulica' until you get to a fairly major road on your right - there is a roundabout at this junction - on your map from the ship the church Sv.Basso is on the walled side of the road here, diagonally opposite where you'd be. 'Ljubjanska Cesta' is the name of the road I believe but in any event you will see the bus stop with a shelter about 50m along on the right - no need to cross over. The bus will come from your left. They run about half-hourly and as you don't set sail until 23.00 there's loads of time to get there and back. It's about a 45 minute journey - they stop off at Izola, Portoroz on the way (a lovely interesting and scenic journey) and we had about 2 hours at Piran then came back. Piran is the end of the line so you can't go wrong. There is a point beyond which the buses can't go so it just turns round there for the return journey - so you can't get lost. Piran has a nice church with a nice view, and some walls around, old part with narrow streets and has a charm. You can walk around the promontory, up to the church for great views and there are cafes in the square (also a lovely chocolate shop!). We had a nice coffee at the café/bar (Neptune Café) where the bus waits and there is free internet access there if you buy a drink. You can easy walk from Piran to Portoroz by the water, it's leveled and nice, but not short. Walk by coast is around one hour one way, but very nice. Portoroz is more tourist place, with hotels and casinos and beach.

Lipica, where the white Lipizzaners come from is a nice trip, around 30 min drive from Koper They have a heard of around 400 horses and also riding school performing (similar to the famous one in Vienna). The place is from 16. century, has some great stallions there you can see. So if u like horses, that's the place to visit.

There were plenty of guides outside the port offering tours for half the price of the ships tours. Highly recommended is a guide named Graeme Chuter an Englishman, who is married to a Slovenian woman and together they run a small travel agency/tour guide service. Graeme has an 8 passenger van (very comfortable) and he's both knowledgeable and a savvy guide. His web site is www.bledholidays.com www.bledtaxis.com; email info@4seasonstravelslovenia.com. Many people take the tour to Lake Bled or combo to Ljublijana (360 euro; his van holds 8). We spent about an hour walking around Ljubljana then drove to Lake Bled. We toured the castle first and then had a nice lunch and still had about 45 minutes to walk around the lake. It took about an hour and 40 minutes to Koper from Lake Bled without stopping but it was a pretty drive. There were a few lunch places with great views overlooking the lake and the castle. We even had time when we got back to walk around Koper for a little while. Or take the Full-day tour to Ljubljana AND Piran (Total cost of the tour is 320 Euro which, if you were able to get a full van of 8 people, is 40 Euro per person. In other words, the more folks you get to participate, up to 8 people, the lower each person's cost becomes). Graeme does require a deposit, easily paid through paypal (and he has a cancelation refund policy too.)

We were in Koper last month. It's a nice little town but honestly it would take an hour of your time to wander around and that's it. I'd use it as a jumping off point for other places. You could go to Piran, which is an adorable seaside village and accessible by local bus. Or you could go to any of the other places mentioned in the previous post. We went to the Unesco World Heritage site cave, Scokjan Caves http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/eng/caves.shtml. We walked off the ship and signed for an excursion at one of the kiosks on the pier. It was 40 euros each and the driver took us to the caves and admission was included. He picked us back up afterwards. It was a great adventure and one of the highlights of our trip!

With KOPER its primarily a port city with huge freight import and export traffic for Slovenia .

The city area is fine, but not much to see and an hour or two and thats it .

At this port one takes the Ships Tour to Ljubjana the capital of Slovenia.

A 90 minute bus trip each way plus 3 - 4 hours in the capital which is very beautiful city, a real surprise packet . Don't miss it .

We were in this port in September, and it is a beautiful country. We took a private tour and got to see a lot more than we thought. We went through http://www.bledholidays.com/ Graeme picked us up at the ship, took us around the country and then back to the ship in time to see a little bit of Koper too. It was a great day and I would highly recommend it.

Wow....thanks so much for all of this information...

I guess I will be signing up for roll call soon...sounds like the way to go!

Thanks again

Robin

Another vote of confidence for Graeme! On his tour you will go into the countryside and see Lake Bled and Bled Castle, to Ljubljana-the capital with markets and lots of shopping. If you stay at the port, you'll see a lovely village, but get to the other side of the mountain range and you're in a different world! :)

Wow....thanks so much for all of this information...

I guess I will be signing up for roll call soon...sounds like the way to go!

Thanks again

Robin

Robin, you don't have to sign up for the roll call. It is just another cruise critic thread where people who are on the Silhouette May 30 sailing are conversing. All you have to do is come over to the thread and post a message. Were you meaning the Celebrity Connections party...that is something that you sign up for.

Betty,

Thanks for all of the help in figuring out how to navigate this site.....

its actually much easier than I thought....

Now if I can only find a tour company beside Graeme to get me to Ljabljana...

I can't believe I missed out getting a spot on his tour by a few days.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

Robin

We had a wonderful day on our tour with Tina Hiti's partner, Saso, who took us to Lake Bled. Tina will design a tour for you that takes YOU where YOU want to go. You can reach Tina at www.tinahiti@gmail.com.

Saso was a very personable fellow. We had a great time talking to him.

We also used Graeme for a private tour. I too HIGHLY recommend him. Graeme (pronounced like the American name Graham) is an Englishman who went to Slovenia for a job, met his wife and stayed. So you will have zero language barrier if you speak English. We were there on a Sunday, so Ljubljana was dead as most stores/shops are closed, so we only drove thru the city. Lake Bled is gorgeous. If I was to do it over again, I'd recommend spend the time in Lake Bled & would use Graeme again. It is about 90 minute drive each way. The Slovenian countryside looks like Austria or Bavaria. Graeme met us right as you exit the dock holding a sign.

**In Bled there is a wine shop Graeme pointed out. If your cruise line lets you take wine aboard (NCL does for $15 corkage) we picked up a very good bottle of Slovenian white wine (sauvignon blanc) to have with dinner that night.

We booked a private tour for 3, all done via email. Graeme wrote back later that, if we wanted, some others could join us and reduce the price. It was totally up to me. I agreed. So we had 7 in the van and the price went down to €135 for all 3 of us. Very honest dealing the Graeme.

I think he will also taxi people between Venice and Slovenia.

http://www.beldtaxis.com

info@4seasonstravelslovenia.com

I forgot to add....do not spend the day in Koper. It is OK for a drink along the waterfront before re-boarding the ship, but that's it.

We had a wonderful day on our tour with Tina Hiti's partner, Saso, who took us to Lake Bled. Tina will design a tour for you that takes YOU where YOU want to go. You can reach Tina at www.tinahiti@gmail.com.

 

Saso was a very personable fellow. We had a great time talking to him.

Thank you so much for the information. I have e-mailed her and am waiting for a response.

In case that doesn't work out, I also heard from the shore excursion desk at Celebrity and it sounds like there is a fair chance they might be offering this excursion as well. They said it would be up on the site by next week if it is going to be offered.

Keeping my fingers crossed that something comes through, as it looks like a beautiful place to visit and I would hate to miss it.

Robin

We also used Graeme for a private tour. I too HIGHLY recommend him. Graeme (pronounced like the American name Graham) is an Englishman who went to Slovenia for a job, met his wife and stayed. So you will have zero language barrier if you speak English. We were there on a Sunday, so Ljubljana was dead as most stores/shops are closed, so we only drove thru the city. Lake Bled is gorgeous. If I was to do it over again, I'd recommend spend the time in Lake Bled & would use Graeme again. It is about 90 minute drive each way. The Slovenian countryside looks like Austria or Bavaria. Graeme met us right as you exit the dock holding a sign.

 

**In Bled there is a wine shop Graeme pointed out. If your cruise line lets you take wine aboard (NCL does for $15 corkage) we picked up a very good bottle of Slovenian white wine (sauvignon blanc) to have with dinner that night.

 

We booked a private tour for 3, all done via email. Graeme wrote back later that, if we wanted, some others could join us and reduce the price. It was totally up to me. I agreed. So we had 7 in the van and the price went down to €135 for all 3 of us. Very honest dealing the Graeme.

 

I think he will also taxi people between Venice and Slovenia.

 

www.beldtaxis.com

info@4seasonstravelslovenia.com

Unfortunately, it appears I was too late...he has two minivans full and can't accomodate any more.

Robin

Unfortunately, it appears I was too late...he has two minivans full and can't accomodate any more.

Robin

_____________________________________

Do not despair. Instead of taking an entire day's excursion to the captial, why not take a 1/2 day excursion to Piran; it's a very pretty harbor town about 30 minutes from Koper. Our ship had an excursion that included Piran and a winetasting in the countryside. It was a wonderful day.

We had a wonderful day on our tour with Tina Hiti's partner, Saso, who took us to Lake Bled. Tina will design a tour for you that takes YOU where YOU want to go. You can reach Tina at www.tinahiti@gmail.com.

 

Saso was a very personable fellow. We had a great time talking to him.

i just got my confirmation from Tina Hiti for our tour of Lubjanja and Lake Bled, who I contacted right after reading your post. I later saw that she was recommended by Rick Steves.

Thank you so much for your suggestion!

Robin:)

i just got my confirmation from Tina Hiti for our tour of Lubjanja and Lake Bled, who I contacted right after reading your post. I later saw that she was recommended by Rick Steves.

 

Thank you so much for your suggestion!

 

Robin:)

That is great news Robin!

Thanks from me also. Tina confirmed our July tour date.

I'm so glad that a couple of you have booked with Tina. We requested that Saso (Tina's partner and our guide for the day) bypass Ljub. as our ship was stopping at Split and Drub. I thought that would be enough "city" for us. Instead we wanted to see more of the countryside. Saso stopped at the town where he grew up so we could have a coffee break and comfort stop. It was a charming little town with a great view of the mountains in the distance. Upon arriving at Lake Bled Saso found a small boat and we were rowed to the island to climb the steps to the church and ring the church bell. What a beautiful view! Next we toured the castle and enjoyed more great views. The very old printing press at the castle was interesting as well. We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch and were treated to a local wine, blueberry schnapps, three types of meat, potatoes, vegetables and yummy bread plus picking up the tab for Saso's lunch for 26 Euro per couple! Tina joined us for a bit. It turned out that she was showing a group of Dentists the sights that day. We then walked down the street to a cafe to sample the famous cream cake. Delicious!!!

Saso had an excellent command of English. We very much enjoyed talking with him and learning about life in beautiful Slovenia. I know that Tina or Saso will show you a great time in the port of Koper!

Give a shout if you need recommendations for any other port.

Happy sailing,

Leann

I'm so glad that a couple of you have booked with Tina. We requested that Saso (Tina's partner and our guide for the day) bypass Ljub. as our ship was stopping at Split and Drub. I thought that would be enough "city" for us. Instead we wanted to see more of the countryside. Saso stopped at the town where he grew up so we could have a coffee break and comfort stop. It was a charming little town with a great view of the mountains in the distance. Upon arriving at Lake Bled Saso found a small boat and we were rowed to the island to climb the steps to the church and ring the church bell. What a beautiful view! Next we toured the castle and enjoyed more great views. The very old printing press at the castle was interesting as well. We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch and were treated to a local wine, blueberry schnapps, three types of meat, potatoes, vegetables and yummy bread plus picking up the tab for Saso's lunch for 26 Euro per couple! Tina joined us for a bit. It turned out that she was showing a group of Dentists the sights that day. We then walked down the street to a cafe to sample the famous cream cake. Delicious!!!

Saso had an excellent command of English. We very much enjoyed talking with him and learning about life in beautiful Slovenia. I know that Tina or Saso will show you a great time in the port of Koper!

Give a shout if you need recommendations for any other port.

Happy sailing,

Leann

Totally agree with you, Leann. We were with Tina for our 1 day stay in Koper and of course we went to Lake Bled. It was a wonderful trip. I would also highly recommend Tina. I also learned that she worked with Rick Steve for his book about Slovenia & Croatia. So, you can't go wrong with her.

I'm so glad that a couple of you have booked with Tina. We requested that Saso (Tina's partner and our guide for the day) bypass Ljub. as our ship was stopping at Split and Drub. I thought that would be enough "city" for us. Instead we wanted to see more of the countryside. Saso stopped at the town where he grew up so we could have a coffee break and comfort stop. It was a charming little town with a great view of the mountains in the distance. Upon arriving at Lake Bled Saso found a small boat and we were rowed to the island to climb the steps to the church and ring the church bell. What a beautiful view! Next we toured the castle and enjoyed more great views. The very old printing press at the castle was interesting as well. We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch and were treated to a local wine, blueberry schnapps, three types of meat, potatoes, vegetables and yummy bread plus picking up the tab for Saso's lunch for 26 Euro per couple! Tina joined us for a bit. It turned out that she was showing a group of Dentists the sights that day. We then walked down the street to a cafe to sample the famous cream cake. Delicious!!!

Saso had an excellent command of English. We very much enjoyed talking with him and learning about life in beautiful Slovenia. I know that Tina or Saso will show you a great time in the port of Koper!

Give a shout if you need recommendations for any other port.

Happy sailing,

Leann

It sounds like a wonderful relaxing and beautiful day. We were planning on going to Ljubljana first and then Lake Bled with Tina whom we have booked for the day, but I am a little concerned that it might really be pushing it and wondering if an only hour or so in the city is worth all of the extra time driving.I hadn't thought about it until I read your comment, but it is true that the next two days are city intensive and a day in the beautiful countryside relaxing might be a nice alternative, Lake Bled and its castle sounds amazing and looks breathtaking from the pictures I have seen. Of course Tina will do either way and i am afraid of being rushed in Ljubjanja where we are only going to have about an hour . I am going to have to really think about this one and see what the other two couples who booked with me think.

Thanks for the insights.

Robin