Occupying the territory southwest of the Slovene capital Ljubljana towards the Croatian border, getting to the Green Karst is fairly simple, regardless of your method of transport. Whilst this guide may cover six contrastingly different municipalities, for the purpose of convenience we will use Postojna as the main destination point for this chapter, as it is the largest municipality as well as the one with the most convenient transport links.
Arriving by Plane
Postojna is conveniently located within 100km of a whole host of airports. For those landing in Slovenia, Ljubljana’s Jože Pučnik Airport is just 73km away. The airport at Portorož on the Slovenian coast is almost the same distance to the west (72km), and the Trieste’s Friuli Venezia Giulia airport is 74km away from Postojna over the border into Italy. Rounding out the surrounding airports, Rijeka Airport on the Croatian coast is a mere 99km. A number of transfer companies provide transport from Ljubljana and Trieste, with GoOpti arguably coming top of the regional list.
Arriving by Bus
25 buses a day run from the main bus station in Ljubljana, with the journey taking a little over an hour, depending on traffic. The first of these leaves Ljubljana at 05:30, then running every 30 minutes or so until 23:00. For buses to Pivka and Ilirska Bistrica, a change in Postojna is required. For those heading towards the wildside of the Karst, 10 buses head from Ljubljana to Cerknica daily, the first going at 08:15 and the last at 20:15. Similar to Postojna, this journey takes around an hour. For those heading to Loška Dolina, eight of these journeys goes straight on to Stari Trg pri Ložu, with a change required in Cerknica otherwise. Bloke, the Slovenian Tibet, is predictably tough to get to, with just the one bus heading to Nova Vas from Ljubljana daily, at 15:15.
Arriving by Train
For those wishing to head to the Green Karst on the rails, a hourly direct train from Ljubljana to Postojna takes 53 minutes. For journeys to Ilirska Bistrica and Pivka, a change in Postojna is required. However, the trains were not running at the time of writing, due to the terrible natural disaster that damaged some of the surrounding forests in 2014.
Arriving by Car
Postojna is just 55km from Ljubljana, and can be reached by taking the A1 highway, following signs for Koper. From Italy, the A3 highway towards Divača should be your aim. For driving in Slovenia be sure to pick up a Vinjeta, which is a legal requirement in the country (see box opposite).
