I would not try to make it from LJU to DBV in 9 days, as that would be too rushed. Slovenia and Istria would make a nice 9 day trip. Sea will be quite cold in midMay, but should be nice weather otherwise. Croatia is a nature lovers paradise.

I agree with yorkshire: I don't think you have time to go to Dubrovnik. You can probably fit Venice, Ljubljana, and Istria into 9 days, depending on your preferred pace of travel. Venice and either ljubljana or Istria should certainly be do-able.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the replies thus far. I've heard from several people that the Venice-Slovenia-Istria loop would work better. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I plan.

So here is a rough plan
Fly into Venice in he morning drive to Bled
3 nights Bled area,we are looking to hike and maybe whitewater raft or canyoneer
Drive to Plitvice, overnight then explore the park the next day
Drive to Rovinj overnight 3 nights
Drive to Venice, spend 1 night then fly home the next day.

Any suggestions?

Could be a great trip!

Does your time in the Bled area include Ljubljana? It is a truly charming little city, well worth at least part of a day, if not a full one IMHO. You might give it some thought.

With your interests, you might also consider visiting the Vintgar Gorge outside of Bled.

I take it you aren't trying to see Venice on this trip?

I would even skip Plivitce (though you must do it one day) and add the Soca River Valley and the Goriska Brdo in. As you are an active couple that likes food, these areas are perfect. Try canyoning with http://www.bovec-sc.si/en/canyoning/ We found them to be safety conscious and fun.

Fab hiking throughout the region.

Wonderful restaurant/hotel at http://www.hisafranko.com/en/ I would say it is one of the best in Slovenia. The other contender is Zemono in Nova Gorica http://www.prilojzetu.com/en/

Goriska Brdo is imo the pre-eminent wine region in Slovenia. We loved the Belica winery/hotel. Excellent food, beautiful rooms and environment plus walking distance to some of the most famour wineries.

Anyway, we lived in Ljubljana for 4 years and loved it there. My suggestion would be Drive to Ljubljana and spend 3 days with one day going to Postojna/Predjama and the other day going to Bled and Vintgar Gorge. One evening spend at the slowfood restaurant in Vodice (a suburb of LJ) called Gostilna Skaručna (unless your are vegetarian). Then drive over the Vrsic pass into Kranjska Gora, have lunch and explore then continue on into Kobarid. Spend 2 days hiking, canyoning, etc. Drive to Goriska Brdo, spend one night and head over to the coast Rovinj area, spend the rest of your time before driving to Venice.

Have fun!

KJA- you are correct, I am definitely not too interested in trying to fit in Venice this trip. If I'm going to be honest Venice as a destination has never interested me too much. I've found that I enjoy nature and small charming towns/cities when I travel unless the large city has a distinct culture vs just being a large urban center. For example I far preferred Bath over London, but I've loved Paris and Madrid. As an American, Slovenia and Croatia are somewhat off the beaten track travelwise which makes them quite appealing to me almost like a "secret Europe" of sorts. My husband has also proposed doing Rome and Lake Como as a trip(he likes the big cities)-it's hard to decide when you want to go everywhere!

SloJan- you've certainly given me some great ideas, the Hisa Franko Case looks amazing!

The video for the Hisa Franko Casa and the pictures from Goriska Brdo are goregous! SloJan, you are definitely making me rethink my trip.........

Re: your last itinerary, instead of driving back to Venice, you could drive to Split, spend the night in Trogir. And fly out of Split, which has fairly big airport. Or even drop your car in Pula and fly to Split. Taxi to Trogir, which is near the airport.

Two nights would be better, giving you a chance to check out Split and Trogir. And you don't need to waste time backtracking to Venice.

However, you may have to pay a biggish surcharge to drop the car in another country.

We did the 11-day version of this trip (minus the Venice) last year, and had a lovely time. Here's our trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/our-week-and-a-half-in-northern-croatia-and-slovenia.cfm

And here are the pictures:

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/f39522510

Mimar- I had considered doing an open jaw but with the need to rent a car the surcharge makes it cost prohibitive

Mr_go- it looks like you had a wonderful trip, love your pictures! What was your favorite part of your trip?

Brm, it is a wonderful area and hard to go wrong in. I do think that Slovenia is often shortchanged for Croatia.

If you want to splurge a bit, you could stay at Nebesa in the Soca River Valley: http://www.nebesa.si/en/what/
And then there is Pristava Lepena (where I always wanted to stay but never did)... Famous for the Lipizzaner horses (if one of you is a rider). There is no better destination in Europe for an active holiday than Slovenia.

What was your favorite part of your trip?

This is a good question, and I'm afraid I don't have a good answer. I've asked ms_go, and she doesn't have one either. Sorry.

If you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I'd probably say Plitvice Park. But we really loved staying in Rovinj... and I wish we'd spent more time in Slovenia (both Lake Bled and Ljubljana). The mosaics and frescoes in Porec were unforgettable. As were the Roman ruins in Pula. And the fabulous outdoor cafe scene in Zagreb. And all the food and wine and beer...

You get the idea.

At this point I'm leaning more towards an itinerary that will include to Soca Valley even if it is at the expense of Plitvice. The Alps look stunning and its been a while since I've done a mountain vacation(my last 2 trips abroad were to Costa Rica and Belize). Luckily I had not booked anything for my original dates as my company is sending me to a class in NYC for part of that time now. I'm hoping to go in the latter part of May now since June brings higher airfares.

OK, but you're giving up a UNESCO World Heritage Site/sight in Plitvice. Just sayin....

Plivitce is great, but it isn't going anywhere.

Unfortunately I'm having trouble finding a decently priced fare for this trip that also allows for a good connection to clear customs when coming home. I've checked Venice, Ljubljana, and Zagreb for the May 15- May 24. I'm not stuck on these dates but everything later gets more expensive. I could keep Slovenia by flying into Munich, i live on the VA coast so i dont mind missing the ocean. Or i could do a northern Italy vacation flying into Milan or fly into Rome, spend a few days before taking the train to the lakes and fly out of Milan. Any thoughts?

You could consider Vienna as an entry point and take a train south? We going to Slovenia in May, travelling by train and bus and found that travel times to Vienna are similar to Venice (although you have a car which makes a difference).

Vienna is an option.

Depending on your tolerance for chaos and whether you are a heavy packer, flying into London and catching a budget flight into LJU or Trieste would also work. It's kind of stressy though. Milan is about the same distance as Vienna - 4 hours, but given a choice between the two, Vienna is easier.