you'll find plenty of informations about Slovenia in The Travelzine

archives as it is one of the favorite destinations for non-European Ziners. First of all be sure the rental company allow you to drive into Slovenia and all insurances are approved. And now the bad news: the outline of your excursion is a bit too much for a single day. Distances are minimal, but the roads are slow and you have to cross the border two times. Considering the time spent for the visits, I guess you should leave out the Krk island. Here's a sketchy time table: from Opatija to Predjama 1,5-2 hours (including border crossing) visit of Predjama castle (very interesting and very scenic) at least one hour drive to Rako Skocjan natural park 0,5 hrs plus 1-1,5 hours to walk at least part of the valley (if water level is low you can walk across the caves) drive along Lake Cerknica (there's no lakeside walk, only a maze of trails) to Grad Sneznik 0.5 hour When I was there, a few years ago, there were only guided tours (1hour about) so you may have to wait for next departure. The guide spoke a good English and was very good at telling tales about the castle and its owners.
>From there the Croatian border is very close, but Rijeka and Opatija are on the other side of the mountains, so I guess it will take more than 1 hour to get back. Total 7-8 hours, and you've left out the world-famous Postojna Caves. Of course, if you're not cave lovers or you've already seen others, you can probably skip them, but since people come from far places to visit, you should consider your options. If I remember well, the guided tours start every hour and last about the same. This way you'd see most of the places worth visiting in the area: too bad you don't have more time to see the beautiful sea shore, the Roman ruins and the neat villages of Istra coast, maybe crossing still another border to have a look at Trieste, my hometown. Well' there's always another time! Bye Paolo Trieste, Italy