Exploring Slovenia by campervan: Everything to know!

Other Slovenia campervan rental options 

If Slovenia Camper is booked or you want to look at other options, here are some other campervan rental companies in Slovenia:

• Balkan Campers: These VW campervans are super cool! However, some are not allowed on highways, so make sure to double check before booking. They also are more bare bones than the Slovenia Camper options.
• Yescapa: This is a campervan and motorhome marketplace, where owners can rent out their own vehicle. The downside of this is that you cannot fully guarantee the condition of the vehicle, since it’s managed by an individual vs. a company.
• Anywhere Campers: This European campervan rental company rents out of many places in Europe. They do not have online booking, so we cannot confirm they have campervans in Slovenia, but they claim they do!
• Roadsurfer: This global campervan chain offers a variety of vans, ranging from more basic to luxurious. Unfortunately they do not have a location in Slovenia, but you can pick it up in Venice, Italy, which is only 2 hours to the Julian Alps.
• Indie Campers: This is another global chain with some really nice campervans and motorhomes to rent. There is not a location in Slovenia, but you can rent in nearby Zagreb, Croatia or Venice, Italy.

Not all campervan rentals are created equal! Here are some things to look out for when choosing a campervan to make sure you fully understand what you’re getting and don’t have any unpleasant surprises.

Toilet and/or shower

Many campervan rentals in Slovenia do have toilets and/or showers, but not all do. So make sure to check if either are important to you! For us, a toilet is non-negotiable, as finding a public toilet in Slovenia, especially in rural areas, can sometimes be tough. A shower is nice to have (and we did use ours a couple times!), but if you stay at a campground, they will have a shower to use.

Can you stand up?

Another important item to consider is if you can stand up in the van. Some of the smaller VW campers are not tall enough to stand in or require a pop top to do so. While this can be fine if you’re spending most of your time outside of the van, it is definitely more comfortable being able to stand up.

Kitchen set up

As you shop around for campervan rentals, make sure to look at the kitchen set up. Is the kitchen fully inside the van? Or do you have to cook outside? Does it have a refrigerator and sink? What is the stove situation? Make sure that you choose an option that fits your cooking style.

What is included?

It’s very hit or miss what is included in a campervan rental. While some include bedding, cookware, towels, etc. in the pricing, others charge an extra fee. We ended up having to pay extra for bedding, towels, cookware, and camping chairs. These fees can add up, so make sure to do the math when comparing your options. You can also bring some small items from home (we brought our Aeropress), to save money!

Distance allowed

Another thing that varies a lot between campervan rentals is the distance you’re allowed to drive. Some offer unlimited kilometers, while others have a daily limit. Our campervan had a 400 km/day limit (averaged over the entire stay), which ended up being no problem at all. But if you want to drive further, keep this in mind!

Where to camp

In the US, we typically camp for free on public land most nights, which not only saves us a lot of money, but also provides a more remote, nature-filled experience. However, wild camping is not allowed in Slovenia. Instead, you will need to find a legal, designated camping spot. And there are a couple different options!

Option #1: Campgrounds

First, you can stay at a campground. This is definitely your most expensive option, especially in popular areas like Lake Bled. However, the campgrounds come with many amenities, like electricity, water fill up and grey water disposal, and cassette toilet dumping. Plus toilets and showers to use! If you’re road tripping in Slovenia in the summertime, definitely book campgrounds in advance, as many campgrounds we visited were totally full.

The upside of booking a campground is that you don’t have to worry about finding a spot to stay. However, this does make you less flexible. Also, some campgrounds have a minimum number of nights you must book and also have gates that close overnight and do not open until a specific time in the morning. Both of these proved to be a bit of a problem for us, so make sure to check 

While the campground experience in Europe is not very spacious or private (more on that later), we did find that the amenities were great! 

Option #2: Motorhome & Campervan Parking Lots

One thing that we loved about van life in Slovenia is that they have motorhome and campervan parking lots that you can stay in. You pay a fee (we spent anywhere from €10-25 per night), which includes access to power, water fill up, cassette toilet and grey water emptying, and sometimes toilets too. 

These are essentially just parking spots, sometimes right next to a road, so they are not very glamorous. But they are an affordable way to camp around the country and are perfect if you just need somewhere to sleep and don’t care about the overall experience. We ended up staying at 4 of these and highly recommend them!

To find campsites in Slovenia, we relied heavily on Google Maps. For campgrounds, we would just search for “campground” in the area we were going to be in. And for the motorhome parking, we would search for “motorhome parking,” “camping spot,” and “PZA” (which stands for “Postajališče za avtodome”). This is how we found pretty much all of our spots!

However, towards the end of our trip we learned about Park4night. Which is kind of like the iOverlander of Europe. You can find both campsites, parking lots, and even some other random spots to legally camp. Plus see photos and read reviews!

Lastly, another option is to book spots through Roadsurfer, regardless if you rent one of their campervans or not. On their platform you can book campgrounds, parking spots, and even unique experiences, like staying on a farm.

Power hookups

Power is definitely one of the biggest struggles of van life. Our campervan rental had a smaller battery bank than we were used to and while it did charge while driving, we often had to rely on hooking up to power. All campsites we booked and most parking spots offered power hookups.

Emptying grey water

The way you empty grey water was quite a bit different in Slovenia than back in the US. In the US, you will use a hose to empty it into a drain. But in Slovenia, you drive over a grate on the ground and then press a button to have the water empty into the drain. It’s super easy!

Disposing of trash

We found that all campgrounds and overnight camping spots had trash cans or dumpsters to throw away trash in.

Campgrounds are not private

Campgrounds in Slovenia are way different than in the United States. When we do pay for camping in the United States, we try to stick to state parks or national parks, which are usually tucked into nature, have fire rings and tables, and have some privacy. The campgrounds we stayed at in Slovenia were basically just parking areas, with hardly any space between vehicles, no fire pits or tables, and zero privacy. 

If you’ve traveled in a campervan around Europe, this will likely be no surprise to you. But it was a bit of an adjustment for us! However, we will say, the amenities at the campgrounds were all really nice and we felt you got more for your money there.

There are many narrow, mountainous roads

Slovenia has three mountain ranges and various scenic mountain drives to go on, with narrow, steep, and windy roads. These can be a bit tough in a campervan…especially our manual campervan. 😅 Keep this in mind when choosing your route. Not only will you need to be mindful of space at times (we had some tight squeezes at the Mangart Saddle!), but you also will likely take longer to get places than Google Maps tells you.

Know your campervan’s height

If you want to drive up to the Mangart Saddle, make sure you know how tall your campervan is! Our campervan was able to make it just fine, but you wouldn’t want anything much larger.

Carry enough cash

Some campsites were cash only, so make sure to carry cash to pay for them!

And now for the fun part, exploring Slovenia in the campervan! There are many amazing places in Slovenia that you can visit in your campervan. During our two weeks in the country we visited the coast, caves, the alps, iconic lakes, and so much more. It was the perfect mix of scenery and experiences!

Below is our exact itinerary, with our nightly camping spots listed, so you can copy our trip! To get a more detailed look at our itinerary and what to do each day, check out our 2 week Slovenia itinerary.

Day 1: Ljubljana

We kicked off our time in Slovenia in Ljubljana. It’s so easy to explore the city on foot, that a campervan would only make things more complicated here. So instead, we stayed at the Eurostars uHotel this night, before picking up our campervan the next morning.

Day 2: Picking up the campervan & driving to near the coast

Our second day was spent picking up our campervan, going grocery shopping, and driving to our first campsite. We camped at Sunrise Hill, which is a campground with amazing views of the nearby hills. Similar to other sites, we had people right next to us, but the scenery made up for it!

Day 3: Piran

After exploring Piran and the Adriatic coast for the day, we camped at this motorhome parking lot. It only cost €10 and had electricity, water fill up and disposal, and dump for the cassette toilet. The road was a bit busy, but the parking lot was very nice.

Postojna Cave also has an overnight parking lot for campervans, which would’ve been even more convenient for the next day, but it cost €25. In hindsight, it wouldn’t have been much more money to stay here since we had to pay to park at the caves the next day anyway.

Day 4: Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle, & driving to Logar Valley

We had a big morning checking out two of Slovenia’s most iconic sights, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle, before driving north to the stunning Logar Valley. During our time in Logar Valley we stayed at Camper Stop Logarska Valley Na Logu, a quaint spot with nice views, electricity, toilets, and showers. The only downside of this spot is that they didn’t have a dump station or water fill up and the campground was very busy and tight.

Day 5: Logar Valley

We spent a full day exploring Logar Valley and then stayed at Camper Stop Logarska Valley Na Logu for another night.

Day 9: Hiking near Lake Bohinj

We spent a full day hiking the Valley of the Seven Lakes (one of the best hikes in Slovenia!) and then stayed at this camping spot in Bohinj. It’s not on the map, but we found it just by following signage in town. It was €15 for the night with electricity. The amenities were more limited here, but it was great for a quick night of sleep!

Days 10-11: Julian Alps 

For the last part of our Slovenia roadtrip, we spent two full days exploring around the Julian Alps, from near Kransjka Gora to Bovec. While in this area we stayed at Camping Liza for two nights. Our specific campsite was kind of a weird layout, but they had nice toilets and showers, plus were in a beautiful location, walking distance to the Soča River.