Friuli, Slovenia and Croatia: A Seven Day Route

You have a week and you want three countries without living in a car. The route that works best runs one way only: Venice to Trieste, down to the Istrian coast of Croatia, up through Slovenia and its capital, then home across the Friulian wine hills. Nights split between Rovinj, Ljubljana and a historic winery estate, and every border crossing takes minutes.

Getting there

Build the trip around Venice. Meet your private guide at Venice airport, or arrange a water taxi to Piazzale Roma if you spend the previous night in the city, which is the recommended option. The return on day seven lands at Venice airport or Piazzale Roma again, so an onward stay on the lagoon is easy to add.

1. Meet in Venice and drive east across Slovenia to Rovinj for the first three nights
2. Move north to Ljubljana for night four, then to a winery estate in the Collio hills
3. Finish back at Venice airport or Piazzale Roma on day seven

When to go

May and June suit the coast and the first truffle season; September and October bring the harvest in Istria and Friuli and the clearest walking weather in the Soca valley. Summer is fine for swimming but busier in Rovinj. The truffle hunt and the sailing excursion run only in season and in fair weather, so keep them as options rather than promises.

Trieste first, day one

Start in the country's eastern gateway, a port that belonged to the Habsburg world and kept its habits. With a local guide, walk the elegant cafes where James Joyce once wrote, learn how locals order their coffee in a city that takes its dozens of varieties seriously, and take a tasting lunch of cross-border specialities. History runs deep here, from the fairy-tale Miramare castle built by Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg, later the ill-fated emperor of Mexico, to Second World War memorial sites such as the Risiera di San Sabba. In the late afternoon the road crosses Slovenia and reaches Rovinj around six, in time for a guided stroll, check-in and a tasting dinner in a family-run restaurant in the old town.

Istria's coast and kitchens, days two and three

Day two is hands on. It begins at the lively fish market, and the cooking class that follows covers seafood pasta and risotto, fish carpaccio, grilled specialities and a local dessert paired with chocolate mousse made with extra virgin olive oil, because Istria also produces serious oil. In the afternoon explore nearby Pula, whose first century amphitheatre stands in better shape than Rome's Colosseum, and walk an old town layered with Venetian, Byzantine and Gothic building. Day three goes inland: start in Porec, a small maritime town that feels like a miniature Venice, then climb to Motovun above the river Mirna for a truffle lunch in the town that food travellers treat as a pilgrimage site, with an optional hunt in the forest alongside a local hunter and his dogs. The artist town of Groznjan fills its medieval alleys with galleries, and an afternoon at a family winery on the Tuscany-like hills closes the day before the drive to Ljubljana for a dinner of classic Slovenian dishes.

Slovenia in a day and a half, days four and five

Ljubljana wins visitors quickly, since most of the old town is pedestrian only: medieval streets, a hilltop castle reached by a panoramic funicular, baroque and Secession facades and a chocolaty reward at the end of the walk. A short drive brings you to Lake Bled, a glacial lake with a church on an island; row out in a wooden boat and ring the bell of St Mary's for luck, or simply take a tasting lunch by the shore. Late in the afternoon, return to Italy through the Soca valley, whose emerald river is one of the loveliest in the Triglav national park, and stretch your legs on an easy hour-long marked trail before reaching a historic winery estate in the Collio for a tasting dinner. Day five belongs to San Daniele ham, that delicate cousin of Parma's prosciutto, tasted at a premium family producer, then to the Colli Orientali hills, where experts have ranked the local Sauvignon among the best anywhere. A short hop across the border into Goriska Brda lets you taste the same grapes grown on similar ground on the Slovenian side, and the UNESCO-listed Lombard town of Cividale del Friuli provides the evening's streets and dinner.

• Cooking class from the Rovinj fish market, followed by Pula's Roman amphitheatre
• Truffle lunch at Motovun and an optional hunt with dogs in season
• Lake Bled's island church and the emerald rapids of the Soca valley
• San Daniele tastings, Colli Orientali whites and a cross-border pour in Goriska Brda

The Soca valley walk and a famous table, day six

Reserve the best walk for the Kobarid region, where the front between the Italian and Austrian armies once held and where Hemingway stayed while shaping one of his novels. A five kilometre trail takes about three hours and moves from antiquity to the First World War along the river's emerald pools, a dramatic gorge and waterfalls. The walk earns a farm lunch of homemade lamb or fresh trout, traditional rolled dumplings called Drezniski struklji and a homemade spirit. That evening, book HiSa Franko, one of the country's best restaurants, known for weaving family tradition together with experimental technique, or stay at the estate for a quiet dinner.

Homeward through Aquileia, day seven

The last day crosses back toward Venice with stops that deserve their own morning. Aquileia, a UNESCO site, keeps Roman ruins and the medieval mosaics of the Basilica of the Patriarchs, unique in their genre, and nearby Grado sits in the lagoon as the original settlement from which Venice was founded. If time allows, fit in fashion shopping at the outlet of San Dona di Piave or a beach hour at Lido di Jesolo before the finish at Venice airport or Piazzale Roma. Book the fish market class and HiSa Franko first, since both fill early, then let the rest of the week settle around them.