Buses Out of Piran
What the city bus costs, where to buy a ticket without leaving the old town, and why the free national pass for over-65s stops at the edge of town.
The health centre, the banks, the big shops and the staffed ticket counter are all in Lucija or Portorož, and the bus is how most people in the old town get to them. This is what the ride costs, where to buy a ticket without leaving Piran, and the two things that catch people out: the driver takes no cash, and buying before you board costs half.
Holidays
Arriva Slovenija — Piran city transport
- Phone
- 05 67 13 122
- info@arriva.si
- Website
- arriva.si
Avtobusna postaja Piran
At the town entrance beside the Fornače car park — a few minutes on the minibus from Tartinijev trg, or about fifteen on foot. There is a ticket machine here that never closes.
Fares
| Rider | Cash fare | Monthly pass |
|---|---|---|
| Paying on the busTap a contactless Visa or Mastercard, or pay with Valú. This is the expensive way. | €2.00 | — |
| Paying before you boardWith an EMK Piran card or the Arriva Piran app. Exactly half the on-board price, for the same ride. | €1.00 | — |
| Monthly — adult, pupil or studentThe same €13.00 for all three. Only for people with permanent or temporary residence in the Municipality of Piran, and for pupils and students at a school in the municipality. | — | €13.00 |
- One flat fare covers the whole city network — Piran to Portorož and Piran to Lucija cost the same.
- These prices have not changed since 1 February 2025, and VAT is included in them.
- The free national IJPP pass for pensioners, over-65s, war veterans and European Disability Card holders does NOT cover Piran. Arriva's own page lists the urban networks it covers as Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper, Kranj and Novo mesto. It will take you to Koper for nothing and then charge you €1 to get from Piran to the health centre in Lucija. If that is you, the €13 monthly resident ticket is the thing to ask about.
- The Piran minibus between the Fornače car park and Tartinijev trg is a different service with different rules — it is free for residents and permit holders. See “The Piran Minibus”.
- The EMK Piran card costs €3.50 to buy and is then topped up like a phone.
Paying on board
- There is no cash fare. The driver does not take coins or notes for a city bus.
- On the bus: tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard, or pay through Valú. €2.00.
- Before you board: an EMK Piran card or the Arriva Piran app. €1.00 — half.
- Whichever you use, validate it on the reader inside the bus. Holding a valid ticket is not the same as having used it.
Where to buy tickets and passes
Trafika 3DVA — Piran
On the main square, and the only place in the old town selling and topping up city cards on a Sunday.
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 07:00–19:00 · Sat 07:00–18:00 · Sundays and public holidays 08:00–22:00
Ticket machine at the Piran bus station
Buys a card and tops one up. No counter, no queue, and it is there at five in the morning.
- Address
- Dantejeva ulica, 6330 Piran
- Hours
- 24 hours a day, every day of the year
Pošta Slovenije — Piran
The post office on the waterfront also sells and tops up city cards.
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00 · closed Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
Arriva Piran app
Buys the €1.00 presale fare on a phone, and Arriva says it also shows when the urban buses are arriving. Google Play and the App Store.
- info@arriva.si
- Hours
- Always open
Arriva ticket office — Lucija (TPC)
The only staffed Arriva counter for Piran, and it is not in Piran — it is at the Lucija bus station, which you need a bus to reach. Go here for anything a machine cannot do.
- Phone
- 05 67 13 122
- Address
- Obala 114, 6320 Portorož
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 08:00–09:30 and 10:00–16:00 · Sat 08:00–09:30 and 10:00–13:00 · closed Sundays and public holidays · to 17:00 on the last two and first three working days of the month
If you are in the old town and want this over with, Trafika 3DVA on Tartinijev trg is the one — longest hours, open on Sundays, two minutes from most front doors.
Routes
Two city lines. 1.1.1 is the workhorse: Piran bus station – Bernardin – Portorož – Lucija and back round through Lucija school, the trade zone and Vojkova ulica, roughly every fifteen minutes from about 05:30 until late. It is the line that reaches the ZD Piran health centre, the banks and the shops. 1.1.2 is the Strunjan line, Piran – Portorož – Strunjan, and it is sparse — about a dozen runs a day, first out around 06:15 and last back well before ten in the evening. Both are published as PDF timetables rather than as a searchable schedule, and 1.1.1 has three separate sheets for weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays-and-holidays.
Arriva says the Arriva Piran app shows when urban buses are arriving. We have not tested it and nothing on this page is live — the operator's own timetable is the authority.
Travelling with a disability
On the Piran minibus, a disabled passenger travels free and so does one companion — Okolje Piran states that plainly on its own page, and it applies whether or not you live in the municipality.
On the Arriva city buses there is no equivalent local concession that we could find published. Holders of a European Disability Card qualify for Slovenia's free IJPP ticket, but that covers interurban travel and the urban networks of Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper, Kranj and Novo mesto — not Piran's. If you have been told otherwise at a counter, we would like to know: the correction link at the foot of this page reaches us.
Connecting to the next town
Getting out of the region
Arriva, Nomago and FlixBus all call at Piran and Portorož. Arriva runs to Ljubljana, Maribor, Postojna and along the coast through Koper, Izola and Portorož; Nomago's strongest connections are through Koper on to Ljubljana, Postojna, Celje, Velenje, Laško and Nova Gorica; FlixBus runs long-distance, including across the border to Trieste. These are separate services from the city buses, with their own fares and their own tickets — a city ticket does not travel on them.
The free national pass, and what it does reach
Pensioners, people over 65, war veterans and European Disability Card holders who are not working can travel free on interurban buses and trains across Slovenia. That is a genuinely large entitlement — Koper, Ljubljana, the whole country — and it is obtained by taking an identity document to an IJPP point of sale. It simply stops at the edge of Piran's own city network.
Official pages
- Timetables & price list: Piran (Arriva)The five documents Arriva publishes for Piran: three sheets for line 1.1.1, one for 1.1.2, and the price list. The last word on times.
- Price list — Piran city transport, valid since 1 February 2025 (PDF)Arriva's own price list, in Slovene, Italian and English. Every fare on this page comes from it.
- Free IJPP ticket — who qualifies and which networks it covers (Arriva)The page that lists the five urban networks the free pass covers. Piran is not among them.
- City transport: Piran (Arriva)The operator's own hub for the Piran city network, including the EMK Piran card and the app.
Fares and schedules change — the operator’s own pages and phone line are the last word.
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