Slovenia Favorite Adventures
FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Slovenia
Our Slovenia Favorite Adventures
Our Slovenia Favorite Adventures
Overall, Slovenia may be small, but few places we have traveled have offered so much beauty, character, and variety in such a compact space. Here are some of our Slovenia favorite adventures:
# 1. Bikepacking the Slovenia West Loop
The Slovenia West Loop is a 265-mile bikepacking route on alpine roads, gravel tracks, and singletrack through the Julian Alps, Triglav National Park, the Soča Valley, the Goriška Brda wine country, and the karst forests and caves around Rakov Škocjan. If you aren’t into bikepacking, there are plenty of one-day or shorter multi-day gravel and mountain bike routes throughout the Slovenian Alps.
# 2. Enjoying farm-to-table meals at local farms
Slovenia’s alpine regions are filled with amazing restaurants serving meals made with locally grown and raised ingredients. Katie and Sabrina from Moon & Honey Travel do a particularly good job of identifying some of these, including Turistična kmetija Govc–Vršnik in Robanov Kot in the Logar Valley in the Kamnik–Savinja Alps. In addition, we’d recommend taking advantage of Slovenia’s many alpine huts, where sitting down to a bowl of štruklji or another traditional mountain dish is one of the best ways to reward yourself at the end of a big hike.
# 3. Exploring Ljubljana
Ljubljana is a relatively small capital with a small but beautiful historic center built around the Ljubljanica River. While there, we’d recommend wandering the pedestrian streets along the river, having dinner at one of the many outdoor cafés and restaurants, and hiking up to Ljubljana Castle after dark for views over the city.
# 4. Exploring Slovenia’s karst region
Slovenia’s karst region in the southwest of the country, particularly around Postojna and Cerknica, is one of the country’s most distinctive landscapes, shaped by water dissolving the limestone beneath the surface over thousands of years. Postojna Cave is the most dramatic cave in the region, with enormous chambers and stalactites. Nearby, Predjama Castle is built directly into the mouth of a cave beneath a towering limestone cliff. For a quieter and more natural experience, head to Rakov Škocjan, where forest trails wind through caves and sinkholes.
# 5. Exploring the Goriška Brda wine country
Goriška Brda is a beautiful wine-growing region in southwestern Slovenia near the Italian border. Visiting Brda is a relaxing change of pace after biking and hiking in the mountains, and the region produces some interesting wines, particularly its whites and orange wines.
# 6. Exploring the Julian Alps from Gozd Martuljek / Kranjska Gora
The Julian Alps, including the dramatic limestone walls of the Špik group above Gozd Martuljek, are among the most beautiful mountains in the Alps. There is plenty to do in the region, especially hiking and biking. One of our favorite rides was over Vršič Pass, Slovenia’s highest road pass, before descending past WWI bunkers and tunnels through the Trenta Valley and Triglav National Park. For hiking ideas, we’d recommend Moon & Honey Travel’s guide to the best hikes in the Julian Alps.
# 7. Exploring the Kamnik–Savinja Alps from the Logar Valley
The Kamnik–Savinja Alps are quieter and less visited than the Julian Alps, but just as beautiful. Using the Logar Valley as a base gives you easy access to some of the region’s most scenic glacial valleys, including Logarska Dolina and nearby Robanov Kot, where steep limestone peaks rise above farms, meadows, and forests. We spent our time biking through the valleys and hiking into the surrounding mountains with far fewer people than we encountered in the Julian Alps. For a list of the best hikes and other adventures in the valley, we’d recommend checking out Moon & Honey Travel’s guide to the Logar Valley. If you are a biker, or have a smaller motorhome or vehicle, don’t miss the Solčava Panoramic Road, which winds high above the valleys past traditional mountain farms and some of the best viewpoints in the region, with views across the surrounding Kamnik–Savinja Alps.
# 8. Exploring the Soča Valley from Kobarid
The Soča Valley is one of Slovenia’s most beautiful regions, centered around the clear, turquoise Soča River and surrounded by the peaks of the western Julian Alps. Kobarid makes a great base for exploring the valley, with easy access to the mountains. One of our favorite bike rides climbs over Stol Pass and along the remote Kolovrat Ridge on the Slovenian–Italian border before descending down one of the best gravel descents in the Alps. On rest days, or after biking or hiking, we’d recommend swimming in the Soča River. The most photographed swimming holes and river access points can get crowded during peak summer, so we’d recommend starting early, exploring some of the less popular trails along the river, and finding your own quieter place for a swim.
# 9. Paddleboarding or swimming in Lake Bled
Lake Bled is a beautiful alpine lake surrounded by forested hills and mountains, with a tiny island and church in the middle. It can get crowded in July and August, but it is considerably quieter in the shoulder seasons. While there, go for a swim or paddle on the lake and hike up to Ojstrica or Mala Osojnica for the classic view over the lake, island, and surrounding mountains.
# 10. Staying on a Slovenian farm
One of the best ways to gain an appreciation for rural Slovenian life is to stay on a local farm. In our experience, Slovenia is one of the easiest parts of the Alps to do this, with many working farms offering campsites and rooms in small inns. We stayed on a working farm with a campground and inn in the Kamnik–Savinja Alps, where we spent a few days surrounded by farm animals, meadows, and limestone cliffs.
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