Alpine Resorts’ cabins: Slovenia’s mountain stay on Velika Planina

Set in one of Slovenia’s most beautiful locations, on a large alpine plateau called Velika Planina, these comfortable cabins run by Alpine Resorts are only a short hike away from the nearest parking lot or chair lift, and the area offers various hiking options. 

As the sun was announcing a new day, coming out shyly from behind the mountains, the old shepherds’ settlement of 64 enchanting oval wooden huts lit up in the most vibrant colors. First, the sun stroked the topmost huts, each inside a cute wooden fence where the cows used to rest after grazing. Then slowly the whole settlement lit up and the first purple spring flowers playfully brightened the freshly green meadows. A glimpse of heaven, I thought.

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Twelve Hikes in the Soča Valley in Slovenian Mountains

IN Family hiking , Hiking , Hiking blog , Hiking in Soča Valley , Julian Alps

Beautiful and rugged, the Soča Valley has an otherworldly charm. The Soča River of a striking turquoise emerald color snakes through this theatrical valley, forming gorges, crystalline pools and coves, whereas the surrounding hills and mountains rise in a near-to-vertical manner with countless waterfalls plummeting down the steep walls. The drive through the valley is just an hour long, yet it seems that every side road takes you to even more spectacular places, tightly tucked away from the mainstream attractions. One would need weeks if not months to visit all the beautiful places that the Soča Valley has to offer.

I feel fortunate to have visited the Soča Valley numerous times in the past with the last visit a couple of weeks ago. Based on my past scoutings I’ve prepared a list of recommended hikes in the Soča Valley, from rolling meadows, to beautiful waterfalls, hikes along crystal-clear rivers or to the gorgeous mountains and alpine lakes in the surrounding Triglav National Park.

Here is a list of hikes in the Soča Valley that you absolutely shouldn’t miss if you love hiking in pristine nature.

As the sun sparkles over the emerald green Soča River, which winds from its source at 990 meters above Trenta all the way to the Adriatic Sea at Italy’s Trieste, the surrounding hills and mountains call for an adventure. There are numerous options in the Soča Valley and it would be wrong to think that one would only visit it for the river. While the Soča River is truly spectacular, the Soča Valley is so much more! It is interwoven with various hiking trails that bring us either high up into the alpine world, or to hidden waterfalls, gorgeous lakes, and mysterious remains of WWI.
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Our Mountains 2023 in Pictures

IN Hiking blog , mountains , New Year Blog , News

As the lights on the Christmas tree are twinkling, the snow is glistening from the mountain peaks, and we are eagerly glancing at the sky not to miss the first snowflakes, our hearts fill with love and expectations. Heart-warming childhood memories rush back and we dream of the moments that we could be as free as when we were kids. Many of us have found freedom in the mountains, many in the forest near home, and many in dancing, gardening, traveling and more. Regardless of how busy our lives may be, it’s absolutely essential to keep on searching for those moments of freedom. 

Our dear co-adventurers, who like ourselves look for those moments in the mountains, here is a selection of the best pictures from Exploring Slovenia’s hiking and climbing tours in 2023. Enjoy and hopefully we’ll see each other again on the trail!

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Twenty photos to inspire you to climb Mangart

Here are twenty photos and a story about how we tackled to climb Mangart. Enjoy!

Beautiful and rugged, the Julian Alps have unbelievable charm. Towering mountains, boulders scattered along long scree slopes under unforgiving crumbly limestone walls, streams plunging into sudden gorges. Yet in between all that, you’ll find soft sun-stroked meadows which explode with colorful wild flowers in the summer, enchanting forests and high peaks with hypnotic views. The northwestern Julian Alps might even be the most photogenic corner of the Slovenian mountains, and Mangart, the third highest peak of Slovenia, together with the highest road to its Mangart Saddle at 2,055 meters their very best gems. 

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Fairytale loop hike above Srednji Vrh

IN Adventure , Alps , Autumn hiking , Hiking , Hiking blog , Karavanke , mountains , Winter hiking

As we were driving towards the mountains, the soft morning light, caught in the forested slopes of the Karavanke mountains on the right and the craggy peaks of the Julian Alps on the left, added to the vibrancy of a beautiful autumn day. The contrast between the freshly covered snow-capped peaks and the explosion of colors in the forest lower down was mesmerizing. Anything from virgin white to bright green, red, yellow and orange-brown, all set against a clear blue sky with an occasional streak of fog still lingering in the fresh air. The kind of perfection that can only be seen right after a good long downpour.

The most beautiful view of the Julian Alps from Srednji Vrh , a tiny village located 7 km from Kranjska Gora

Check out our guided hike here: Fairytale hike in the Karavanke Alps

Snowy Špik as seen from Srednji Vrh
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Best mountain hikes in Slovenia

As an owner of a touring agency and a mountain guide I feel fortunate to be able to do many mountain climbs and hikes in Slovenia and see beautiful hard-to-reach places that many only dream about. Whether it’s a daring ascent of Triglav, the highest Slovenian mountain, wandering among colorful meadows in the beautifully remote mountains above Jezersko, or a dreamy hike in the hills around Lake Bled. We’ve done all of them together and it’s been pretty damn awesome.

This past summer, Tracey, a wonderful gal from Australia, whom I shared two great via Ferratas with, asked me if I ever influence people’s decisions about which tour to select. Put aside professional decision making to suggest an appropriate mountain tour based on people’s skills and experience, I most definitely do. To be honest, I always try to push a bit of my own hiking wishes into the decision process and that is not necessarily a bad thing either. Our clients end up visiting all the best places in any given moment of the season. 

When flowers bloom in the mountains, we do the most beautiful loops among fragile daffodils, crocuses, wild orchids, gentians, edelweiss and many others. When an abundance of rainfall fills the enchanting Triglav Lakes up to the brim and sometimes even over, we absolutely skip other hikes and go there instead. When it’s time to do a breathtaking via Ferrata in the mountains, we climb Mala Mojstrovka, but when we want a challenging via Ferrata, we go for the bold climb to Gradiška Tura even if the drive takes much longer than the mainstream ones nearby. Given the fact that I’ve been going around Slovenian mountains for a couple of decades, I can confidently say that those who have trusted Exploring Slovenia so far have not been disappointed. Biased or not.

To prove that, here are ten highlights of our best mountain hikes and climbs in the summer season 2023. Enjoy!

Exploring Slovenia’s best day hikes:
Stunning Julian Alps
Fairytale hike in Karavanke
Goli Vrh above Jezersko
Flower hike on Golica

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Hiking in the Julian Alps among flowers, a lake and stunning views: Jerebica

To be quite honest, I had been eyeing this peak for years. A moderately demanding day hike in the Julian Alps, whose peak opens up to absolutely stunning views of a lake. Mt. Jerebica is a beautiful hike throughout, but its top will literally blow your mind away as it faces the 1,400-m long and 400-m wide glacial Rabeljsko Jezero (Eng. Lake of Predil) from a thousand meters above. Yet, as much as I devote my life to the mountains, Jerebica has always managed to slip by somehow. A couple of years ago I even attempted to hike it but failed badly due to the lack of preparation. Yes, one wrong turn right at the beginning of the trail can eventually lead you into a maze of wide and deep Karst holes and cracks instead of taking you to the comfortable grass-covered peak with a view of a turquoise lake. However, once I did manage to climb Jerebica – I was not disappointed! 

Here’s what you need to know about the hike in the Julian Alps above a beautiful lake.

View from Mt. Jerebica of Lake of Predil

Exploring Slovenia’s favored summer high mountain hikes:
Dreamy lakeview Jerebica
Triglav viewpoint hike
Stunning Julian Alps hike
Climb Triglav from Pokljuka

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Seven lush, green and fragrant mountain hikes in Slovenia

As the season turns around and we are suddenly faced with high temperatures and lots of hot sun, it’s nice to look back and daydream about the awesome mountain adventures you’ve done in the past months. Due to a colder start of the spring, the nature remained in its snooze mode for a couple of weeks longer this year, but once it finally did wake up, it was freaking insane! I’d never seen so many daffodils in the mountains before, nor had the mid-elevation peaks looked so lush and verdant in early June.

Let’s go through the most memorable mountain hikes in Slovenia (and one awesome climb!) that we explored together this spring.

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Slovenia in spring: from flowers to snow in six hiking trips

There’s that special moment in the year when we get to see two seasons overlap. Lively birds singing, trees blossoming and the first flowers announcing the arrival of warmer spring days down in the valleys. However, higher up in the mountains the strong north winds and freezing temperatures still hold a firm hold over the white mountaintops. The best of spring and winter in the great outdoors is right here, it’s just a matter of us grasping it or not. 

To that extent I’ve been fortunate to walk endless greening meadows speckled with wild marsh tulips, hike along rolling hills carpeted with purple crocuses, and see the trees coming into leaf along a vibrant small gorge. Over a thousand meters higher, on the other hand, I enjoyed snowshoeing in half a meter of fresh snow up to incredible mountain peaks, while also climbing safely to a white peak with views of both Slovenia and Austria. 

Here are five memorable spring hikes in the Slovenian Alps and the hillside close to Ljubljana that I’ve done; some you can do easily with your family and friends, and some are preferably reserved for the more experienced hikers or in company of a certified guide. Either way, enjoy the pictures and the gorgeous first days of spring and the last of winter!

Crocuses bloom every spring on Martinj Vrh

Exploring Slovenia’s best spring hikes:
Flower hike on Golica
Velika Planina and crocuses
Goli Vrh above Jezersko

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Best of Soča Valley in winter: from skiing, panoramic hiking to frozen waterfalls

With the winter school break in sight and two kids in tow bursting with energy, it was high time to plan a decent family vacation. We had practically tried all ski resorts in Slovenia already and some across the border in Italy and Austria as well, but nothing really appealed. Not with school-break crowds there anyway. Then it dawned on me. The Soča Valley, the long valley of the emerald green Soča River in northwestern Slovenia with a high-mountain ski resort and countless hiking trails, might be a tiny bit too celebrated in summer, but is highly overlooked in winter! No crowds, just lounging in perfection of the high mountains and expansive panoramas, hiking on empty sunny trails and exploring numerous frozen waterfalls in this spectacular and secluded valley. 

Sounds idyllic, right?!

I booked an apartment in Bovec, which would place us strategically for our planned winter fun: 2 minutes away from the cable car to the Kanin Ski Resort, 5 minutes from two beautiful and easy panoramic hikes, 13 minutes from the Great Soča Gorge, and 13 minutes from the Loška Koritnica Valley, a valley of a hundred waterfalls. Sure, Bovec doesn’t offer any spa resorts or any other means for idle pampering to be exact, but, honestly, we weren’t even looking for that. Being surrounded with so much beauty and outdoor options was enough for my family. 

Explore Soča Valley:
Twelve hikes in the Soča Valley in Slovenian mountains
A glimpse of WWI on a stunning traverse from Bohinj to the Soča
Where to hike around the Soča Valley in amazing western Slovenia
From Bohinj to Soča Valley Trek

 As the sun sparkles over the emerald green Soča River, which winds from its source at 990 meters above Trenta all the way to the Adriatic Sea at Italy’s Trieste, the surrounding hills and mountains call for an adventure. There are endless options in the Soča Valley and it would be wrong to think that one would only visit it for the river. While the Soča is truly spectacular and deserves our attention, the Soča Valley is just so much more; it is interwoven with various hiking trails that bring us either high up into the Alpine world, or to hidden waterfalls, gorgeous lakes, mysterious remains of WWI, and even the highest-lying ski resort in Slovenia.
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