Adventure

After a long summer, spent mostly guiding in the mountains, it’s nice to just sit back and look at how the sun lures hikers out and about while the rain again sends them back into the comfort of home. The fast every day work – life routine changes for a couple of hours or, if we are lucky, days, and we get to rush outside to enjoy ourselves. It feels almost like pressure to maximize a sunny weekend, collecting memories which will undoubtedly fade rather sooner than later in this rushed way of life. 

Instead, breathe in and take a step back. Go outdoors to recharge, to soak up the tranquility of mother nature and its wonderful creations, and to return back home feeling positive and energized.

As fog creeps into the sleepy valleys, hiding its browning trees, the cold whitens the mountain tops in the surrounding Alpine ranges, and the daylight shortens, one thing is certain. The carefree mountaineering summer season is finished. The mountains now demand more planning and more weight on the backs, nonetheless, the best days are only yet to come. The changing colors of the fall have turned the mountains, rich in larch forests, completely golden, and the copious rainfall will soon replenish the Alpine streams and lakes after a long hot summer. Read about the best autumn hikes in the Julian Alps and Karavanke.

Hidden behind a long Alpine valley and a gorge with plummeting waterfalls and a winding narrow road going through rock-carved tunnels, is the high and steep eastern part of the Košuta massif. Measuring ten kilometers in length, Košuta is the longest mountain in Slovenia that boasts twelve peaks of over 2K meters. If the western side of the massif is popular with hikers due to its accessibility and relatively easy trails, among frequently visited peaks being Mt. Kofce and Veliki Vrh, the eastern side seems more remote and mysterious. Read about a beautiful sunset in the mountains on the top of Mt. Košutnikov Turn.

As we drive close to the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, heavy raindrops slowly dwindle and thick black clouds tear apart offering a peek of the mountains. Velika Planina, a high Alpine plateau on the Alps’ southern rim just 30 kilometers from Ljubljana, had just started to show some greenish hues in its vast brown fields after a long winter, yet in less than two months cows from the neighboring villages will be already grazing in those highland pastures. In April, however, as the snow melts away, Velika Planina is well-known for something else. Carpets of purple crocuses break out every year, turning Velika Planina into a blooming place straight out of a fairy tale!

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

I’ve walked in the fairytale mountains above Lake Bohinj and between my first and second attempt to climb the 1,761-m peak Mt. Pršivec I realized something; to hike in that area you have to understand the background. Its remoteness nestled among towering mountains has shaped the locals over the centuries, giving them the skills to not only master the surrounding peaks but even conquer Mt. Triglav as the first. Tackling any trail in their playground might thus bring unexpected hiccups like a section of expert terrain on a trail marked as easy. Yet, dreamy views and the adventure will leave you craving for more.

Way up high – above the lively Alpine town of Kranjska Gora, a glacial valley with a mountain stream, the evergreen fir forests and an escarpment that ends with some of the highest mountains in Slovenia – is a comfortable 1,562-meter peak which offers a safe hike even in winter. The trail to get there narrows from a broad valley to a forest which ends quite unexpectedly on an open flat top. We gasped at the sight. Perhaps even more than the tall peaks, this rather low peak opens to sublime views and lets you soak up the intense history of the place and magic of the Alps without risking too much on the way.

Read about Visoki Mavrinc, a beautiful and safe hike above Kranjska Gora.

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 hiking options in the Soča Valley and it would be wrong to think that one could only get a kick out of the river. While the Soča truly is spectacular and deserves the attention, the Soča Valley is just so much more; it’s interwoven with various hiking trails that bring us either high up into the Alpine world, or to hidden waterfalls, meadows with wooden houses out of a fairy tale, gorgeous lakes, and even mysterious remains of the WWI.

Let’s dive in the best hikes in the Soča Valley.

Exploring Slovenia’s best guided treks in the Soča Valley:
Krn lakes above the Soča Valley
7 Triglav Lakes (3 days; departure from Bled / Bovec)
Soča Valley and the Alps (6 days; departure from Bled / Bovec)
From Bohinj to Soča Valley Trek (3 days; departure from Bled / Bovec)

Close your eyes and listen for a moment. Did you hear loud voices from the road outside? Or a faint rumble of a home appliance? In an ever-louder noisy world of the valley one needs a sporadic retreat to the silent world of amazingly wild and incredibly remote mountains. To lie down in an empty Alpine meadow, bask in the warmth, and daydream to the light symphony of birdsong and distant whistles of a chamois guarding its territory. There is no need for silence but only to become in sync with nature, whose vague silhouette we can barely still recognize in the cities.

Whether you live here or are planning just a short visit, here is a list of the best twelve beginner-to-advanced hikes and climbs in Slovenia I’ve done this summer. Maybe you’ll find an intriguing idea for a bad-ass family outdoor adventure or maybe you’ll head for a romantic getaway high up in the mountains. Either way, while you’re huffing and puffing your way to the top, stop for a bit to reflect and appreciate how divinely different the Alpine world actually is. Serene and tranquil.

Here are twelve beautiful mountain hikes and climbs in Slovenian Alps. Enjoy!

Being the owner of a hiking agency, an UIAA guide and a big mountain enthusiast, I get this question a lot: what hiking gear do I need for the Slovenian mountains. However, the answer is not so straightforward and you’ll have to understand Slovenia’s local conditions first. Anyway, I’ll try to lead you through all the factors that influence the decision on what to pack for the mountains and present you with a list of gear to pack when going hiking in Slovenia.

Following the weeks of mountaineering in winter conditions, I wanted the past week to be different. Warm, pleasant and colorful. As it happens, our little green country is fortunate to have three different types of climate, and when the first flowers only start to bud in one place, spring is already in full swing in another place. 

Barring some occasional drizzles, late winter was pretty dry not leaving nature as spectacular for wildflowers as usual. But since nature is slowly awakening as the proverbial rainy month has only just started, flower lovers can already see the first spring blooms in a few sites. Here are three beautiful spring hikes in Slovenia, located in three completely different parts of the country, and are known for their flower booms in early spring. I visited all three last week and each is very different, yet wonderful in its uniqueness. Enjoy!

Exploring Slovenia’s best spring hikes:
Stunning Julian Alps
Golica and endless fields of daffodils
Fairytale hike in Karavanke
Velika Planina and crocuses