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 (and one awesome climb!) that Exploring Slovenia did this spring.
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!
Following the weeks of mountaineering in very real 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 blooming sites from three completely different parts of Slovenia I visited last week, each very different, yet wonderful in its uniqueness. Enjoy!
The one place that truly speaks to my soul and that I love during spring is the 1,835-m mountain Golica. Truth be told, it doesn’t really stick out in the 120-km long Karawanks, yet it has something that will blow your mind coming up close. Endless carpets of flowers, mostly daffodils and dandelions. The thick aromatic flowery smell of the wild fills the air, making the hike along the sea of delicate white flowers a feast for the eyes and nose.
Somewhere in the southern Slovenia in the heart of the Goričko, Notranjsko and Snežniško hribovje range, where you’ll also find the largest forested area in the country that among other animals houses also bears, wolves and lynxes, ascends quite modestly Velika Milanja. At 1,099 m, it’s not by far anything grandiose, yet it impresses with a different type of appeal. Its special flora with tall and very particular looking flowers and gentle grasses gives Velika Milanja its own distinctive character, making it appealing to hikers regardless of its modest height. In case you’re wondering, the views around it are beautiful too. 😊Photo by 📸 @simonspilar ...
