From mountains to sea

06/30/2017 - 07/09/2017
kuba10
by kuba10

Itinerary:

Day 1 - travel from Prague to Austria/Slovenia borders

Day 2 - Kamnik-Savinja Alps, Logar Valley, Kamnik seat

Day 3 - Big Pasture Plateau, Škofja Loka

Day 4 - Ljubljana

Day 5 - lake Bled, lake Bohinj, slap Savica

Day 6 - climbing Triglav - Dom Planika

Day 7 - climbing Triglav - reaching the top

Day 8 - Kranjska Gora, lake Jasna, Soča Valley, Kanal ob Soči

Day 9 - Koper, Izola, Piran

Day 10 - travel from Piran to Prague

DAY 1-2

The first day in Slovenia took us into Logar Valley. It is beatiful alpine valley in Kamnik-Savinja Alps, that are not as known as Julian Alps, so the number of visitors is not that high and the valley is little forgotten. You need to pay a small fee (7 EUR) to get inside the valley with your car. 

We were climbing to Kamnik seat (1 903 metres). After couple of minutes, we arrived to slap Rinka and wooden "eagle nest". Another possible refreshing spot is chalet Frischauf dom, where you can buy some food or drinks. It is good idea to be refreshed, because afterwards, there is the most difficult part with some climbing and iron ropes. We had no idea, there was a ferrata on the way, but we were able to make it even without ferrata set. The view from Kamnik seat is amazing and you can see valleys on both sides of Kamnik ridge.

DAY 3

Not far from Kamnik-Savinja Alps lies Big Pasture Plateau. The number of visitors increased significantly, because this place is very popular among slovenian families for one day trip. We were sleeping in our car on what seemed last night to be small forgotten parking lot, but in the morning cars started to arrive and park right next to our "accomodation", so we were forced to get up.

The way up is quite steep and in hot summer weather, it is not as easy as we were assuming, but the pastures are almost unreal. The whole place is swimming in green colour and it really looks (unlike other places) exactly like on photos in travel magazines.

The highest point of Big Pasture Plateau is called Gradičše (1 666 metres). It offers splendid view on Kamnik-Savinja Alps ridge and we were able to see Kamnik seat, the place where we were standing yesterday.

To rest a little bit, we were heading to small town close to capital Ljubljana that is called Škofja Loka. It reminds us of czech town Český Krumlov. It is also very pitoresque.

DAY 4 - Ljubljana

Today plan is the capital of Slovenia - Ljubljana. First stop on wandering through Ljubljana is famous Dragon Bridge and Faculty of Law. We took the way beside the river Ljubljanica and stopped by local markets until we got to Triple Bridge, that for me is more charismatic than Dragon Bridge. We crossed the bridge to get to Prešernov trg, where we can admire proudly standing slovenian poet Prešernov with his muse above his head. The square is dominated by typical pink church.

Ljubljana castle is not typical castle, it is mix between historical parts and newly renovated parts, that makes it very interesting. After visiting the castle it is time to rest a little bit and for that purpose Ljubljana has Tivoli park. If you want yo enjoy your coffee with superb view, the good choice is to go to Nebotičnik skyscraper. However waiters were very annoying and a little rude there. We have not finished our coffees yet and waiter was there with the bill. Just a little pressure to finish your coffee as soon as possible, but the view from balcony is worth it.

DAY 5 - lake Bled, lake Bohinj, slap Savica

If you should pick up one part of Slovenia that is on most photos, it would definitely be lake Bled. It took us around 45 minutes by car from Ljubljana. This part is the most popular among tourist, so you should be prepared for more people and for having troubles with parking.

Nevertheless if you decide to walk around the whole lake it takes you about 2 hours and there are more quiet places on the way. Bled with its church on island in the middle of lake and azure water is paradise for photographers. The walk around the lake offers many great spots for taking as many photos from as many  angles as you wish.

Frankly speaking you can skip the castle there, because if you don't want to pay and get inside there is not much to see. We were expecting great view over the lake, but it didn't meet our expectations.

Our schedule is tight today, so we are heading to Bohinj lake and slap Savica. Bohinj lake is more wild than Bled and you can take picture with statue of ibex besides the lake.

DAY 6 - climbing Triglav - Dom Planika (2 408 metres)

There is number of paths you can take if you want to climb the highest mountain of Slovenia Triglav. We chose the one that starts in Pokljuka that is known for biathlon competitions.

To climb Triglav, you should have a ferrata equipment. Some people don't take it anyway. I would say that it is doable without the equpiment, but you would be more confident with the equipment. We didn't want to risk anything and brought it.

Our plan for today was reaching Dom Planika, the chalet 400 metres below the summit, where we had reservation for that night. We started around 1 350 metres and ascended through Studorski preval to Vodnikov Dom ( 1 870 metres). From that point you need to climb around 600 metres to get to Dom Planika that was hidden in fog when we reached it.

The storm hit the chalet when we were in bed, so we were a little worried about the weather for tomorrow's summit climb.

DAY 7 - climbing Triglav - reaching the top

We are getting up at 6 a.m. and looking out from the window with a big relief. There are no clouds and only sun is shining. This day we finally use our ferrata equipment. First part of climb leads to Mali Triglav (2 725 metres). It is not that technically difficult, it took us around 1 hour to get there and we almost didn't need ferata set. 

Afterwards you need to overcome narrow exposed ridge and perhaps even your vertigo. For us it wasn't that scary as written in some travel diaries. The scary part came when we were looking at last section of climbing. Nevertheless climbing that part was not as bad as it looked and around 9:15 we could have enjoyed delight from summit (2 864 metres).

Aljaž tower (shelter in case of storm) is the first thing you see at the top. As you can see from the photos, the weather was just amazing and we could see far, far away.

Day 8 - Kranjska Gora, lake Jasna, Soča Valley, Kanal ob Soči

After exhausting hike to Triglav, it is time for car tourism. We take a road through the heart of Julian Alps. Firstly we go through famous alpine sport center Krajnska Gora, than we go on to beautiful lake Jasná. It is perfect spot for photographers thanks to its clear water, small stream and mountain peaks all around. The lake is tempting for refreshing swimming, but water is bloody cold.

From lake Jasná we take a road up to Vršič pass. The road itself offers several view spots, so you can enjoy amazing mountain scenery of Julian Alps. If you follow the road it takes you into Soča Valley. River Soča is typical for its bright green/blue colour. You can stop on the way, take a short walk or just enjoy alpine scenery at its best.

Day 9 - Koper, Izola, Piran

Next morning was like a nightmare. We couldn’t start our car and were forced to call towing car. Lucky for us, it was just battery that needed to be changed and we could continue to Koper.

First bath in Adriatic Sea was just amazing, because it was hot as hell and after our stop in car service, it was a big releave, that we were able to finish our trip from mountains to sea. After refreshing bath, we continued to the center of Koper, that is quite small and quiet, not crowded with tourists. Izola was a little different, there were more people and we were having a hard time to find parking spot.

Probably the most beautiful port town in Slovenia is Piran. It has charming narrow streets and was the perfect end of our visit in Slovenia. Most people just go through this country on the way to Croatia and did not even stop. After reading this story, I hope you will not do the same mistake.

To finish the story, let me provide you with some tips for local food and drinks.

…and short video from best spots in Slovenia…

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