As a travel agency owner and mountain guide, I am fortunate to be able to go on many mountain hikes and climbs and see beautiful, hard-to-reach places that many only dream of. Be it a daring climb of Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain, a hike through colorful meadows in the beautifully remote mountains above Jezersko or a dreamy hike in the hills surrounding Lake Bled. We did them all together and it was fucking amazing.
This summer Tracey, a wonderful girl from Australia with whom I shared two amazing climbs, asked me if I ever influence people’s decisions about their tour choice. Leave professional decision-making aside and suggest a suitable mountain tour based on people’s skills and experience. I definitely do. To be honest, I always try to incorporate a bit of my own hiking desires into the decision-making process, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Our customers visit the most beautiful places in every season.
When flowers bloom in the mountains, we make the most beautiful bows between delicate daffodils, crocuses, wild orchids, gentians, edelweiss and many others. When an abundance of rains fills the magic Triglav lakes to the edge and sometimes even beyond, we definitely skip other hikes and go there instead. When it’s time for a breathtaking via ferrata in the mountains, we climb Mala Mojstrovka, but when we want a challenging via ferrata, we dare the brave climb Gradiška Tura although the journey takes much longer than the usual ones nearby. Given that I have been traveling in the Slovenian mountains for several decades, I can confidently say that those who have trusted Exploring Slovenia so far have not been disappointed. Biased or not.
To prove this, here are ten highlights of our best mountain hikes and climbs in the 2023 summer season. Have fun!
Discover Slovenia’s best day hikes:
Stunning Julian Alps
Fairy tale hike in the Karawanken
Goli Vrh above Jezersko
Flower hike on Golica
Krn lakes
When the time is right, a visit to Lake Krn is an absolute must! This picturesque, 300 m long and 150 m wide lake is the largest alpine lake in Slovenia and is nestled between high rocky peaks of the southwestern Julian Alps. Every year we bring our groups there either as part of the 3 day From Bohinj to Soča Valley Trek or as simpler Day hike to Lake Krn from the Soča Valley. This year we even spiced it up with an additional 4-hour climb to a lonely 2,016m peak above Lake Krn, which opened up breathtaking views of two Krn lakes – the Great Krn Lake and its much smaller, but no less beautiful twin named Dupeljsko Jezero.
Discover Slovenia’s best mountain hikes with lake views:
Krn lakes above the Soča valley
7 Triglav Lakes hikes
Dreamy lake view in Jerebica
Velika Planina
On the southern edge of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, about thirty kilometers north of Slovenia’s boutique capital Ljubljana, lies a large alpine plateau called Velika Planina. The place is known not only for its unique shepherds’ settlement, which is probably the oldest still active in Europe, but also for the organic milk treats produced every summer. Locals and tourists alike love it for its long hiking trails, good food and friendly people. But every spring something extraordinary happens: When the snow finally melts sometime in April, small wreaths of crocuses flood the entire plateau, turning much of the landscape purple.
We visited in early May, when the tiny purple crocuses finally managed to peek out from under a blanket of white snow with which the finicky spring weather this year richly decorated our mountains. We continued to return to the vast plains of Velika Planina Throughout the summer we always go on our circular hikes through all the settlements and to the most picturesque places.
Also read:
When Velika Planina dresses in purple
Viewpoints of Lake Bled for a perfect postcard
Fairytale circular hike above Srednji Vrh
Krvavec
As it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen, we head into the mountains in the late afternoon to enjoy empty paths and the bright colors of the sunset in a beautiful location. Krvavec, a high mountain ski resort near Ljubljana, has not only a well-developed road from the valley to the slopes, but also convenient hiking trails. It is also an excellent place to enjoy a sunset at almost 2,000 meters altitude.
Discover Slovenia’s best multi-day hikes:
Triglav from Pokljuka
7 Triglav Lakes Hike
From Bohinj to Soča Trek
The Karawanken crossing
Jerebica
We’re raving about a mountaintop with a beautiful scenic hike and a peak that will literally blow you away! The 2,126 meter high peak of Jerebica The view of the 1,400 m long and 400 m wide glacial lake Rabeljsko Jezero (Eng. Lake Predil) from a thousand meter height that you can only imagine requires spectacular views. Idyllically surrounded by steep mountains that stretch endlessly in all directions, both to Slovenia and Italy and to Austria in the distance, the turquoise Lake Predil seems so surreal that it’s hard to imagine it existing outside of a fairy tale. Perfection in the broadest sense.
Triglav lakes
While Slovenia is generally a green country (hey, it was voted green country). 2016 the world’s first green travel destination!), its Alps are particularly wet. The Julian Alps receive more than 3,200 mm of precipitation per year, making them the wettest Alps in Europe! To put the number into perspective, Hawaii, the wettest state in the US, averages 1,618 mm of rain per year, while California only receives 563 mm. Even if we are lucky with rainfall, summers still get quite hot and a dry spell can therefore largely deplete the otherwise beautiful alpine lakes.
But not this summer. The unusually wet summer brought up to 112% more rain than an average August, 89% more rain in July and 40% more in June. If anything, the insane amounts of rain meant there was plenty of water in the mountains too, and in fact this past summer turned out to be the best time to visit the Triglav Lakes!
Exploring Slovenia’s Triglav Lakes Hikes:
Triglav Lakes – Double Lake
7 Triglav Lakes Hike
Triglav
As the highest, Triglav is one of the most popular mountain hikes/climbs in Slovenia. It is famous for its spectacular 360-degree views, abundant wildlife and a long history of passionate climbers. The nearest Triglav huts, on the other hand, are more known for their cheerful crowds who love to share their daring mountain adventures, enjoy good beer and even play the accordion and guitar to get people dancing.
Like every year, this summer was no exception Explore Slovenia. We took groups with us Triglav From early summer snow to unexpected mid-summer snowfalls and severe thunderstorms in between. Fun conditions and perfect adventures!
Read about Triglav in the blog
Climbing Triglav in summer on our favorite route
Climb Triglav with children
Make Triglav a winter climb
Discover Slovenia’s best guided Triglav climbs:
Triglav, scenic route
Triglav via ferrata
Triglav, the Slovenian route
Debela Peč
Almost 2,000 meters high, directly opposite the Triglav, in a narrow and more than 1,000 meter deep glacial valley, impressive mountains rise with breathtaking views. One of these peaks is Debela Peč And if you know which route to take, the hike can be quite short and pleasant. We’ve done it so many times this year that I’ve lost track, and yet every single hike has been insanely beautiful.
Join us on one Guided day hike to Debela Peč
The via ferrata to Mala Mojstrovka
Named after its builder Ivan Vertelj – Hanza, this via ferrata to one of the most fascinating mountains above Kranjska Gora was built in 1928 as a direct route there Mala Mojstrovka from the then Yugoslavian side of the Rapallo border (officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). A quick note on history: In the years 1920 to 1947, among other things, the western part of Slovenia was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy with the Treaty of Rapallo, so that the Vršič Pass was right on the border between the two kingdoms.
Short info: 720 m ascent, 5 hours there and back
Tours of Mala Mojstrovka:
Via Ferrata ascent to Mala Mojstrovka
Classic hike to Mala Mojstrovka
My favorite climb to Mala Mojstrovka last summer? As four women bonded throughout the tour, chatting and laughing heartily. My apologies to all the unfortunate men out there who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… 🙂
Gradiška Tura
It is located in the southwest of Slovenia and is relatively far from Bled and the mountains. Nevertheless, it is no less fascinating with the view of the vineyards and rolling hills of Vipava. There are actually two separate via ferratas that lead to the summit Gradiška Tura, 793 m but involves a short 5-minute hike; the second begins slightly below the end of the first. After a short hike in the forest, you reach the first Furlan route, whose climb of more than an hour gradually prepares you for the second route – the more difficult Otmar route. Another hour-long climb immediately challenges you with a tough climb up a vertical wall with a slight overhang, but once you’re over it, you’ll experience a beautiful adventure in sunlit steeps.
Short info: 600 m ascent, 5 hours there and back
Guided via ferrata to Gradiška Tura
Zelenica hut
As much as I love hiking in remote places with no infrastructure or people, there is a small part of my heart that jumps with joy when I take a scenic but easy trail, meet equally enthusiastic hikers, and eat well in a cabin. Let’s round off this year’s mountain guide season with an easy, family-friendly hike in the Karawanken with a maximum of 8 km and 650 meters in altitude, which leads to two huts.
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