Mountains
When you arrive at Lipizzaner Lodge you will be greeted with the same mountain view that persuaded us inside 10 seconds that this was the perfect spot for our dream guesthouse.
Our lovely local Nanos mountain is 1,313m high and there are several ways to the top, depending on your time and agility. From the plateau at the top you can see Venice on a good clear day, but also across to the Italian Dolomites, the Adriatic sea and back across the Postojna valley into the heart of Green Slovenia.
You can also use different modes of transport to go up the last Slovenian mountain before the Italian and Slovenian coast. You could E Bike or cycle up or even drive up or take one of many different hiking routes.
There is also a cafe up top for refreshments and this is a common feature up top many Slovenian mountains with either a cafe or even a restaurant up there where you can often get gulasch or sausage soup.
Slovenia is blessed with 4 Alpine regions and Nanos is the unmistakeable start of the Dinaric Alps, which spread down into the Balkon coastal hinterlands.
The other three are bigger more traditional Alps, being the Julian Alps, the Kamnik Alps and the Karavanka Alps. These mountains dominate the north and north west of Slovenia whereas the ones in the south are smaller and greener..
this side of Nanos..
The highest peak in the south is called Šneznik (Snow Mountain) (60 mins away) and at 1,796m is usually snow capped and has a volcano shaped peak.. you can see this mountain clearly from some of the Lodge windows or balconies!
Just like Nanos, Sneznik is a very popular hike with Slovenians and another excellent viewing point across to the coast. You can find some of the oldest, densest forest in Europe towards Sneznik and it is also the only forest in Europe to hide the big three carnivores, bears, wolves and Lynx!
Lipizzaner Lodge is pretty much surrounded by little mountains, with many exciting local hikes to try. St Lawrence, (10 mins away) at 1,019m, dominates the view from the Lipizzaner Lodge car park. We call this climb the "Stairway to Heaven", as the hike from the bottom is like going up a massive staircase.. from the top you get an amazing view of the Postojna valley and up to the north where Mt Triglav 2,864m, Slovenia's highest peak in the Julian Alps stands.
To get a great view of Europe's biggest disappearing at lake Cerknica, try the lovely walk up Mt Slivnica, aka Witches Mountain, (25 mins away) 1,114m.
There is a mysterious witches cave at the top of this mountain and a cafe.. the hike up is relatively steep to start with, but then flattens out and is another very popular with the locals.. (we keep mentioning if walks are popular with locals as these tend to be the great hikes)!
There are lots of other local mountains topping 1,000m, each offering something different for your day out hiking.
Perhaps the very best all round views on offer are from the top of the 1,027m Vremscica (weather) mountain, so named as one side of the path up is in the Mediterranean, the other side is Continental Europe!
There are so many different features to see from the top here, all the Alps, the Vipava wine valley, the massive hole in the ground at Skocjan cave, the Adriatic sea and a wonderful audience with Mt Sneznik as you walk back down!
It might not be so high, but Weather mountain provides perfect views, just across from Nanos and you can also decide which side of the path to sit and eat your sandwich.. the sunny side or the cooler side!
The long Nanos plateau has Lipizzaner Lodge, Predjama castle and the Postojna cave on one side and the Vipava Wine valley , Skocjan cave and Lipica on the other. The high ridges form a huge rock wall all the way to the Julian Alps and are the main reason so many ancient hiking routes and roads leading from central Europe to the west of Europe come close to Landol and skirt past Nanos to avoid the mountains.
on the Other side of Nanos..
Just around the corner on the other side of Nanos and easily accesible by motorway, you might want to climb Caven (25 mins), 1,242m, one of the highest peaks along this ridge.. you can get an excellent view down across the beautiful Vipava valley, with vineyards, little hills with castles, villages and churches on top and the red terracotta roofs of the Mediterranean.. also look out for the paragliders that literally "hang around" up here at your elevated eye level!
You could also drive up another way through the forest behind Predjama castle on a fab secret stone road to the other side of Nanos and another beautiful mountain plateau with great vistas and a really great hike that takes you to the Okno, (window), (35 mins away), which offers an easy 40 minute hike to a 7 x 5 metre high natural stone window overlooking the Vipava valley from over 1,000m up!
the Julian Alps..
Due to our fantastic location , you can approach the largest Slovenian mountain range from both sides.. the Soca side and the Bled side easily in one day out.. So can choose which natural Green attractions you prefer to see today either on the Bled - Bohinj - Kranka Gora side or the Bovec - Kobarid - Soca - Tolmin side!
Drive up through the Vipava valley from the Lodge and you are whisked into the Lower and Upper Soca valleys where the Julian Alps flank the most beautiful river in Europe!
The Soca river is a playground for Green nature lovers and there are numerus options for exploring the mountains here with the backdrop below of this stunning turquoise river..
There is a lovely short mountain hike above the Tolmin Gorge to a secret mountain cafe and you could also explore further around here for fabulous walks around Drevnisca or to the Javor mountain church..
The road splits after Bovec with the main route across from the Soca side to the Bled side of these Alps is the unpronounceable Vrsic Pass, with no end of hikes and adventures along the way..
Go right from Bovec, following the Soca and you could enjoy one of the very best loopy day trips from the Lodge, going up over the stunning Vrsic pass 1,611m and back around to the Lodge via the lakes.. what a day!
We really recommend this long day trip driving adventure from the Lodge completing a loop up through the Soca valley following the river up into the Julian Alps, going over the amazing Vrsic pass and then returning to the Lodge on the motorway past lake Bled and Ljubljana..
But go left after Bovec and close by is Slovenia's highest road at 2,072m on the way to the top of Slovenia's 3rd highest peak, Mangart, (120 mins away), 2,677m at the top. This is a great option if you want to drive into the clouds.
If you don't turn off for Mangart and keep on the main road you get to the wonderful Predil fortress, the Italian border and access to the fantastic Predil lake, which is surrounded by stunning mountains..
Going the other way, you could zip up the motorway and be past Bled in a little over an hour from the Lodge to reach the other side of the Julian Alps and at Bled there is a wonderful view from the cliff top castle over the mountains.
There are only a few cable car rides up mountains in Slovenia and just down the road from Bled is the Vogel cable car at lake Bohinj.. the views from Vogel over the lake are fantastic and there is plenty of hiking on top of this 1,922m mountain.
Further up towards Kranska Gora there is a beautiful little town called Mojstrana with a lake and the "Triglav Gate" road, which is where you go up for the shortest ascent of Triglav.. But half way up this road do not miss out on the mini hike up to the fantastic Pericnik waterfall as an intro to exploring this mountaineous region!
Or maybe do the fab hike up to the 2 waterfalls of Martuljek Gozd (forest) that you can start from the village of Martuljek on the way to Kranska Gora.
Triglav is the highest Slovenian mountain at 2,684m.. It means "3 heads" as it has 3 peaks and is a very popular climb with locals and visitors alike.. so think about it.. don't turn up in July to climb Triglav and complain there are a lot of climbers!!
There are 30 mountains in Slovenia above 2,000m so you have plenty of choice!
the Karavanka Alps..
You can also see the largest Karavanka mountain Stol 2,236m from lake Bled too. These Alps spread across the whole top half of Slovenia and are shared with Austria, so you might hear about queues or problems in the "Karavanka tunnel", (which brings the motorway from Austria into Slovenia), on the traffic news until they finally build the second tunnel!
One of the biggest and most beautiful mountains here is Peca, 2,125m where it is rumoured King Mathias is sleeping in a cave and will come to rescue Slovenia when the time comes!
Below Peca is the industrial, but rocking town of Mezica, we call Mexico and more importantly has a wonderful Mine tour there.. in fact it is the only mine in Europe where you could kayak in the morning and bike in the afternoon.. there is also a fantastic walking tour there and you get to go down the mine in the same "Indiana Jones" like carts they used for the mining of metals for batteries.
the Kamnik Alps..
Green Slovenia's third range of Alps centres below the Karavanka Alps and above the pretty town of Kamnik and are called the Kamnik Savina Alps. The beautiful Savinja river starts its journey flopping off the top of the huge Rinka waterfall in the magical Logar valley, (Logarska Dolina), a paradise for hiking in these mountains.
You could even do an amazing roundtrip from Logar, via Mezica into Austria and do a short cut across the Karavanka Alps to go up another fantastic pass road and drop back into Slovenia and the Kamnik Alps at the beautiful Jezersko Lake.
Our favourite mountain is here and actually, on a sunny, clear early September day when the cows are still munching the grass, there is no beter place in Green Slovenia to be than up Velika Planina, Big Mountain Meadow, or "Heaven on Earth" as we call it! (and that is saying something)!
There is a cable car (70 mins from the Lodge) up and then you can hike to the meadow or take the ski lift to the cafe, but the best bit can be seen from the very top at 1,666m.. the panorama from this huge flat meadow is sensational with views across to the other Kamnik mountains and . if you reached out you could almost touch them.. and you can even see Nanos from up here on a good day!
But look behind and in the distance you can see a Hobbit like village with perfect wooden huts and cows wandering around jingling their bells! You are drawn there like a magnet and this is one mountain hike you must not miss!
We also found another set of hikes up to both Big Mountain Meadow and Little Mountain Meadow, (which isn't so little of course), and you can read about how to hike from the other side of Velika Planina here.
We didn't realise the Kamnik Alps extended so far down towards Celje and Maribor, but the remnants form the very impressive Rogla mountain at 1,517m, which is another one of those big lumps of rock with a huge flat bit on top! We were so impressed to find the Tree Top walk up here and one of the very best and surprising hikes in Green Slovenia to the Magical Mountain Ponds!
Best view of ALL Alps from Mt Blegos in the Poljana Valley..
If you are looking for another sensationally secret mountain, then check Blegos at 1,562m in the stunning Poljane valley, (Poljanska Dolina).. the drive up here from the river base near the pretty old town of Skofja Loka is vertical at times through little villages to a ski slope where you could ditch the car and take E Bikes to the top of the mountain in green paradise..
The view from the top of Blegos is nothing short of sensational.. it is like the big three Slovenian Alps have just turned up for a job interview and are sat there quietly in front of you, waiting for you to ask a sensible question!
As you cycle up along the perfect stone forest tracks there is a great view across to Triglav and Blegos is another one of those mountains you might not have heard about, but should seriously consider!
French Connection en Slovenie