This was one of our most highly (literally) anticipated Slovenian secret places to visit as soon we heard about it.. a tree top walk in the forest on top of a mountain with a helter skelter to slide down.. what is there not to get excited about?!

When you actually see the name of this place in Slovenian though.. and we are not gonna try to write or say it.. you will see why it took us so long to actually go visit here.. we just didn't have a clue where it was.. someone told us it was near Maribor and it is quite a way off so we finally found out it was on top of a mountin ski resort called Rogla.. so that is where we headed.

You can clearly see here exactly why we just call it the Tree Top Walk!!!

And Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls.. Rogla was so fantastic we realised it was a whole mini region of fun Green activities so we did another secret place to visit article about the whole mini region and called it Rock n Roll Rogla.. there are really a lot of amazing places you could combine with a daytrip to Rogla and the Tree Top Walk.

Ok, so you turn off the motorway between Ljubljana and Maribor at a town that we call Horseville, but in Slovenian is Slovenska Konjice, sorry about that, but that really is the name! From there just follow all signs to Rogla and drive up the fab, wide, curvy mountain road to the top, 1,562m up!

There are ski lifts and hotels all over the place up here and a long road with spaces all along to park at.. you won't miss the Tree Top Walk, the tower looks a bit like a huge car park in the sky! There is a visitor centre over the road and you go in here to access the walk and then go onto the walkway bridge over the road.

this is a proper viewing tower in the forest on top of a mountain..

There is a company that builds these places all around Europe, some in Germany and this brand new one in Slovenia.. we couldn't help thinking that they would have a real struggle in Germany to beat the amazing nature they have up here on Rogla in Green Slovenia.

The only other Tree top walks we had done before were in Singapore and Australia and the Aussie one had been very high up and on a walkway best described as a circus wire! This Rogla walkway does go very high into the tree tops, but it is also designed as a nature learning experience for kids, so the walkways are wide and solid wood.. nothing to be scared about.

There are many viewpoints and angles to enjoy from up here, but the highlight.. literally.. is the big car park at the end.. you walk around and up and up and around to the top wooden platform with this massive metal tube spiralling down the centre of the structure.

this is not an industrial pipe sending treacle into tins.. YOU slide down HERE!!

Don't forget to pick up a mat as you get to the start of boardwalk up the structure, (there are some spare ones at the top if you do change your mind). The boardwalk curves around this long bendy human sized tube and once at the top you can decide to pay a few extra Euros and put your feet in what can be best described as a shiny sack, then glide off to be swallowed by the hole, hurtling down this metal tube screaming wildly to your certain death!

It seems that miraculously most people do survive this Slovenian helter skelter forest experience.. having got stuck on various kiddies fairground helter skelters and waterslides in the past and being scared of heights, the heavier member of your Lipizzaner Lodge team was absolutely petrified about getting stuck halfway down this massive tube.. but he did it none the less!

Make sure that if you are with someone else you talk to them through the tube when you are at the top and they have slid to the bottom and you will hear them around 40 metres below you as if they were standing by your side!

The word "awesome" is only used by those proponents of the English language who do not know the word "fan dabi dozi", well this ride was truly fan dabi dozi!! It might be the closest you get to going down a wormhole or a through black hole in space!

one of us was very excited about going down the pipe.. the other was terrified!!

It left us buzzing all the way to the exit and we heartily recommend you give this slide a whirl. You walk through a well stocked shop with really decent souvenirs to buy, which is not always the case yet in Slovenia.. so you might be able to get your locally made Slovenian trinket here as well.

It is perfectly possible to do the Tree Top walk AND maybe go hike to the uberamazing Magical Mountain Ponds on top of Rogla AND go see the equally uberamazing Zice monastery fortress in the same daytrip from Lipizzaner Lodge, but we certainly hope you tuck your phone tightly into your pants, secure your glasses, hold onto your wig and GO DO THE TREE TOP WALK HELTER SKELTER!