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 to build our little dream hotel.

Our lovely local Nanos mountain is 1,313m high and there are several ways to the top, depending on your time, agility or mode of transport! From the top plateau 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.

 

From the highest point at Suhi Vrh, (Dry Top) you get a unique audience with the Julian Alps over the other side of the country, but near neighbours here in the sky!

There are several routes to hike up Nanos, the last Slovenian mountain before the Italian and Slovenian coasts. Or you could E Bike or cycle up and even drive to the little cottage restaurant near the telecom masts.

It is quite a common feature up top many Slovenian mountains to have a cafe or even a restaurant up there where you can often get a gulasch or sausage soup. These warm welcoming places are referred to locally as a Koča, (cottage) and come in all shapes & sizes..

 

In English we might describe them as a mountain hut, shack, cafe or restaurant too, depending on what comfort levels they have on offer!

We always recommend bringing a sandwich just in case the "Koca" is closed when you arrive on top of the mountain and a huge tip is to NOT rely on a website saying the Koca on your particular mountain for tomorrow's hike is open.. ALWAYS GIVE THEM A CALL to double check!    

 

There are 4 Alps in Green Slovenia!

Slovenia is blessed with 4 Alpine regions and Nanos is the unmistakable start of the Dinaric Alps, which spread 700km down into the Balkon coastal hinterlands.

The other three Alps are bigger more traditional "mid sized European Alps", being the Julian Alps, the Kamnik Alps and the Karavanka Alps.

 

These mountains dominate the north and north west of Slovenia, about an hour's drive from the Lodge, whereas the Dinarics here in the south are smaller and greener..

But never forget how rinky dinky small Green Slovenia actually is, so these main three Alps are geographically not that far from each other and depending upon which peak you go up, pretty much anywhere in Slovenia, you should get a great view of the other Alps too!

 

So now we will explain a bit about AND list a few highlights for the numerous mountain experiences you can get here in the greenest country in Europe!

But one of the main functions of this website is to help visitors open their eyes to AND discover the HUGE amount of secret Green places hidden all over the place, that will be pretty much empty & unknown outside Slovenia, but nevertheless, gobsmackingly beautiful & worth you knowing about!

So we will not be wasting time on places like Mt Triglav, for example, (the highest mountain in Slovenia), cos there will be lots of excellent and not so excellent articles about climbing up it and numerous trips to join for the phone monkeys, so you just don't need any extra help from us to follow that particular crowd!!

 

Let's start with the Dinaric Alps.. this side of Nanos..

Nanos is a huge wall & rock barrier that separates our Green Karst region from the Vipava Valley and the Red Karst over the other side in the Mediterranean..

Nanos is pretty much where the Dinaric mountains start, certainly the main player and where many people start epic journeys & pilgrimages deep down into the Balkons..

Here in the Green Karst, the highest peak in the south of Slovenia is Mt Šneznik (Snow Mountain) (60 mins away) and at 1,796m is usually snow capped and has a stunning triangular, volcano shaped peak.. you can see this mountain clearly from several of the upper Lodge windows or balconies!

 

Just like Nanos, Sneznik is a very popular hike with Slovenians and another excellent viewing point across to the coast. It is also on the border with Istrija, so you can see almost see to Croatia from the Lodge!

You can find some of the purest air anywhere on the planet in the oldest, densest forest in Europe towards Sneznik and it is also the only forest in Europe to contain ALL the big three carnivores, bears, wolves and Lynx!

Generally, you will need to go Bear Watching with an expert to see a bear safely in the wild here.. OR, you could hike up Sneznik.. We will leave that thought dangling there!!

 

Lipizzaner Lodge is pretty much surrounded by lots of little Dinaric 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 also to the north where Mt Triglav 2,864m, Slovenia's highest peak in the Julian Alps stands.

We have dropped guests off in the St Lawrence car park "apres petit dejeuner" and they have then hiked up over St Lawrence and continued their Green adventure on amazing tracks through the forest to Predjama castle, had some late lunch there and then hiked the last 40 mins back on the secret forest track to Lodge.. Wow, what a day!!

Could you have ever imagined hiking up a mountain to go visit the most unique castle in the world?.

Well, this is just one of the many things you can do here if you get a bit of help and local knowledge to have a really Green, really unique & special experience! 

 

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 (Ursula is her name) 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 one with locals.. (we will keep mentioning if walks are popular with locals as these tend to be really great hikes)!      

There are so many other local mountains around here topping 1,000m, each offering something different for your day out hiking.

 

Perhaps some of 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 stone path up is in the Mediterranean, the other side is Continental Europe!

There are so many different features to see from the top of Vremscica.. all the Alps, the Vipava wine valley, Nanos, 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 as we call it, 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!

 

So, in basic terms, the long Nanos plateau has Lipizzaner Lodge, Predjama castle and the Postojna cave in the Green Karst on one side, with the Vipava Wine valley AND Skocjan cave & Lipica in the Red Karst on the other.

The high Nanos 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 going over this rock barrier.

 

On the Other side of Nanos..

Just around the corner on the other side of Nanos via an easily accesible motorway, you might want to hike up Caven (25 mins), 1,242m, one of the highest peaks along this ridge.. With excellent views down across the beautiful Vipava valley, with vineyards, little hills, castles, villages and churches perched on the hill tops 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!

 

There is another specatacular route from the Lodge to have a great hike and go look down on the Vipava Valley..

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 an utterly spectacular 12 x 7 metre high natural stone window overlooking the Vipava valley from over 1,000m up!  

 

 

We found some great hikes in the Hills of Lokev and Kokos (chicken) Hill down towards the coast in the Red Karst and frankly, if you want a great hike with unbelievably comprehensive views.. (4 Slovenian Alps, the Italian Dolomites, Sneznik, Nanos, the coast & a Croatian mountain too) then we would go as far as to say, you ain't hiked in Green Slovenia if you ain't done the Slavnik Hill Hike..

    

the Julian Alps..

Due to our fantastic location, you can approach the Julian Alps, (the highest Slovenian mountain range) from both sides.. the Soca river side and the Bled side easily in a day out.. OR DRIVE IT ALL in one big LOOPY day!

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!

 

If you 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 and can be crossed using the Vrsic Pass..

 

Take the Soca Route form the Lodge..

The Soca river is a playground for Green nature lovers and there are numerous options for exploring the mountains here with the backdrop below being 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..

 

Only last year did we do the uber epic hike up Mt Krn to the highest Slovenian lake that we cannot recommend highly enough.. This is another secret place where we would say, if you ain't done the Krn Lake Hike, then you ain't seen Green Slovenia, Baby!

 

The main road splits off after Bovec at the upper end of the Soca river, continuing along the river to the main route across from the Soca side to the Bled side of these Alps over the unpronounceable Vrsic Pass, with no end of hikes and adventures along this way..

Take this route, going right from Bovec, following the Soca river to it's start 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 then back around to the Lodge via the lakes.. what a day out AND perfectly possibubble!

 

You could however choose to turn LEFT after Bovec and reach 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.     

 

But there are even more options available if you don't turn off for Mangart and keep on that main curvy road up to soon reach ANOTHER MUCH QUIETER MOUNTAIN PASS (the Predil Pass), protected by the wonderful Predil fortress, with the Italian border and access down to the fantastic Predil lake, totally surrounded by stunning mountains.. 

 

Take the Bled Route from the Lodge..

Going the other way, anti clockwise, you could zip up the motorway past Ljubljana 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.

Surprisingly for such a mountaineous country there are only a few cable car rides in Green 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.

 

The short drive from lake Bled to lake Bohinj is a spectacular drive into the Julian Alps, but here is a real little Green nugget of advice.. 

Make sure on the way to Bohinj you take a right turn diversion off the main road at BITNJE, which will take you steeply up and then drop you into an even more beautiful side valley, which also leads to Bohinj, but has some really, really amazing views, meadows and cute little Alpine villages with really good local restaurants too!

 

If you go north from Bled, 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 maybe 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. DO NOT MISS THAT HIKE..

 

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 a like.. but do think about it.. if you rock up here in July or August to climb Triglav then don't complain if there are a lot of other climbers!!

If you go just past Kranska Gora to the very corner of Slovenia, where you can see a road sign for Austria 5km AND Italy 5km, then make sure you do the straight forward, but spectacular hike from Slovenia's main ski jumping hill at Planica UP the Tamar Valley for a hike surrounded by forest and huge mountains..

Again we absolutely need to say here.. DO NOT miss that hike..

 

It is like walking up an avenue of mountains, with a Koca at the end serving great lunches..

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 a long way across the whole top half of Slovenia and are shared with Austria..

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!

If you do a quick cross of the motorway to the country road opposite Bled, direction Jesenice, then you can hunt down a lovely secret reservoir lake with direct access to mt Stol, called Zavrsnica.. just saying!

 

One of the biggest and most beautiful mountains here in the Karavanka Alps 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 is next to and below the Karavanka Alps. It starts above the pretty town of Kamnik and is called the Kamnik Savina Alps.

The beautiful Savinja river starts its journey in the Kamnik Alps, 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 in the Kamniks on a clear, sunny early September or late May day when the cows are still munching the flower carpeted grass is the wonderful Velika Planina, Big Mountain Meadow, or "Heaven on Earth" as we call it!

You have heard it before on this website and Slovenia is just so amazing you will hear it again, but if you ain't been up Velika Planina, then you ain't seen Green Slovenia!

 

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 and most surprising 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.. you can even see Nanos from up here on a clear day!

But look behind you from this mountain top vista point and in the near distance you can see a Hobbit like village with picture perfect wooden huts and cows wandering around jingling their bells!

 

You are drawn to these magical wooden huts like a magnet and this is one mountain hike you must not miss.. This is the closest you will get to a Machu Pichu experience in Europe.. Don't miss it!

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 push your open mouth closed! 

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!

So there you have it, if you were in any doubt about it, we can confirm Slovenia Rocks and we hope you enjoy the view..