We humbly proclaim Mostnica as simply the best gorge in Green Slovenia! And this is saying something!!

Mostnica means "Little Bridge" and you can decide to do just the 1-2 hour walk hugging the sides of this spectacular gorge hidden in the forest, or continue the Green adventure when you reach the "Little Bridge" for an amazing extra 2-4 hour easy return hike up into the Alps to find a double waterfall , also called Mostnica, with maybe some lunch and a swim included!

This amazing gorge and secret walk are hidden away just a stone's throw from Lake Bohinj and are so often missed by visitors to the lake, who either have too little time available or more likely, just don't know how close this gorge actually is! 

 

There are so many hikes to do in Green Slovenia that you will unfortunately never find.. Either being poorly or confusingly marked with those little red circles that can even baffle the locals, when many of these walks are often hidden in plain sight..

We do our best to tell you about some of the best secret Green walks in our HIKING section and this Mostnica walk is one of those special ones with the uber epic gorge AND easy to follow signs, with a mostly simple flat stone path stretching up into the Alps!

 

Perhaps you only have one day free in your unnecessarily tight Slovenian schedule to go hike the Mostnica gorge and it took us several years of living here in Green Slovenia before we actually realised where the Mostinca gorge was and how ridiculously easily it could be accessed.. 

Then it was like an extra Green bonus to find out the simple path continued all the way up into the mountains, without actually stepping onto a mountain, with a waterfall at the end of it..

So now we will tell you all about the most beautiful Gorge in Slovenia with a fantastic hike option, oh yes and an elephant!

 

Finding the Little Bridge (Mostnica) Gorge..

Most of our guests will drive for the day to the stunning Lake Bohinj area, taking around 2 hours to enjoy & walk up and down the Mostnica gorge and then choosing from a huge list of other Green treasures to go spend the rest of their day out around here and we will tell you more about those other combination options at the end of this article..

The gorge is nestled in the steep hills above, but still ridiculously close to Lake Bohinj, with a devilishly difficult to find the car park, which we suggest you deffo go park in, as there are so few other parking options in the local village of Stara Fuzina.

 

Finding the Car Park..

The most tricky job of the day is to find the car park and we don't normally go into such micro detail for our "Secret Places" articles, but believe us, in this case we will talk you through how to find this car park..

Before parking, another massive tip.. To get to Lake Bohinj, most people will go via Lake Bled, taking the main road into the Alps via Bohinj Bistrica and directly to the lake..

On this road between Bled and Bohinj Bistrica, take the steepish right turn at BITNJE, just before Bohinj Bistrica, cos this road will drop you into an even more beautiful side valley, which leads through several stunning villages directly to Stara Fuzina and Mostnica Gorge and the best views are in THIS direction, then on the return journey from Bohinj lake, go back to Bled using the main road, so you don't miss anything, (especially the river views for that route)!

 

OK, so when you get to STARA FUZINA, the car park is the start of the marked trail to the gorge..

There is a triple forked road in the village centre near a bridge with a lovely pub, (where you can get great food, by the way). Ignoring the main road now and going direction Bohinj, there are 2 other little roads after the bridge. One road leads off right and you need to take the least likely road, which is the one kinda in the middle that initially goes sharply up and it feels like you are heading into someone's driveway, but keep the faith and snake up through this residential part of the village along a very narrow road that will finally lead you to the Mostnica car park!

 

It is possible to walk from Lake Bohinj too, with another car park over the other side of the bridge with the church on it at the start of the lake, (Stara Fuzina side)  then you could just walk up to the Mostnica car park, but this will take longer and you still need to find the Mostnica car park to start the hike!

BREAKING NEWS: We also found out about a "Park & Ride" service available in the busier high summer months from the small main town in Bohinj, called Bohinj Bistrica, approx. 7 km from the lake.. Note the 7km distance, so this is a last resort!

 

You take a ticket at the car park barrier and pay when you leave, so no need to worry how long you will be. Parking in Green Slovenia is generally reasonable value for money and we have absolutely no issue paying for parking in these very special places like Mostnica if that dosh goes back into the local economy to help keep the paths maintained etc.. (But we just wish they would spend a little more of our money on improved signs in English!)

You need to know that Gorge is KORITA in Slovenian, but most importantly look for any variety or collection of letters looking like MOSTNICA on this particular trip..

 

The bigger issue for you will be to make sure you get a parking space, so on an obvious scale of "high chance to low chance", if you rock up after lunchtime in the middle of summer, do not be surprised to have "low chance".. So if you are here in the school holidays when most people are, just leave straight after an early breakfast and come directly here to make the Gorge your first Green mini adventure of the day!

We consistently tip April, May, September and October as the very best months to get the maximum Green Slovenian experience..

 

Exploring Mostnica Gorge..

After being blasted by epic Alpine views on the way here, arriving at the car park is a very exciting time, but do not forget there is another great view over sloping cow fields down to the start of Lake Bohinj from the road at the bottom of the parking..

Then just walk back to the top corner of the car park and follow the signs to the gorge, (remember gorge is "Korita" in Slovenian).

 

There is a really cool hut with a crazy local steep roof not far along the trail where you pay a small entry fee, (worth every penny) to proceed and then we recommend you walk on the right hand side up the gorge, hugging the waterside where possible and walk back down on the other side of the gorge, so you get to see EVERYTHING.

This amazing gorge is long, narrow, wide, powerful, calm, colourful, freezing cold, breath taking, even scary at times, but it is so many more things than simply a river that has cut through a slice of rock, but you do need to know this simple fact to appreciate what Mother Nature has done here!

 

There are several bridges next to, over and above the gorge and a path along the entire walk and sometimes you will be directly next to the stunning Mostnica river and other times high above.

Where there are safety fences, you definetely need to respect those, but otherwise make sure you are as close to water as possible at all times.. There are several forest tracks that take you off the main path to river side and these have the best views.

There are little white beaches and places to stop to have a picnic or dip your toes in the icy cold water.. Some nutters will swim or dip in the water on a very hot summer day, but not for long!!

 

Yep, there really is an Elephant..

There are bits of open river, narrow, sharp rocked slices of gorge and about half way up the right hand side you will get to see a rock Slovenian Elephant drinking from the crystal clear water!

To get the best view of the elephant you need to be riverside, NOT on the main path and we have even seen visitors walking up on the path in the distance and completely missing the elephant!

We even wanted to run after them and tell them, but you cannot do everything, so we write these articles instead!

 

So just make sure you hug the river for the elephant and you can kinda scramble / walk carefully above it on a narrow steep path to get the very best view!

After the elephant is where the gorge gets ridiculously beautiful, with high, narrow rock walls and when you reach a little bridge that crosses over the river, this is where you decide to either follow the gorge back down to complete an approx 2 hour epic gorge hike or start the hike to the Mostnica waterfall (Slap in Slovenian) further up into the mountains..

Even if you do the longer walk, you will return to this point anyway and then walk on this right hand side back down the gorge, where you will see completely different, hidden views of the most beautiful gorge in Green Slovenia!

 

Why is Mostnica Gorge the Best Gorge in Green Slovenia?

Maybe you will agree with us, maybe you won't.. It actually doesn't matter, cos what does matter is that you have day after day of Green adventures in the most beautiful Green country in Europe.

Maybe you will study our Secret Treasure Map to help plot your route around Green Slovenia and find more of our "Golden Eggs" and then you will see that there are several other uber stunning gorges here to compare Mostnica with!

 

The only gorge you might have heard about before coming here to Green paradise might be Vintgar Gorge, by virtue of it being very close to the only lake you might have heard or read about too, being Lake Bled.. But that doesn't mean it is the only or best lake or gorge available to you..

But here in Green Slovenia we have so many beautiful gorges in all shapes & sizes.. 

ALL of these gorges are completely different, maybe longer, bigger, faster water, slower water, different colour water, more beaches, less beaches, easier to jump in.. your luxury list of criteria can go on and on and on..

 

Any other country in Europe would consider themselves very lucky indeed to have just one of the beautiful world class Slovenian gorges that we have already found and written about for you.. Tolmin Gorge, Soca Gorge, Cramp Gorge , Vintgar Gorge, Kamnik Gorge, Kosec Gorge and Iški Vintgar Gorge to name but a few and we have more on our list to go find & others even we still do not know about!

But for us, pound for pound, penny for penny, Mostnica is the best gorge of them all with such a stunning mountain & forest location, beautiful water, variety of rock walls and stone river beds, little waterfalls, an amazing path, with an extra hike option to the main waterfall too AND ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.. a stone elephant!

We look forward to you discovering some of these other gorges too and making your own mind up!

 

One last minor disturbing thing we noticed about Mostnica and the other beautiful gorges here is that some people are clearly rushing around them, like it is some kinda race. You can even see the look of shock on these poor people's faces as they race around desperately trying see everything, but we all know they are doomed to failure!

These people only realise too late when they arrive in Green Slovenia and see just how stunningly beautiful it ALL is,that they have simply allocated way too little time to explore the most beautiful country in Europe and these are also often the people who try to stay just one or two nights in different spots, town hopping and ending up getting their logistics all wrong too, so they have to rush around like headless chickens! 

 

These are also the people who will probably miss the elephant and many of the other special features along the Mostnica trail..

Make sure you do not end up being one of these people..

We know from experience that you can do SOOO much in a day, without rushing around, if you get your logisitics right and choose a perfect location to reach EVERYTHING in short daily trips on days YOU CHOOSE to do what and where you want to go see, rather than places near where you have ended up for just a couple of days!

That is why we put the Lodge in the best possible location between the mountains and the sea for guests to reach ALL these amazing Secret Places to Visit in fab day and half day trips on exactly the day they want to go see them..

                

Doing the full walk to the Mostnica Waterfall & back..

Ok, so now we have cleared that up for you, all we need to do is get you organised to do the longer hike to Mostnica Waterfall..

Just continue upriver on the marked path, leaving the top of the gorge behind for a few hours and follow the signs for the "Slap", (waterfall). The signs are actually pretty good, sometimes they are yellow circles, painted on trees.

Remember Slovenes are born walking in the mountains, so if there are ever any timescales on a sign, please take them with a pinch of salt, unless you are a mountain goat. Slovenians are hopelessly optimistic with their timing estimates, so make a note you will very probably need longer than the number of minutes displayed on the signs!

 

You do need to be a reasonably fit and have good shoes as the first part of this extra hiking adventure involves lots of stepping up on rocks and over thick tree roots, making your way out of the forest to meet a much gentler stone track..

Keep on this track and pretty soon you will spill completely out of the trees to meet an avenue of mountains ahead in every direction and wide open meadows.

As you continue walking, the mountains suck you in, embracing you into the Julian Alps.. It really is a special feeling indeed and the hike can take an extra 2-4 hours, depending on mostly you and whether you want to stop and eat too, which we recommend.. 

     

You will go past 2 pubs or Koča (like a mix between a pub and a mountain hut), where you should be able to get food, very often a hearty bowl of Slovenian soup will do, and this will surprise you at how it can fill up your tank.

The second hut is more of a farm and there are little goats running around being very naughty. We know the food here is excellent and you might even hear the nearby waterfall too.

Now all that is left to do is go see the Mostnica Slap waterfall.. One important thing to remember is you are NOT doing this extra hike to see the best waterfall in Slovenia.. you are doing this for the gorge, the forest, mountains, the meadows, the little metal shepherd's huts in the fields, the hiking and the Green nature day out. 

Sometimes, depending on time of year or rainfall, this double waterfall can be a little weak, but it sits in an absolutely stunning kinda rocky forest bowl. So you have to go quite near the edge, if you want to see the second lower section of the waterfall flowing below the main drop, just be careful.         

If you come here in high summer, you cannot realistically expect powerful waterfalls everywhere and on our first hike up here we were greedily disappointed that the Mostnica falls themselves were a bit flimsy.. 

But then we happened to go here once again to show some guests JUST a week later and there had been some rainfall up in the Alps and we were really very surprised to see how much bigger the water flow was! (See the big difference below).

     

We mentioned before about coming to Green Slovenia in April, May, September and October and then you can expect even these smaller waterfalls to be raging, but another point we made in this article was to find a nice central cosy location to stay and then you get the flexibilty to choose WHEN to come visit places like this, cos EVEN in the summer after some rainfall, you might get a much better show!

And maybe on a hot summer's day you will get a weaker waterfall, but the hike will still be amazing and you might even feel brave enough to jump in the icy cold water of the the gorge to cool off!

 

Other Stuff to Do in Combo with Mostnica Gorge..

So now you know there is enough at Mostnica to entertain you for a day, but assuming on your first visit to Slovenia you will want to see some other Green treasures too, so then maybe you will just go see the gorge and visit Lake Bohinj after, maybe swimming at one of the stunning white beaches there or going up in the cable car to Mt Vogel for the views..

You have to go past Lake Bled anyway to get to Lake Bohinj, so you will minimum see it's beauty, but also always have the option to stop at Bled far later in the day, when it should be much quieter, to see a bit more of the best known lake in Green Slovenia!

 

We recently found yet another stunning little waterfall with just a 30 min relatively flat hike to go find it from a big new car park RIGHT NEXT TO THE MAIN ROAD between Bled and Bohinj.. So maybe you will go see the Little Storm Waterfall on the way home from Bohinj to Bled and we ALWAYS recommend stopping off in lovely Radovlica for something to eat and a final stroll on the way home from Bled..

There really are so many choices and with just one hour directly from the Lodge to Lake Bled and then another 30 mins to Lake Bohinj, you just need some help to get your logistics right and the Mostnica Gorge will be easily within your grasp!

 

But whatever you do, whenever you come, do not miss the Mostnica Gorge, simply the best gorge in Green Slovenia and that is saying something!