We have wanted to add this page to the Daytrips section for a long time as there are so many fab country roads out there, but the problem is once we start banging on about lots of different roads from A to B to Q, it might get quite confusing for you to follow, cos the town names here can be tricky to say and even more difficult to tap correctly into your navigation device..

We can easily tell you all about a fab CAVE or MOUNTAIN or FORTRESS CHURCH or GORGE and this can be enough to tickle your fancy to go find or visit them, but it is much trickier to tell you about a whole road that is amazing to drive on, with pretty views, cute villages and all the rest of the best bits, that make Green Slovenia so amazing!

So this page will be a little different starting with this general obvious principle.. it is WAY BETTER to get off the motorways and bigger roads to travel on the smaller, country roads..

Do not miss this little road up the Bela Idrija River..

The main issue you might have with this principle is you have already almost certainly made the most common mistake for visiting the most beautiful small country in Europe and allocated way too little time to visit, so you will probably feel the need to rush around from place to place as fast as you can here!

But Green Slovenia is a diddly tiddly little country with so much more than just a lake, a cave, a pretty town by the sea and a cute capital city..

So as a rule of thumb, we recommend you triple the amount of time you originally thought you needed here and that will be just about right!

Great! So now you have some more time in your pocket, we encourage you to use a bit of it getting off the motorways and enjoying the local roads more!

Driving around the BRDA wine region..

Why is it better to get off the beaten track?

We cannot write an answer this question, but you will know the answer for yourself when you are sat at the wheel with a big smile on your face cruising in Green paradise..

And we do not have loads of "road" photos in this section either, cos even if you stop to take a snap on these smaller roads, the picture just cannot encapsulate that special all embracing experience of driving on these quiet country roads and seeing EVERYTHING..

Quite simply, you will get to experience way more of Green Slovenia behind the scenes.. There will be next to no other traffic as you cruise through beautiful, impossible to pronounce villages, with mountains and little churches on top of hills..

You will not get to see this view of Rapunzel Tower in Planina from the motorway..

There willl be endless forests, green meadows & vineyards as your chance of finding that very special, secret roadside cafe, restaurant, crumbled castle or river spring increases dramatically!

We should warn against getting too carried away though and going too much off road! Always use your common sense here when navigating, or you might end up taking your shiny new rental car down a narrow stone track or halfway up a mountain, cos there are a lot of those in the 3rd most forested country in Europe..

We are NOT talking about them on this page, these road trip tips are predominantly asphalt (tarmac) surfaces with a few safe, signposted stone gravel roads in between..

Take the country road to visit Skofija Loka..

Ok, Now for Some Fab Roads..

Maybe you will spot a town or two in this list that you actually recognise the name of and know you will be visiting on your Green adventures or maybe the description will be enough for you to go give that particular road a try!

For example, you will almost certainly be driving between lakes Bled and Bohinj, so it is essential you know about the totally cool secret road we will tell you all about now and you will also very probubbly be driving to the Coast, so we even did a whole blog about the old Coast road too!

The motorway through the Vipava Valley will only show you a tiny slice of Green Slovenia's biggest secret..

Where we have done a Secret Places to Visit article about a place which might appear at the Start, End or somewhere Along these special roads, you can click on the link to go read more about them, if you want.

This is NOT an extensive list of EVERY fab road in Green Slovenia, just some of our own faves, but ones we are pretty sure you will love, cos we are pretty much visitors to this beautiful country, just like you!

We have map on our LOCATION page to help you find these places too!

OK, so now it is time to buckle up, put on your driving gloves, argue about the aircon temperature and lets go take a ride on some really beautiful little roads!

Let's kick off with those 2 examples above..

Deffo take the road via Bitnje and this village of Sredna Vas on the way to Lake Bohinj..

Bled to Bohinj.. Turn off the main road between Bled and Bohinj, just before Bohinj Bistrica at Bitnje to drive steeply up for just two shakes of a dragon's tail and then drop into an even more stunning side valley with little villages and an even better view of the mountains, direction Stara Fuzina.

Postonja to the Coast.. Take the old main road via Senozece, Divaca, Kozina to the coast. The road will be empty, but used to be the main road to the coast before the motorway was built! We love it so much we wrote a blog about it called Why not take the 409 Coast Road? 

Kobarid to Tolmin.. Drive back from Kobarid to Tolmin on the OTHER side of the uber beautiful Soca river on a much quieter, more beautiful country road through little villages to see more of the river too, popping out into Tolmin. (Hopefully you will have visited Kozjak Waterfall, so you will already be over the Napoleon bridge on the other side of the river)!

Crossing the River of 7 Names and the Planina Disappearing Lake.. Which has appeared..

Shortcut to / from the Lodge from / to the UNEC motorway junction.. Cut the corner off the main A1 motorway from Ljubljana to the Coast taking the Unec exit and heading via Planina, (with Rapunzel's Tower, Planina Disappearing Lake AND Planina Cave) direction Predjama turning off before towards our little village of Landol! We dig a BLOG on this shortcut route too!

Crni Kal to Buzet.. This is an ace way to drive though the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland and pop into Croatia over a quiet border and see the stunning hill top village of Buzet and maybe hike the Buzet Gorge too. Along the way you could visit the unmissabubble Hrastovlje Church with the Fresco of the Dance of Death and the 5 sided Tower at Kubed!

Base 20 Partisan Camp to Koćevje.. Find the Secret Base 20 WW2 Partisan HQ hidden in the forest and get to drive down through parts of the Unesco protected oldest forest in Europe on the way to Kočevje.. This is an epic forest road, but ok for cars..

The Five walled Kubed tower on the road from Hrastovlje to the border and Buzet..

The 609 Boroevic Road from Most na Soci to Ćepovan.. This road was built by a WW1 general and weaves through epic thick forest and hidden valleys all the way from the stunning Soca Lake at Most na Soci up onto the cliffs above the Vipava Valley. A last section of this road used to be a stone forest track, is recently tarmacked, so give it a go!

IG to Cerknica.. A wonderful way to get back to the Lodge from the Ljubljana Marsh Houses, Iški Vintgar Gorge and yet another secret Partisan WW2 Hospital.. A really fantastic curving wiggly road with a lake at Rakitna half way, then popping out through thick forest at the home of the Biggest Disappearing Lake in Europe at Cerknica and a simple drive back to the Lodge.

Lipizzaner Lodge to the Vipava Valley.. This is a fab alternative route to go do a cliff top hike to a huge natural stone window, 1,000m up above the uber stunning Vipava Wine Valley. The route takes a stone forest road above Predjama Castle and then follows a stunning Karst rock lined road to Otlica for the Okno Stone Window Hike THEN take a fantastic mountain road through three rock tunnels down into the wine valley.. Epic..

See this epic rock Karst structure on the side of the road en route to the OKNO..

Idrija to Vipava.. A stunning detour on the way back to the Lodge from the either the Franja WW2 Partisan Hospital, the Bela Idrija River or the Mercury Mine in Idrija, turning at the little roundabout in Godovic, direction Črni Vrh to use a quiet, not too curvy mountain pass that drops you directly into the Vipava Valley for a nice meal before returning to the Lodge in just 20 mins on the superfast motorway!

Nova Gorica to Dobrovo.. A fantastic road leading into the Gorica Hills BRDA wine region going via a big bridge over the Soca river and popping up into a sleepy hill topped wine region with cherry trees, stunning villages and excellent restaurants. Push on from Dobrovo to go see the Krcnik Cramp Gorge for an epic drive through vineyards to one of Slovenia's most secret gorges.

Drive deep into the Brda wine region to finf this stunning gorge..

Sežana to Komen.. Try to use the smallest main roads possible to pass through the villages of the Red Karst TERAN wine region, travelling via the beautiful hill top village of Stanjel to Komen.

Planina to Skofija Loka.. Use the short cut from the Lodge via Planina, driving the 7km length of the Planina Disappearing Lake to Logatec and then the fantastic country road to Žiri, following the river road into Skofija Loka to visit one of Slovenia's prettiest old towns, with an option to go up and see the views from Blegos mountain..

Skocjan Cave to the Brkini.. A fantastic corner cutting route through one of the most beautiful secret regions in Slovenia, the Brkini.. From the Skocjan Cave go via Rodik to Slope and pop back out of the Brkini at the Hog Roast Road at Tublje.. Then use this E61 road to Podgrad as an entry and exit point to further dip in and out of the Brkini..

Wiggly roads leading nowhere and everywhere in the Brkini mini region..

Kamnik to the Kamnik Springs.. This road leads from Kamnik old town to the car park for the fantastic cable car up Velika Planina mountain, a place we call Heaven on Earth.. But continue further up this road, not so far to the top and discover a secret hike to the Organ waterfall and another Secret Kamnik Partisan Forest Hospital, the Kamnik Gorge AND a beautiful springs for the Kamnik Bistrica river..

Koper to Hrastovlje.. The Slovenian Coastal Hinterland is a huge area filled with vineyards, quiet villages and very wiggly roads. There is a great route from the motorway at Koper via Vangangel up to Marezige, where there is a Wine Fountain and then maybe via Sveti Anton and Kubed to Hrastovlje and the spectacular Fresco hidden inside a church protected by a castle.. And this is just one possible route to explore the mega Slovenian Istrijan Coastal Hinterland..

Jesenice to Planica.. From the old steel town of Jesenice you can jump off the motorway to drive on curvy local Alpine roads all the way up the Sava river into the far corner of Slovenia at Planica, Slovenia's main Ski jumping venue. There is a fantastic hike into the mountains at Planica and more hiking at Martuljek Gozd. You could also go see the main springs of the Sava river AND at Mojstrana you could pop off the main road to go see the fantastic Pericnik Waterfall..

Deep in the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland, surrounded by vines, olive groves and facing the Last Karst Cliff..

Bovec to Soca.. This is the most beautiful stretch of road along the uber pretty Soca River, running directly next to the river and giving lots of glimpses of the sensational water colour! But look out for the narrow parking spaces alongside the road and if you see a space free next to a German camper van with kayaks on top, then STOP and get riverside or stand on a bridge to see exactly why we call it the most beautiful river in Europe..

Kastelec to Prapaće.. A long, straight road (623) leads high up towards the Croatian border from Kastelec via Prapace and shadows the last Karst Cliff, a giant wall of rock overlooking the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland. There are walks ALL along this cliff which can be unlocked from this road, including a crumbled tower on top of a cliff stack and a lovely loop to the cliff from the village of Prapaće.

We think this is the only grass tennis court in Green Slovenia on the other side of the river road between Blegos and Skofija Loka..

Vipava to Nova Gorica.. The motorway through the Vipava Wine Valley is very handy for some longer journeys, but make time to drive on the old main road (444) and you will get a much better feel for this stunning Roman wine valley, with quite a few places to stop off and explore along the way, starting from the old town of Vipava, via Adjective, the hill top village of Kriz and then into the north part of the Vipava Valley, before passing Kromberk Castello and reaching the twin town of Nova Gorica. to get a true picture of Slovenia's biggest Green Secret..

Up & Down the Vrsic Pass.. It doesn't matter which way you do this road as what goes up must come down, but do not worry that it will be too narrow or scary as lorries also need to go over it. There are almost 50 hair pin bends to navigate and the thing that might surprise you is when you do get to the top there will still be mountains towering above you! The Vrsic Pass does close in winter and for snow, so check the forecast, but fine in the summer..

Get off the beaten track in the Vipava Wine Valley..

Vipava Wine Valley to the Red Karst.. This (614) road nips up from one of Slovenia's seven wine regions, the Vipava Valley via Mance and pops up into another of those wine regions, the Teran wine region, heading to Stanjel, but the most amazing thing about this quiet vineyard road is the transformation that appears in front of your eyes within minutes as you transition from the wide green slopes of the Vipava Valley into the narrow stone villages of the Red Teran wine region.. You don't need to know anything about wine to notice this difference and it is nothing short of sensational, cos in other countries you have to drive so much further between wine regions, but here in Green Slovenia, the difference is stark and just minutes apart!

Bovec to the Predil Pass.. Turning away from the Soca River and the Vrsic Pass might seem nuts, but there is another very beautiful smaller pass at Predil, with a ruined castle bravely defended by Austrian soldiers against Napoleon, with stunning views and if you continue into Italy there is a really stunning lake on the other side of the border, also called Predil.. 

The Mangart road.. And last but not least if you make another turn on the road to Predil, you get to go up Slovenia's highest road and take a much closer look at Mangart mountain for truely breath taking views!

Green Slovenia is so small and the distances so tiny it is really the perfect country to explore by E Car from a comfy central base.. But even if you are on a motorbike or regular car, we wish you a wonderful drive around, discovering the real Green Slovenia..