It’s been a crazy year and an even crazier season, hiking and climbing in the beautiful Slovenian mountains. We’ve hit that dusty, muddy and even snowy trail countless times and have seen anything from the big elusive ibexes, mesmerizing sunrises and sunsets, to the cutest playful marmots. We’ve sweated together on steep slopes, tried to escape big thunderstorms, dipped into the freezing cold Soča river, enjoyed exposed climbs, and listened to relaxing music on our rides to the mountains. Those short moments together truly connected us into unique friendships.
It’s not easy to pick my personal favorite mountain tours of 2024, especially since grading cannot be based solely on the trails and beauty of the views, but also on quite coincidental factors like the weather, hut life, sparks within the groups, food and other well-being factors. All in all, of all incredible hikes and climbs we’ve shared, here are Exploring Slovenia’s five best mountain trips of 2024!
As we were driving towards the mountains, the soft morning light, caught in the forested slopes of the Karavanke mountains on the right and the craggy peaks of the Julian Alps on the left, added to the vibrancy of a beautiful autumn day. The contrast between the freshly covered snow-capped peaks and the explosion of colors in the forest lower down was mesmerizing. Anything from virgin white to bright green, red, yellow and orange-brown, all set against a clear blue sky with an occasional streak of fog still lingering in the fresh air. The kind of perfection that can only be seen right after a good long downpour.
The most beautiful view of the Julian Alps from Srednji Vrh , a tiny village located 7 km from Kranjska Gora
As an owner of a touring agency and a mountain guide I feel fortunate to be able to do many mountain climbs and hikes in Slovenia and see beautiful hard-to-reach places that many only dream about. Whether it’s a daring ascent of Triglav, the highest Slovenian mountain, wandering among colorful meadows in the beautifully remote mountains above Jezersko, or a dreamy hike in the hills around Lake Bled. We’ve done all of them together and it’s been pretty damn awesome.
This past summer, Tracey, a wonderful gal from Australia, whom I shared two great via Ferratas with, asked me if I ever influence people’s decisions about which tour to select. Put aside professional decision making to suggest an appropriate mountain tour based on people’s skills and experience, I most definitely do. To be honest, I always try to push a bit of my own hiking wishes into the decision process and that is not necessarily a bad thing either. Our clients end up visiting all the best places in any given moment of the season.
When flowers bloom in the mountains, we do the most beautiful loops among fragile daffodils, crocuses, wild orchids, gentians, edelweiss and many others. When an abundance of rainfall fills the enchanting Triglav Lakes up to the brim and sometimes even over, we absolutely skip other hikes and go there instead. When it’s time to do a breathtaking via Ferrata in the mountains, we climb Mala Mojstrovka, but when we want a challenging via Ferrata, we go for the bold climb to Gradiška Tura even if the drive takes much longer than the mainstream ones nearby. Given the fact that I’ve been going around Slovenian mountains for a couple of decades, I can confidently say that those who have trusted Exploring Slovenia so far have not been disappointed. Biased or not.
To prove that, here are ten highlights of our best mountain hikes and climbs in the summer season 2023. Enjoy!
As the season turns around and we are suddenly faced with high temperatures and lots of hot sun, it’s nice to look back and daydream about the awesome mountain adventures you’ve done in the past months. Due to a colder start of the spring, the nature remained in its snooze mode for a couple of weeks longer this year, but once it finally did wake up, it was freaking insane! I’d never seen so many daffodils in the mountains before, nor had the mid-elevation peaks looked so lush and verdant in early June.
Let’s go through the most memorable mountain hikes in Slovenia (and one awesome climb!) that we explored together this spring.
There’s that special moment in the year when we get to see two seasons overlap. Lively birds singing, trees blossoming and the first flowers announcing the arrival of warmer spring days down in the valleys. However, higher up in the mountains the strong north winds and freezing temperatures still hold a firm hold over the white mountaintops. The best of spring and winter in the great outdoors is right here, it’s just a matter of us grasping it or not.
To that extent I’ve been fortunate to walk endless greening meadows speckled with wild marsh tulips, hike along rolling hills carpeted with purple crocuses, and see the trees coming into leaf along a vibrant small gorge. Over a thousand meters higher, on the other hand, I enjoyed snowshoeing in half a meter of fresh snow up to incredible mountain peaks, while also climbing safely to a white peak with views of both Slovenia and Austria.
Here are five memorable spring hikes in the Slovenian Alps and the hillside close to Ljubljana that I’ve done; some you can do easily with your family and friends, and some are preferably reserved for the more experienced hikers or in company of a certified guide. Either way, enjoy the pictures and the gorgeous first days of spring and the last of winter!
Hidden behind a long Alpine valley and a gorge with plummeting waterfalls and a winding narrow road going through rock-carved tunnels, is the high and steep eastern part of the Košuta massif. Measuring ten kilometers in length, Košuta is the longest mountain in Slovenia that boasts twelve peaks of over 2K meters. If the western side of the massif is popular with hikers due to its accessibility and relatively easy trails, among frequently visited peaks being Mt. Kofce and Veliki Vrh, the eastern side seems more remote and mysterious. Read about a beautiful sunset in the mountains on the top of Mt. Košutnikov Turn.
What a gorgeous sunset in the Karavanke Alps! Photo by Rok Leben
Close your eyes and listen for a moment. Did you hear loud voices from the road outside? Or a faint rumble of a home appliance? In an ever-louder noisy world of the valley one needs a sporadic retreat to the silent world of amazingly wild and incredibly remote mountains. To lie down in an empty Alpine meadow, bask in the warmth, and daydream to the light symphony of birdsong and distant whistles of a chamois guarding its territory. There is no need for silence but only to become in sync with nature, whose vague silhouette we can barely still recognize in the cities.
Whether you live here or are planning just a short visit, here is a list of the best twelve beginner-to-advanced hikes and climbs in Slovenia I’ve done this summer. Maybe you’ll find an intriguing idea for a bad-ass family outdoor adventure or maybe you’ll head for a romantic getaway high up in the mountains. Either way, while you’re huffing and puffing your way to the top, stop for a bit to reflect and appreciate how divinely different the Alpine world actually is. Serene and tranquil.
Here are twelve beautiful mountain hikes and climbs in Slovenian Alps. Enjoy!
{A disclaimer for the wise: conditions in the mountains can change very quickly, therefore plan your climb accordingly; read about the planned route, check the avalanche reports, the amount of snow in the mountains, and reports about the temperature and wind changes, consult with mountain guides and local climbers,…}
A few weeks ago, back in March, I joined a guided mountaineering course to learn about climbing steeper terrain in the snow safely. It was great with the hands-on approach, so we learned the skills while actually climbing a mountain, the 2,332-m high Mala Mojstrovka above Kranjska Gora. As it turned out, the climb was unforgettable, and, me being me, I had to return to the mountains the very next day and try the easiest winter approach to Mt. Begunjščica, the 2K mountain you usually see in the background of the Lake Bled photos. Today, comfortable in my office, I’m reliving the crazy but wonderful moments of climbing that thing in a swirl of a snow blizzard, fierce wind and temperatures way below zero, and, yet, my heart melts with the fond memories. Here’s the story.
When everything becomes still, the streets empty, the noises die down, the silence becomes overwhelming and I can finally hear it. The winter is here. First snowflakes lightly fill the air and the world turns calm and beautiful. Our hearts fill with joy and our minds with fantasies about our favorite corners of the world turning white. We go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different.
It’s that time of year again! We are all cheering, laughing, dancing, spending time with our loved ones, cooking, baking, and making our lives a little brighter at least for a few moments. I’m sure we’ve all seen better years or at least calmer and less stressful ones, and to be honest, more joyful years, too. I’m also sure that our biggest wish this year was to return things back to normal. Funny, right? For all those wishes we usually have and the little things that bother us and wish to change, once faced with a real situation with lockdowns and social contact restrictions, normality seems like heaven. Oh, the beautiful times when I shipped the kids to school and got those 7-8 hours for calm work! Oh to all those lunches and dinners that we spent at my parents’ (without having to cook or clean afterwards!)! Oh to all crazy get-togethers with my friends! Oh to all hikes, climbs and time I spent in the real mountains!! Life is not quite the same without all that, right?!
That’s why my greatest wish this year for all of us is to appreciate and enjoy life and enjoy the little things that we still have and can’t be taken away that easily. While I keep my fingers crossed that in the months ahead things will get back to normal, I also wish that we’ve all realized what’s really important in life, what’s worth fighting for, and what’s worth keeping regardless of the restrictions. To appreciate the little things that breathe meaning into our lives. Have a great Christmas, happy holidays and an awesome New Year, and make sure you spend the special moments the way you want to!
Here are a few highlights of my 2020…
Jalovec and the Ponce Mountains from CipernikBled and the snowy Karawanks for a crazy sunset
There are no big mountains in the Kočevje area, only hills and forests as far as the eye can see. Every trail feels remote, the forests greener than anywhere you’d walked before and you’re more likely to be greeted by a wild animal than a human being. Winters here usually bring the most pristine snowy blanket turning the area into a perfect winter wonderland ❄️❄️❄️ ... See MoreSee Less
