Slovenia, a land enshrouded in mist and legends of dragons, imps and witches. Bears, wolves and wild boar roam the forests that cover nearly two-thirds of this enchanting, relatively little known country. Alpine mountains climb high above the clouds enveloping glacial valleys, serene lakes, fairytale castles and the clearest of rivers. Rivers that hurl themselves over rocks and boulders before slowing to a steady, gentle flow only to bubble up again and thunder down cliff faces in a beautiful and powerful rage.
In the Green Karst vast lakes appear in a matter of days only to disappear once again as the seasons change. The receding waters are said to have dragged thwarted lovers deep into the dark, dank bowels of the earth while high in the surrounding mountains witches cook bad weather.
The Ljubljanica River that flows through the capital city of the same name, once transported the mythological Argonauts carrying the Golden Fleece. But it is the tales of the golden horned steinbock, a white Alpine Ibex, that roamed the heights of the Triglav mountains, that are perhaps most well-known and it’s also the symbol of the locally brewed beer, Laško.
Having just returned from a fabulous week discovering Slovenia, I couldn’t wait to show you a few of my favourite images from this thrilling and magical trip. I’ve been white water rafting, cycling and hiking, camping and glamping, visiting spas and staying in castles not to mention beer tasting and adventuring up into the tree tops then zip lining down again (Who’d have thought!). I’ve so many wonderful and exciting memories but rather than the mountain hikes or the paddle boarding, it was the beauty of the Slovenian landscape that really took my breath away.
Photography by Kathryn Burrington, from the top:
- The view from Celjska Koca Hotel and my first glimpse of Slovenia
- Snežnik Castle
- Mostnica Gorge
- Cerknica Lake, The Green Karst (once the summer lake has emptied)
- Lake Bohinj
- Logar Valley
- View from the Solcava panoramic road
- Lake Bled
- Lake Bled from Bled Castle
- Mostnica Gorge
Thanks to Best Press Story for organising this fabulous press trip to Slovenia. While my travel, accommodation, meals and activities were all complimentary, as always I will only ever share with you my own thoughts and honest opinions. All photographs are my own unless otherwise stated.
Lake Bled
Lake Bled
Lake Bohinj
Lake Bohinj
Mostnica Gorge
Mostnica Gorge
Snežnik Castle
Snežnik Castle
Celjska Koča
Celjska Koča
Logar Valley
Logar Valley
Solcava
Logar Valley
Loška
Loška
The Green Karst
The Green Karst
Join my 'Behind the Scenes' newsletter
Delivered monthly to your inbox with all my behind the scenes news, latest posts and giveaways exclusive to my subscribers.
Hey Kat!! Slovenia looks wonderful. We are planning a 15 day trip to Slovenia and Croatia in June with a 5 year old. We will be driving down from Zagreb to Ljubljanica and then to Lake Bled for 2 nights -1 for glamping, 1 near lake bled. What are the other places you would suggest to explore in Slovenia?
That sounds wonderful. I’d be sure to visit Lake Bohinj while you are nearby at Lake Bled and also Mostnica Gorge, south-west of Lake Bled. It’s beautiful! Have a really fabulous time.
Slovenia has been on my wishlits for some time now and your beautiful photographs have just pushed it higher up the list! I really should sort this out for next year 🙂
Indeed you should. I’m sure you’d love it as much as I did 🙂
Kat,
Beautiful photos from such a lovely country. My husband and I vacationed in Slovenia last fall and loved every minute of it. Definitely a country that should be on everyone’s travel list. Friendly, welcoming people and very affordable.
Sue P.
Couldn’t agree more. Thanks for popping by Sue.
What a gorgeous place! I was hoping to get out to Slovenia (at least to Ljubljana and Lake Bled) this year but it didn’t quite happen, looks like I might have to go for a longer trip next year instead and explore a bit more!
We didn’t visit Llubljana this time but it sounds great and Lake Bled is stunning but there are loads of wonderful places. A really beautiful country and the people were lovely too.
Oh wow – those photos… Slovenia just hit my bucket list. I’d heard mention of it before but this has confirmed it…
You’d love it. What’s not to love?!
Impressive photos; so green :-). I do want to visit, but how long and how does one get to the mountains? Are these days trips or I assume there are little lodges to stay up there.
Thanks.
Thanks Kerwin. It’s such a beautiful country and it’s a fairly small country too so everything is within fairly easy reach. We did stay in a different hotel or camp site every night though and they’ll be more on that in future posts.
Oh wow Kathryn, it looks absolutely amazing. It seems that you are stalking bears, are you? 🙂 I would love to see the wolves as well, I did here in Spain, and it was wonderful.
Sadly I didn’t see any bears or wolves but it was one of the best press trips I’ve ever had, despite… well …you’ll see in the next post!
Slovenia is a little pearl! I may just have to make my agenda and put this country on y To Visit list for the near future. I am glad I read about it. Thanks! It seems it is a great nature escape. How was the level of english with the locals? Did you struggle to communicate ? Thanks
English was widely spoken.I did meet one or two people that didn’t speak it but there was always someone nearby who did, so it was never a problem.
Beautiful ! We spent a summer in Slovenia a couple of years ago and we had a great time enjoying the outdoors with our dog! Plus, I don’t know if it is still that way but it was very affordable !
The perfect place for long walks with your dog for sure!
I have to admit I didn’t buy many things while I was there but I can tell you that a botle of wine in one of the hotels we stayed in cost 18 euros (about £13).
Beautiful natural escapes, tourists will long for such visit. Thanks for sharing.
Wow Kat. This was not a place even on my radar screen and now you have me spending way to much time looking up more information about it. Just beautiful, I want to go!
I’m sure you would love it as much as I did. I knew very little about it before I went but I’m now longing to go back again. So very beautiful. Lovely people too (and great food!)