Active things to do in Slovenia, season by season

Rafting and kayaking on the Soča

If you like water, the Soča is reason enough to come. The Tourist Board counts more than 60 sports outfitters with guides in the valley, and rafts and kayaks set off from Bovec and Kobarid. It’s also a fishing river, with strict rules. Only fly fishing is allowed, across almost 200 km of water, and the marble trout can grow beyond 120 cm. I’d raft in summer, always with a guide, and I explain how in Soča rafting.

Walking the Julian Alps

Hiking is the activity that best explains the country. Around Bohinj alone the Tourist Board counts more than 400 km of footpaths, and the Slovenian Mountain Trail, created in 1953, crosses the country from Ankaran on the coast to Maribor. For multi-day walkers there are long routes such as the Juliana Trail, a loop round the Julian Alps, or the Alpe Adria Trail, which follows the Soča down towards the Gulf of Trieste. Triglav, at 2,864 metres, is the summit on the national coat of arms, and I’d only attempt it with a guide and some via ferrata experience. My routes by level are in hiking in Slovenia.

Skiing without the big-Alps queues

In winter the plan changes. The Tourist Board counts about 230 km of runs, 85 blue, 114 red and 27 black, at 12 main resorts, plus a shared season pass, Ski Pass Slovenia, valid at most of them. Kanin above Bovec is the highest and keeps natural snow well into spring; Vogel above Bohinj has the longest run in the country; Mariborsko Pohorje has the most kilometres, 41.5; and Krvavec is about 10 minutes from the airport. To me it’s an honest ski destination for families and long weekends, and I compare the resorts in skiing in Slovenia.

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Bikes, rock and air

For cycling without the climbs, the Parenzana follows an old narrow-gauge railway between Trieste and Poreč, 130 km in all, running along the Slovenian coast and through the Valeta tunnel. Brda has about 280 km of cycle routes among the vines and Pomurje about 600 km, including the old Iron Curtain trail. For climbing in Slovenia, head for the Karst Edge at Osp, with more than 800 routes. For flying, Kanin and the launch sites at Lijak and Kovk in the Vipava Valley are the paragliding spots the Tourist Board names. I go into the bike routes in cycling in Slovenia.

Hot water in the east

The other active Slovenia is spa country, and it rescues a trip when the weather turns. Terme Dobrna has been used for healing since 1403, which makes it the oldest working spa in the country; Rogaška Slatina is home to Donat Mg mineral water; and at Laško thermal water rises at 34 to 38°C. Terme Čatež at Brežice and Terme Olimia at Podčetrtek complete the map. I’d use them as a rest day between mountain stages, and I rank them in spas in Slovenia.

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Underground, whatever the weather

The Karst caves work in any season. At Postojna you ride in by train, and at Škocjan you descend into an underground canyon that UNESCO counts among the largest known. At Mežica in Koroška, the galleries of the old mine let you kayak and cycle underground, which strikes me as the most original thing on offer below the surface. None of it needs much fitness, and with children these are the activities that work best.

Safety and rules before you set off

In the mountains, the FCDO reminds visitors that via ferratas require a harness and helmet, that mountain rescue is on 112, and that off-piste skiing carries an avalanche risk. Wild camping is banned nationwide, with fines from €40 to €500. For any guided activity, the same source notes that tour guides must carry a registered guide card, and I’d ask to see it before paying.