Dobra Vila, Bovec's hotel of stories

The telephone house

The building used to house the amplifiers for international calls. As the hotel tells it, the signal left Trieste, crossed Udine, jumped over the Predil pass, was boosted in this house and then continued underground through Villach to Vienna. The hotel’s website also recalls the history of Bovec, a stop on the Roman road from Aquileia to Noricum and a scene of the Isonzo Front in the First World War, and local figures such as Andrej Stergulc, amateur historian, collector and the first mayor of the municipality in independent Slovenia.

Rooms with their own number

Each room has a number with a meaning. Room 69 is dedicated to lovers, 106 to the height of the Boka waterfall, 136 to the length of the Soča, 2001 to Kubrick’s film, 1929 to the year Hemingway published A Farewell to Arms, inspired by the Isonzo Front, and 50 to the hairpins of the Vršič pass, built by Russian prisoners of war. All have a minibar, TV, internet, air conditioning, bathrobe and slippers, and dogs aren’t allowed. Seasonal rates are in the table.

Library, cellar and terrace

The library holds more than 36 metres of Slovenian and world literature, plus magazines and comics, and many guests leave behind the book they were travelling with. The cellar gathers wines from top producers in Brda, the Vipava valley, the Karst, the coast and Štajerska, whites, reds and sparkling, and hosts tastings for small groups presented by a winemaker. The white terrace, named after its flowers, faces the nearby mountain, and there’s a conservatory for reading.

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Bovec as told by the house

The hotel’s website has a section on local traditions that’s worth reading before you head out to explore. It mentions Bovec cheese, a full-flavoured sheep’s cheese with centuries of history, beekeeping with the Carniolan bee, which reached 625 registered hives in the 19th century, hunting and fishing, mining, woodwork and the mountain guides, whose trade began in the 19th century with the first hut on the Mangart saddle. At the table, look for čompe with cottage cheese and bovški krafi, the sweet local dumplings.

Sauna and gym

After a day on the river or in the mountains, the hotel has a sauna looking out over meadows and peaks and a small gym in the cellar. If you’re weighing up other options in the area, the guide to hotels in Bovec covers the rest.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Dobra Vila Bovec and pick one that fits your day.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Bovec on Booking.com and filter by area before price.