Hiking in Slovenia, from Alpine valleys down to the coast

Where to hike in Slovenia

The Julian Alps are the highest and the biggest, and nearly all of them sit inside Triglav National Park. That’s where you find the lakes, the glacial valleys and the routes that genuinely need experience. The Karawanks, on the Austrian border, are gentler, topped by Stol (2,236 m) and full of climbs you can knock off in an afternoon. The Kamnik-Savinja Alps, north of Ljubljana, throw up walls of more than 2,500 m above Jezersko and the Logar valley; their highest point, Grintovec (2,558 m), is one of the more approachable two-thousanders.

If height isn’t your thing, there are rolling hills and plateaus too, such as the Pohorje, the Škofja Loka hills and the Idrija and Cerkno hills, plus more than 5,000 km of themed trails.

Where to start: Bohinj

Bohinj. The tourist board credits it with more than 400 km of organised paths, and it’s the starting point for several routes up Triglav, including the one that follows the four men who first reached the top some 240 years ago. My second pick for a full day out is the Vrata valley from Mojstrana, which ends at the foot of Triglav’s north face and has a hut for lunch. For anyone set on the summit itself, I’ve given Mount Triglav its own page with the ways up.

A week of hiking

I’d split it between a base in Bohinj or Kranjska Gora and another in the Soča Valley, choose one demanding route at most and fill the rest with valley walks and gorges. It’s the way to go home wanting more rather than nursing your knees.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Bohinj on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Multi-day routes

This is where Slovenia punches well above its size. The Slovenian Mountain Trail, set up in 1953, crosses the country from Maribor to the Adriatic over all three Alpine ranges. The Juliana Trail circles the Julian Alps through the valleys in 270 km, with no summits to bag. The Alpe Adria Trail comes in at Kranjska Gora, crosses Vršič and drops down the Soča towards Brda and the Karst. Add two Via Alpina routes, the E6 from Radlje ob Dravi to Strunjan and the E7, which crosses from west to east. The Walk of Peace follows the remains of the Isonzo Front from the Alps towards the sea.

Mountain rules and safety

Slovenians have a saying the tourist board quotes, roughly that the mountains aren’t mad, but the people who climb them are. It comes with advice I’d sign up to, such as wearing proper kit, checking weather and snow before you leave and choosing routes that match your fitness. Via ferratas need a harness and helmet, says the FCDO. Mountain rescue is on 112, and a GHIC won’t pay for a helicopter, so check your travel insurance covers it.

Two rules catch people out. Wild camping is banned everywhere, with fines of €40 to €500. And there are bears in wooded areas across the country, close to towns as well, so don’t leave food lying about. For overnight stops on a route, the mountain huts are the obvious answer.

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