Vogel, Bohinj's balcony facing Triglav

The cable car, closed until December 2026

Žičnice Vogel, the company that runs the lifts, explains that this year’s cable car maintenance is more extensive than usual and that it expects to stay closed until 1 December 2026. It will post the exact reopening date on its website once it knows it. In the meantime the Orlove glave chairlift and the Zadnji Vogel circular cable car are listed as additional services, but without the main cable car there’s no easy way up. If you’re travelling in this period, check first.

What can you see from Vogel?

The cable car runs from Ukanc up to Rjava skala, Brown Rock, above 1,500 metres. From there you take in the whole Bohinj basin with Lake Bohinj at your feet and, opposite, the Julian Alps with Mount Triglav, the country’s highest peak. The top station is accessible for people with reduced mobility.

Is Vogel worth the ride?

I think so, on a clear day with the cable car open, because it’s the quickest way to grasp what the Bohinj valley is like. If the cable car is still shut, the alternative for seeing the lake from above without a lift is to walk up to the Vogar viewpoint above the north shore, or to Peč near Stara Fužina, a twenty-minute stroll.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Bohinj before prices climb.

Vogel in winter

In winter Vogel is a high-mountain ski area on natural snow which, in good years, lets you ski for half the year, from November to May. The Slovenian Tourist Board says it has the longest slope in the country. There’s skiing, snowboarding, ski touring, freeriding, sledging and winter paragliding, a free children’s area and a snowboard park for the acrobats. You can hire kit and there’s a ski school.

In Bohinj the ski bus is free for holders of the Bohinj winter card and for anyone buying the BohinjSKI train package. Ski pass prices for 2026-2027 were not published on the resort’s website on 17-10-2026, so I’m not giving any. For skiing elsewhere in the country, see skiing in Slovenia.

Vogel in summer

With the cable car running there’s plenty to do up top. There’s an information trail on the mountain’s history and nature, the four-seater chairlift to Orlove glave with a wishing bell, and a walk to the Zadnji Vogel pasture, where cheese is still made among free-roaming goats, sheep and cows. You can also see the Lopata primeval forest, follow the iron route and the archaeological sites, ride a mountain bike down or take off by paraglider. Tourism Bohinj recommends hiring a guide to get the most out of it.

For food there’s the Viharnik restaurant, the Merjasec hut, the Orlove glave hut and Bar Macesen, and you can stay overnight on the mountain itself. If you take a dog up, it must be muzzled or in a carrier, and there’s a surcharge.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Vogel and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Bohinj before prices climb.