Slovenia: Ljubljana, Lake Bled, the Julian Alps and Piran

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Ljubljana

   Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) to your hotel in Ljubljana

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Ljubljana
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU), about 25 km north of the city. A driver meets you in arrivals on the day you land (pick-up times subject to ops confirmation) and takes you about half an hour into the centre. If you are coming overland from Venice, Vienna or Zagreb instead, tell us and we arrange a meeting point. The hotel is central, about 10 minutes' walk or less from Prešeren Square (confirmed with the hotel when we name it), so the rest of the day is on foot: the old town lines both banks of the green Ljubljanica river under the castle hill, and most of it is closed to cars. Rest, or wander out for coffee on the embankment. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: how long each drive is, which mornings start early and why, and where the free afternoons fall. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Slovenian dishes, with a glass of wine from the country's own vineyards.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in Ljubljana

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about 4 pm to reach the briefing; later arrivals are met and given a catch-up by the guide.

2. Jour 2 : Ljubljana: the market, the bridges and the castle

   On foot in Ljubljana, with the funicular to the castle

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Ljubljana
   Détail du jour 2

   We start at 9 am at the Central Market, while the stalls of cheese, honey, mushrooms and flowers are still filling, under the long riverside colonnade designed by the architect Jože Plečnik. His bridges, embankments and squares shaped this city between the wars, and in 2021 UNESCO listed his works in Ljubljana. From the market we walk to the Dragon Bridge of 1901 with its four green dragons, then back across his Triple Bridge to Prešeren Square, through the old-town lanes to the Cobblers' Bridge and the Town Hall. Mid-morning, before the queue builds, the funicular lifts us up the hill to Ljubljana Castle. Climb the viewing tower: on a clear day the Kamnik-Savinja Alps line the northern horizon, and you can pick out the mountains we drive into tomorrow. Lunch is your choice in the old town. The afternoon is free: Tivoli Park, the Metelkova art quarter, the National Gallery, or a boat on the river.

   Compris

   • Guided walk: the Central Market, the Dragon Bridge, the Triple Bridge, Prešeren Square, the Cobblers' Bridge and the Town Hall
   • Funicular and entry to Ljubljana Castle with the viewing tower

   Activités en option

   • A boat ride on the Ljubljanica (extra, about an hour)

   Option plus facile : Ride the funicular both ways and skip the tower stairs.

   Option plus active : Walk up to the castle by the footpath from the old town instead of the funicular (about 20 minutes, steep).

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot on flat streets and cobbles. The Central Market runs Monday to Saturday, so this day never falls on a Sunday.

   

3. Jour 3 : Vintgar Gorge and Lake Bled

   Ljubljana to Vintgar Gorge, then Bled

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Bled
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Ljubljana at 8:30 and drive about 50 minutes north to Vintgar Gorge, just outside Bled. Wooden boardwalks and bridges of about 1.6 km follow the Radovna river between limestone walls to the Šum waterfall at the far end. The route runs one way and entry is by timed ticket; we book a slot at about 9:30, ahead of the late-morning peak, and allow about an hour and a half in the gorge. By late morning we are in Bled. We leave luggage at our hotel, a short walk from the lake (rooms are usually ready in the afternoon), and lunch is your choice on the shore. In the afternoon an oarsman rows us out in a pletna, the canopied wooden boat that has carried visitors to the island for generations. Climb the 99 steps to the Church of the Assumption and pull the bell rope for a wish. Then we go up to Bled Castle, first recorded in 1011, for the view over the island to the Julian Alps. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Vintgar Gorge entry and walk
   • Pletna boat to Bled Island and entry to the Church of the Assumption
   • Bled Castle entry

   Option plus facile : Skip Vintgar and walk part of the flat 6 km path around Lake Bled instead, meeting the group for lunch.

   Option plus active : Before dinner, walk up to the Mala Osojnica viewpoint above the lake's west end for the classic view of the island and castle (steep, about an hour return).

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; evening free

   Activité : Leave Ljubljana at 8:30. About 1.6 km and an hour and a half in the gorge on boardwalks with some steps, and the 99 steps on the island. Vintgar is open from spring to autumn with timed tickets; we confirm the slot for your dates. The hotel is within about 10 minutes' walk of the lake, confirmed with the hotel.

   

4. Jour 4 : Lake Bohinj and the Vogel cable car

   Bled to Lake Bohinj and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bled
   Détail du jour 4

   Half an hour up the Sava Bohinjka valley brings us to Lake Bohinj, the largest permanent lake in Slovenia and the heart of Triglav National Park, the country's only national park. It is quieter than Bled, with mountains rising straight from the water and almost no building on the shore. We stop first at the stone bridge at Ribčev Laz and the small Church of St John the Baptist, its walls painted with medieval frescoes. Then we drive to the far end of the lake, where the Vogel cable car lifts us to about 1,500 m. On a clear day you look down on the whole lake and across to Triglav, at 2,864 m the highest mountain in Slovenia. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the lake. In the afternoon, choose: an easy walk along the shore, or the climb to the Savica waterfall at the head of the valley. We are back in Bled by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Compris

   • Church of St John the Baptist at Ribčev Laz
   • Vogel cable car return
   • Sit-down lunch at Lake Bohinj
   • Savica waterfall entry (active option)

   Option plus facile : A level walk along the shore of Lake Bohinj and coffee by the water while the others climb to Savica.

   Option plus active : The path to the Savica waterfall, about 500 steps up through the forest to a viewpoint over the falls (about an hour and a half return).

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bled

   Activité : The Vogel cable car closes for short maintenance spells; if it is shut or the top is in cloud, we take a boat across Lake Bohinj instead.

   

5. Jour 5 : The Julian Alps: Vršič Pass and the Soča valley

   Bled to Kranjska Gora, over the Vršič Pass to Trenta and Bovec, and back over the pass to Bled

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bled
   Détail du jour 5

   This is the longest driving day, about four hours at the wheel in all, which is our daily cap, so we break it into stretches of 45 minutes or less. We leave Bled at 8:30 for Kranjska Gora and Lake Jasna, then climb the Vršič Pass, at 1,611 m the highest road pass in Slovenia, on hairpins that are numbered all the way up. Near the top is the wooden Russian Chapel, built by Russian prisoners of war who were building this road in 1916, in memory of comrades killed by an avalanche. From the pass we wind down into the Trenta valley and spend about an hour walking beside the Soča, a river so green it looks dyed, at the Great Soča Gorge. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Bovec, with time to walk round the village. We come back over the pass the way we came: it is the shortest road to Bled, and the views face the other way. We are back by about 5 pm.

   Compris

   • Drive over the Vršič Pass and back with your guide, with stops at Lake Jasna, the Russian Chapel and the top of the pass
   • Riverside walk at the Great Soča Gorge (about an hour)
   • Sit-down lunch in Bovec

   Option plus facile : See the Soča from the viewpoints by the road instead of the gorge walk; every stop is a few minutes from the vehicle.

   Option plus active : Walk a section of the Soča Trail downstream from the gorge to meet the vehicle (about an hour, gentle with some roots and steps).

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bled

   Activité : Leave Bled at 8:30; back about 5 pm. The Vršič road has 50 hairpins; if you get car-sick, sit at the front and tell your guide. The pass is normally clear of snow from late May or June to autumn; if snow or a storm closes it on your date, this day becomes Kranjska Gora, Lake Jasna and the Planica valley, and we tell you before you travel.

   

6. Jour 6 : Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle, then Piran

   Bled to Postojna and Predjama, then Piran

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Piran
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Bled at 8:30 and drive about an hour and ten minutes south, past Ljubljana into the Karst, to Postojna Cave, booked ahead on the 10 am tour (11 am if that is full). An electric train runs several kilometres into the hill, then a local cave guide walks us about 1.5 km on paved paths through halls of stalactites and stalagmites, to the tank where you can see the olm, a blind, pale salamander that lives in the underground waters of this karst. Allow about an hour and a half inside, at about 10 °C all year, so bring a layer. Ten minutes away, Predjama Castle stands in the mouth of a cave halfway up a 123 m cliff, the stronghold of the 15th-century knight Erazem, who held out here under siege. We spend about an hour climbing through its rooms into the cave behind, then sit down to lunch nearby. It is then about an hour and ten minutes to Piran on the coast, arriving mid-afternoon, with the evening free on the harbour.

   Compris

   • Postojna Cave guided tour with the cave train
   • Predjama Castle entry
   • Sit-down lunch near Predjama
   • Drive to Piran with your guide

   Option plus facile : See Predjama from the meadow below and wait at the cafe while the others climb the castle stairs.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Piran

   Activité : Leave Bled at 8:30. About an hour and a half and 1.5 km on foot in the cave, with some slopes and wet floors, then about an hour and steep stairs in the castle. Piran's old town is closed to most traffic, so we walk the last few minutes to the hotel, in or beside the old town and within about 10 minutes' walk of Tartini Square (confirmed with the hotel).

7. Jour 7 : Piran: Tartini Square and the town walls

   On foot in Piran

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Piran
   Détail du jour 7

   At 9 am, before the day visitors arrive, a licensed local guide walks us through Piran, a town that was Venetian from 1283 to 1797 and still looks it. We start on Tartini Square, once the inner harbour, filled in and paved in the 1890s, where a statue of the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, born here in 1692, faces a red Venetian Gothic house. Narrow lanes climb from there to the Church of St George on its ridge above the sea; climb its bell tower, modelled on St Mark's in Venice, for the view along the coast to Croatia and, on a clear day, the Alps. We finish on the old town walls on the hill above, with the roofs of Piran laid out below. After about three hours with the guide, the rest of the day is free: swim off the rocks at the Punta lighthouse, walk to Portorož, or take a taxi to the Sečovlje salt pans. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner by the harbour.

   Compris

   • Piran walk with a licensed local guide: Tartini Square, the lanes of the old town and the Church of St George
   • St George's bell tower entry
   • Piran town walls entry
   • Farewell dinner in Piran

   Activités en option

   • Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, where salt is still raked by hand in summer (extra, price shown at booking)
   • A boat trip along the coast from Piran harbour (extra, price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Stay on the level around Tartini Square and the harbour and skip the bell tower and the walls.

   Option plus active : Walk the seafront path to Portorož and on along the Parenzana, the old railway line now a cycle and walking path (about 2 hours one way, flat).

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; afternoon free

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot with the guide from 9 am, with steep lanes, the narrow bell-tower stairs and steps up to the walls; each can be skipped.

   

8. Jour 8 : Back to Ljubljana and home

   Piran to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU)

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   The trip ends after breakfast. It is about an hour and three-quarters from Piran to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) on the motorway past Postojna, and we drive you there in time for your flight. With the group leaving Piran mid-morning, the easiest flights leave after about 1 pm; if yours is earlier we arrange a separate, earlier transfer. If you are staying on in Ljubljana, we drop you in the city centre on the way. Before you go there is time for a last swim or coffee on Tartini Square while the town is still quiet. Your guide says goodbye at the airport. If you want more of Slovenia, add nights before or after the trip: Bovec for rafting on the Soča, the vineyards of the Vipava valley or Goriška Brda, or the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves near the coast are all easy to reach, and we can book hotels and transfers when you request to book.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU) or in central Ljubljana

   Activités en option

   • Extra nights in Bovec, the Vipava valley or Ljubljana (quoted on request)

   Temps libre : Early morning free in Piran

   Activité : Book a flight after about 1 pm to travel with the group transfer.

Faune et météo : June brings full waterfalls at Vintgar and Savica and late snow on the high peaks above Bohinj; September and early October are settled and quieter. July and August are warm, busy at Bled and Postojna, and the best months to swim at Piran. In the mountains low cloud can hide the view from Vogel or the Vršič Pass, and we swap the order of days 4 and 5 for the clearer forecast.

• Ljubljana2 nuits
• Bled3 nuits
• Piran2 nuits