Julian Alps Slovenia Guide: Bled, Bohinj and Triglav

Lake Bled lies at the edge of the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia and is of mixed glacial and tectonic origin, measuring about 2,120 m long, 1,380 m wide and up to 29.5 m deep. It holds the only island in Slovenia. The island's pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary took its present form near the end of the 17th century; a Baroque stairway from 1655 climbs 99 stone steps to the building, which has a 52 m tower. You reach the island on traditional flat-bottomed wooden boats called pletna. On the cliff above, Bled Castle is, according to written sources, the oldest Slovenian castle and is mentioned in a deed of donation dated 22 May 1011. Current opening hours and ticket prices appear here only with a source; where a detail is uncertain, it is more honest to say we do not know.

Beyond Bled, in the Bohinj Valley inside Triglav National Park, lies Lake Bohinj. Covering 318 hectares, it is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia, about 4.2 km long and 1 km at its widest. It is a glacial lake dammed by a moraine. According to sources, more than a third of its water enters from Karst springs beneath the surface along the northern shore, and the lake water is renewed three times a year. Its largest inflowing stream, the Savica, is fed from the Black Lake (Črno jezero) in the Triglav Lakes Valley; the outflow, the Jezernica, merges with the Mostnica to form the Sava Bohinjka. The legendary golden-horned creature Zlatorog is said to live in these mountains. Summer is for swimming, paddling and hiking, winter for ice sports; current event and transport times are not written without a source, and where a detail is missing we say we do not know.

Triglav National Park is the only national park in Slovenia; established in its modern form in 1981, it was expanded in 2010 to include the settlement of Kneške Ravne, reaching 880 km². Almost at its centre rises Triglav, 2,863.65 m according to the 2016 survey, the highest point of the Julian Alps and of all Slovenia and the national symbol carried on the country's coat of arms and flag. The first ascent was made in 1778. The metal Aljaž Tower on the summit, planned in 1895 by the priest and mountaineer Jakob Aljaž who bought the peak for one florin, serves as a shelter and triangulation point. Most ascents are two-day routes with an overnight in huts such as Kredarica (2,515 m), and the final ridge requires a steel-cabled via ferrata; it is for those with a head for heights. Hut opening dates and half-board rates change with the season; we give current figures only with a source, and where we do not know, we say so.

About 4 km northwest of Bled, on the border of the municipalities of Gorje and Bled, runs the Vintgar Gorge. The 1.6 km ravine on the edge of Triglav National Park was carved by the Radovna River; its sheer walls reach 50 to 100 m high. The stream forms pools and rapids and ends in the 13 m Šum Falls, the largest river waterfall in Slovenia. Until 1890 the gorge was largely inaccessible; in 1891 it was explored by Gorje's mayor Jakob Žumer and the photographer Benedikt Lergetporer, and in 1893 it opened to visitors with laid-out walkways. The Bohinj Railway bridge below the gorge, built of cut stone in 1904 and 1905, is the largest stone arch railway bridge preserved intact in Slovenia (65 m long, 33 m high). Current entry hours and prices are not given without a source; where a detail is missing we say we do not know.

At the western end of the valley, along the Sava Dolinka and near the triple border of Slovenia, Italy and Austria, sits the town of Kranjska Gora. Mentioned in written sources in 1326 as Chrainow, the settlement is today the centre of the Upper Sava Valley. Kranjska Gora Ski Resort is Slovenia's oldest; the first ski lift opened on 29 November 1948 on the Preseka slope. The resort divides into five sections under Mount Vitranc and offers about 20 km of ski slopes and 40 km of cross-country tracks. Since 1961 it has hosted the Vitranc Cup, one of the oldest active alpine skiing competitions in the world; the Podkoren 3 course, hosting World Cup events since 1983, is the steepest and most difficult in Slovenia. Nearby Planica, in the Tamar Valley, is a world-famous centre for ski jumping and ski flying. Current season dates, lift hours and ticket prices are not written without a source; where we do not know, we say so.