Escorted Slovenia Holidays and Guided Tours
Slovenia is roughly the size of Wales, which is why six days here goes further than you might expect. Lake Bled sits below the Julian Alps, Ljubljana is an easy hour away by road, and the karst caves to the south are within a morning's drive of both.
We travel by air, with transfers at either end and a tour manager on the ground. Our itineraries pair the obvious pleasures — the island church, Bled Castle, the embankments along the Ljubljanica — with quieter corners such as Lake Bohinj and the dairy farming museum at Stara Fužina.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Slovenia Tours
More than on a flat city break, less than a walking holiday. Ljubljana's old town is cobbled and the castle hill is steep, though a funicular does the climb. Bled Castle and the island church are both reached by steps. Postojna Cave involves roughly a kilometre and a half on foot on damp, uneven paths. Everything is done at a sensible pace with time to stop, but if you have concerns about steps or standing, do ask us before booking.
Yes. Our Slovenia tours include return flights, transfers in the UK and at destination, hotel accommodation, breakfast every morning and an evening meal each night, plus the guided visits and entrance fees listed on the individual tour page. Lunches are not normally included, which leaves you free to stop where you like. Cabin luggage allowances vary by flight, so check the tour page or ask us what applies to your departure.
In July and August the lakeside path, the pletna jetties and the castle terrace are genuinely crowded, particularly between mid-morning and late afternoon. May, June, September and early October are considerably easier and the light is better. Bohinj, half an hour away inside Triglav National Park, is quiet almost all year. Guided visits are usually timed to avoid the worst of the coach traffic where the itinerary allows.
Yes. Alongside our scheduled Open Group departures, any of our Slovenia itineraries can be run as a Private Group for a gardening club, U3A branch, church group or simply a large party of friends. The itinerary can be adjusted, and the date is yours to choose subject to flights and hotel availability. Tell us roughly how many of you there are and when you would like to travel, and we will price it.
Slovenia uses the euro and has done since 2007. The language is Slovene, but English is widely and confidently spoken in Ljubljana, Bled and anywhere used to visitors, and your tour manager and local guides work in English throughout. Card payment is accepted almost everywhere, though it is worth carrying some cash for market stalls, small cafés and the pletna boatmen.
One does. The Three Country Tour combines Trieste and Miramare Castle in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Poreč, Rovinj, Opatija and the island of Krk in Croatia, with wine and olive oil tastings along the way. Border crossings are made by coach and are usually straightforward, but carry your passport with you rather than leaving it at the hotel. Ask us about current entry requirements for the departure you are considering.
Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj
Bled is a small lake, barely two kilometres end to end, and its scale is part of the appeal. A flat path runs right the way round in about an hour and a half, past the boathouses and the swimming spots. The island is reached by pletna, the flat-bottomed boats rowed standing up by a licensed handful of local families, and there are ninety-nine steps from the jetty to the Church of the Assumption at the top.
Bled Castle stands on a crag above the water, with the Karavanke ridge behind it and the Julian Alps to the west. The custom is to eat a slice of kremšnita, the vanilla and cream slice the town claims as its own, on a terrace looking at the view.
Bohinj, half an hour further into Triglav National Park, is bigger, colder and much quieter. Cattle still summer in the high pastures above it, which is why the cheese-making tradition around Stara Fužina survives.
A Day on Foot in Ljubljana
Ljubljana has around 285,000 people and the centre feels closer to a large market town than a capital. Much of it was rebuilt after the 1895 earthquake, first in Art Nouveau and then to the designs of Jože Plečnik, the architect who gave the city its Triple Bridge, its riverside colonnades, its covered market and the National and University Library.
The old streets below the castle hill are closed to traffic, so a guided walk covers a good deal of ground without much effort. Dragons appear everywhere — on the bridge, on the city crest, on souvenirs — and the castle above is reached by funicular in a minute or so, or on foot up a wooded path for those who prefer the climb.
Cafés line both banks of the Ljubljanica, and market mornings are when the city is at its most itself.
Karst Caves, Cliff Castles and Lipizzaners
South-west of Ljubljana the limestone takes over. Postojna is the best known of the karst caves: more than twenty kilometres have been surveyed, visitors are carried part of the way in by an electric train that has run in some form since the 1870s, and the temperature inside sits at about 10°C whatever the month, so a jacket is sensible in August. The resident olm, the pale cave salamander the Slovenes call the human fish, lives in tanks near the end of the route.
A few miles away, Predjama Castle is built across the mouth of a cave in a cliff face — the setting for the long siege of Erazem of Predjama in the 1480s.
Lipica, near the Italian border, was founded in 1580 to supply horses to the Habsburg court in Vienna. Lipizzaners are born dark and lighten to grey over their first decade. Both Postojna and Lipica appear on itineraries heading south from Bled.
Over the Border to Trieste and Istria
Slovenia's short stretch of coast sits between two others, and one of our itineraries crosses both borders. Trieste was Habsburg Austria's seaport, which explains the scale of the Piazza Unità d'Italia, open on one side to the water. James Joyce lived and taught here for a decade from 1904 and wrote most of Dubliners in the city. Just up the coast, Miramare Castle was built for Archduke Maximilian on a promontory, its gardens planted with cedars and holm oaks.
Istria, south of the border in Croatia, is a Venetian-flavoured peninsula of walled fishing towns. Poreč keeps the sixth-century mosaics of its Euphrasian Basilica; Rovinj's campanile was modelled on the one in St Mark's Square. Opatija was where Vienna came to take the sea air, and its shoreline promenade still runs for miles.
Malvazija wine and local olive oil are both tasted along the way.
