Slovenian Heritage and Natural Wonders

After breakfast, drive to Radovljica, the city on the natural river terraces filled with charming, historic buildings with stunning views of the Alps. Visit the Beekeeping Museum, which takes a closer look at bee-keeping in Slovenia. Continue to Bled, Slovenia's most popular tourist resort, take a ride around the lake, and enjoy the photo opportunities of this picturesque Slovenian treasure with its emerald-green lake. Picture-postcard church on an islet and a medieval castle clinging to a rocky 139 m high cliff. Take the 'pletna' boat to the only natural Slovenian island in the middle of the lake and ring the wishing bell in the 15th-century belfry of the church. Continue to the valley of Bohinj with its unspoiled nature, a glacial lake amidst the Julian Alps, with its brooding, eerily calm, and silent body of water. This lake is a nature lovers paradise. Drive back to Ljubljana. Overnight.

Today, you will visit Idrija, a Slovenian mining town known for the former mercury mine, lace, and 'zlikrofi' (ravioli with soft cheese and bacon). Visit the mine, a 'living museum' that allows you to learn more about the working conditions of mercury miners in Idrija. After visiting the mine, continue towards Tolmin. Take a walk through the Soca Gorges along the emerald green river, one of Europe's most pristine rivers. The Soca River offers numerous opportunities for rafting, kayaking, canoeing, canyoning, and fishing. Continue to the quaint town of Kobarid, surrounded by mountain peaks, but still feels more Mediterranean than Alpine. The world will probably remember Kobarid as the site of the decisive battle of 1917 Isonzo Front. The award-winning museum in Kobarid tells the story of the Soca (Isonzo in Italian) Front and the 'war to end all wars.' You will also visit the Napoleon Bridge, go for a short walk along the Kobarid historical trail, and continue to Nova Gorica. Overnight in Nova Gorica. 

After breakfast, drive through the picturesque and fertile Vipava valley to the Skocjan Caves part of the UNESCO heritage. There are more than ten thousand registered caves in the Slovenian karst, but the Skocjan Caves are one of the most impressive and the »wildest«. After the visit, continue to the Lipica Stud Farm, which lives for and on its snow-white Lipizzaner horses, which were first bred here for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna in the late 16th century. Drive to Piran, everybody's favourite Slovenian coastal city, very picturesque and sitting at the tip of a narrow peninsula, one of the best preserved historical towns anywhere on the Adriatic and a gem of Venetian Gothic architecture. In Piran, you will enjoy some free time for a stroll along the sea or the narrow Istrian streets. After visiting Piran, you will drive to Ljubljana. Overnight in Ljubljana.

After breakfast drive to one of the most beautiful glacial valleys, Logarska Valley, located in the heart of the Kamnisko-Savinjske Alps, near the Austrian border. Most of the glacial Forester Valley has been a country park since 1987. This 'pearl of the Alpine region', with more than 40 natural attractions – caves, springs, peaks, rock towers, and waterfalls – as well as endemic flora and rare fauna, is a beautiful place to explore for a day. A short walk through the valley will bring you to the Rinka waterfall. The water falls 90 meters off the cliffs. Later, drive to Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia, nestled by the Drava River and surrounded by vineyards. Visit the Old Vine House, home to the world's oldest-producing vine, and stroll through the charming old town, where you can see the medieval castle, the Plague Memorial, and the lively Main Square. Drive to Ljubljana. Overnight.

After breakfast, drive to Velika Planina and take the cable car to the top of the mountain plateau 'The Big Pasture', a dispersed high-elevation settlement of mostly herders' dwellings on the Big Pasture Plateau in the Kamnik Alps. The mainly wooden huts and barns in the settlement have a particular architecture. In the summer months, it still has a sizable population of herdsmen who bring their flocks to the highland pastures, and it is one of very few herders' settlements of this scale still preserved in Europe. Enjoy some free time for a walk or try a typical herders' lunch and then return to the valley.