Compare Green Charms of Slovenia by Kensington Tours vs Best of Slovenia - 8 Days by Travel for All

Day 1: Ljubljana - Zgornji Brnik

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation: Dvor Jezersek Hotel

Upon arrival at Ljubliana airport, you will be met by an English speaking driver-guide and transferred to your hotel in Zgornji Brnik.

Ljubljana is the largest city and capital of Slovenia and is regarded as the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative center of the country. The city has a strong Alpine feel to it and the architecture underlines this impression - there is also a touch of the Mediterranean (thanks to its geographical proximity). Ljubljana was devastated by earthquakes several times. After an earthquake in 1511, the city was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and after an earthquake in 1895 which caused severe damage, the city was rebuilt in Neo-Classicist and Secession (Art Nouveau) styles. The city's Baroque architecture was mainly influenced by Italian Baroque architecture.

Enjoy a Slovenian culinary experience during your stay at the Dvor Jezersek Hotel. The family run property is the perfect backdrop to being initiated into the cuisine of Slovenia, its cultural heritage and the contemporary culinary arts, as your tutor draws on the wealth of the experience of catering and organising receptions that they have hosted inside and outside of Slovenia. Get ready to sample tastes of all the gastronomic regions of Slovenia and try individual dishes or styles of dish made by your own hand.

Day 2: Zgornji Brnik - Logar Valley

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Hotel Plesnik

Today you will drive with your English speaking driver-guide to Komenda to visit a ceramicist's studio. Continue to Kamniska Vistrica and enjoy a trek to Velika Planina. The herdsmen’s settlement is known as one of few the settlements of such size in Europe and attracts many visitors throughout the year. It is distinct by its typical architecture which symbolises Velika Planina. The roofs are covered with pine shingles, which extend rather low. The name of the cottage in the Kamnik part of Velika planina is “a herdsman hut” or “a shepherd’s home”, and a pine shingle is called “šinkel”. The settlement is revived every June, when herdsmen return to the settlement and tend to their cattle until September. Taste the dairy products or try a typical herdsmen’s lunch; sour milk and hard-boiled corn mush before you return by cable car.

Continue your day with a drive to Logar Valley, one of the most beautiful Alpine glacial valleys in Europe which extends into the Kamnik-Savinja Alps from the north. A part of the Solcavsko region, tradition and nature have found harmony here, serving as a good example of sustainable development. The park has received a Future in the Alps Award from for the successful management of a protected area and is a stunningly beautiful natural area.

Day 3: Logar Valley

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Hotel Plesnik

Take in a full day of trekking in the Logar Valley today. Set among the over 2,000-meter peaks are sunny meadows and pastures, charcoal-makers’ and foresters’ cottages, wooden flumes for transporting logs, and picturesque natural features beside the springs and tributaries of the Savinja River.

Day 4: Bled – Lepena

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Lepena Hotel

Start your day with a drive towards Bled to visit Bled Castle and Bled Island. The picture-postcard Alpine town of Bled was once the preferred choice of the Austro - Hungarian Empire’s elite. Its many charms include a medieval castle perched high on a rocky cliff, a scenic lake studded by a tiny wooded island, and the alpine splendour of the nearby Triglav National Park, a natural wonderland of glacial valleys, glittering peaks, Limestone canyons, ice-cold tarns, flowered meadows, Alpine forests, Pretty hamlets and cascading waterfalls. Continue with a visit to one of the beekeeper, learn everything about bees, and help in some operational activities.

After lunch (included), take a ride with a boat to the Island of Bled and visit to the 16th century castle.

Continue with a drive through Vrsic Pass a high mountain pass across the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia.

Day 5: Lepena – Livek

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Nebesa Hotel

This morning you will be driven to Bovec. This area is blessed with well-preserved and wild nature, mountains, the emerald river with its tributaries, the gentle and unique combination of Alpine and Mediterranean climates, and centuries of preserved tradition. Continue towards Soca Valley, dominated by one of Europe's most beautiful rivers. The Soca's stunning turquoise hue flows for about 100km against a backdrop of imposing limestone mountains cloaked in dense forests, lush meadows rich in wildflowers and a clutch of small towns and villages, including Tolmin, Kobarid and Bovec. Besides its rich history - the WW1 Soca Front was one of the bloodiest mountain battles ever known - the valley is now a hiking, kayaking, and fly-fishing haven with much of the area set aside as part of the Triglav National Park. Rafting on the Soca River has for many years been a hallmark of the Soca Valley. It is suitable for all swimmers over 15 years old. With highly trained and friendly guides you will descend the section between Boka and Trnovo, the most attractive part of the Soca.

After lunch you will visit Kobarid a place of the biggest alpine battle in the World War I. One of the most renowned historical places in Slovenia was already inhabited in the Hallstat period and prospered in the Roman period. The town is mainly known for the aftermath of the Battle of Kobarid in October 1917, which placed Kobarid on the world map. Kobarid is known for the famous Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms. The battle is well documented in the museum in the centre of Kobarid. During the Second World War, Kobarid was the centre of the liberated territory, called the Kobarid Republic. The Kobarid museum presents the story of these historical events and in 1993 it received the Council of Europe Museum Award. Kobarid is also the culinary capital of the Primorska region, since it boasts many excellent restaurants.

Day 6: Livek – Brda

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Hotel Gredic

Continue your journey with the drive to Tolmin to visit Tolmin Gorge. The chute on the Tolminka River is the lowest point in Triglav National Park and the longest chute in Slovenia. It is also among the deepest. The junction of the gorges of the Tolminka and Zadlascica rivers with their chutes is a unique phenomenon in Slovenia. The chute of the Tolminka River is about two hundred meters long and five to ten meters wide. The well known "Devil's Bridge” over which the Tolmin - Cadrg road passes arches sixty meters above the Tolminka, and above it there is the entrance to the Dante Cave. Enjoy your lunch (included )at the highest located ecological farm in Slovenia. Continue towards the very Western corner of Slovenia where beautiful wine growing region Goriska Brda is stretching on 72 square km. It extends trough the state border (Italy) from the river Soca on southeastern part to the Idrija river on northwestern part. The region ends with two old hills; Sabotin on East and Korada on North.

Day 7: Brda – Ljubljana

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Antiq Palace Hotel

Start your day with a visit to a local winery where you will have a wine tasting included.

Continue your day with a drive towards Ljubljana. En route you will stop for lunch in Vipava Valley and at Postojna Caves the most visited caves in Europe. The Postojna cave system is the largest known cave system in Slovenia. A visit to a cave such as Postojna deserves full attention due to the diversity of shapes, expansive cave areas, stalactite and stalagmite formations and water characteristics. Admire its unique Karst underground world of beautiful formations of stalactites and stalagmites. You can also see an unusual and rare underground animal Proteus Anguinus - the so-called “human fish”. A visit to Postojna cave is a special experience, as an electric train takes visitors to their hour and a half circle tour visit to the cave. From train station inside the cave guides accompany visitors as they walk amongst magnificent creations of nature.

Day 8: Ljubljana

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Antiq Palace Hotel

Today you will have a sightseeing tour of Ljubljana. One of Europe's best-kept secrets, the ancient walled city of Ljubljana lies at the very heart of Slovenia and boasts a vibrant history that traces 3,000 years of Roman, Medieval, Baroque and Italian influences. A friendly and cosmopolitan city Ljubljana offers a broad selection of diversions that range from strolling the shimmering reaches of the Ljubljana River to exploring the formal gardens and fortified battlements of the city. There is also wandering the cobbled streets of the Old town and a bright café society to be enjoyed plus plenty of atmospheric bars, a broad range of regional restaurants and a host of cultural events.

In the afternoon take a bike tour to Ljubljana moor, large marshy plain that is marked by an interminable mosaic of grasslands, woodlands and fields. It is a reserve for many species of birds as well as other animals and plants such as the checkered lily and the swamp tulip.

Day 9: Ljubljana

Meals: Breakfast

Meet your driver for a private airport transfer.

Day 1: Arrival

Pick up from Ljubljana airport and transfer to Ljubljana. In late afternoon or evening we do a 2-hours guided tour of Ljubljana, a city which in 2015 got a Bronze Access City Award. We walk around the city centre that was highly denoted by a Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik and take the funicular up to Ljubljana Castle.

Picture of Ljubljana Castle in Slovenia

 Budget/comfort/quality 3*

Day 02: Day trip to Stajerska (Styria) region

Meals: Lunch

In the morning, we drive across Črnivec Pass to Upper Savinja Valley. The region sits already in the middle of the mountains but still have some influences from Štajerska which can be seen in the warm and welcoming locals. We visit Mozirski gaj flower park, the largest of this kind in Slovenia. From here we take a short ride to Logarska Valley, one of the most beautiful glacier valleys in Slovenia. After lunch with some local specialties in Logarska Valley we take the opportunity to walk along the trail of which one part is accessible for wheelchair users. On the way back we drive through Austria to Jezersko and back to Ljubljana.

Day 03: Best of the Alps

Meals: Lunch

After the breakfast we will check out from the hotel and we drive to Bohinj and start enjoying beauties of our biggest natural lake Bohinj which is already a part of Triglav National Park. The lake is situated between some of the highest mountains of Slovenia. As view is always a good idea, we take the cable car up to a winter ski resort Vogel, 1625 meters above the sea level. From here we get the best possible view of Triglav, our highest mountain, and a picturesque lake far below us.

From here we drive to Bled with its famous island with church and medieval castle on the rock above the lake; so with just a little of imagination we feel like in a fairy tale. We settle in a hotel in Bled and relax a bit. After that a short walk around the lake will bring us to the best sweetshop in the area, where a typical Bled cream cake “kremšnita” has been produced in the same way for decades. Yummy! Dinner in hotel and free time in the evening.

Day 04: Boka Waterfall

Meals: Lunch

On this day we change the climate from Alpine to Mediterranean. From Bled we take the windy road up to 1611 meter above sea level. The road was constructed during the First World War by Russian prisoners and connects Sava Valley in the north to Soča Valley in the south. After a short stop for beautiful views at the top of Vršič Pass we decline to the river Soča. River is popular for rafting and other activities and it is believed that this is one of the most stunning rivers in Europe. The great green color of its waters will accompany us most of the day. On the way we see Boka waterfall, one of the highest waterfalls in Slovenia.

We make a stop in Kobarid where we will have a lunch and visit the museum of cheese production, as the region is very famous for it. From here we continue to Goriška Brda, the area that is famous for producing delicious wines. After some tasting (what else?) of rebula, tokaj, zelen, pinela or vitovska grganja (all these sorts of grapes can be found only in Slovenia and small part of Northern Italy) we spend a night between the vineyards of Brda.

Picture of Kobarid seen in the distance against the rising mountains

Day 05: Kras(Karst)

Kras (Karst) to Slovenians mean something like Provence to French – small hills rising up from flat land that is covered with fields and vineyards. One of the best things about this region is food and wine. Traditional dried pork meat pršut (prosciutto) is produced here, which is prepared only with salt, some local bora wind and a lot of love. When it’s washed down with strong red wine Teran, you’ll get an idea of what heaven looks like… We try all these delicacies at one of many farms that offer their homemade food to hungry trespassers.

Next stop is Lipica, where white Lipizzaner horses are born and raised since the 15th century. When we arrive to the short but interesting Slovenian seaside, we base ourselves in a hotel in Portorož, Strunjan or Izola, just steps away from warm Adriatic Sea.

Picture of Lipizzaner horses pulling a carraige through a beautiful green park

Day 06: Piran

In the morning we do a guided tour of Piran. The city is one of the best preserved medieval towns on Adriatic coast with beautiful setting on a peninsula, narrow cobbled lanes and a church and fortress high above the town.

Afternoon off for swimming and enjoying the warm Mediterranean climate.

Picture of the City of Piran Slovenia

Day 07: Skocjan Caves

Meals: Lunch

On the way back to our capital we make a stop in Škocjan caves, the only natural beauty in Slovenia that is listed on UNESCO world heritage list. As the cave is protected, it’s unfortunately not possible to visit it on a wheelchair. Instead of that we take part in a virtual 3-D tour of the cave, which is not far away from the real walk (believe us, we got scared of the high walls and deep falls a couple of times…).

After the lunch, transfer back to Ljubljana and free time for shopping or sightseeing.

Stunning architecture under deep blue skies in the city of Ljubljana Slovenia

Day 08 : Departure

Transfer to Ljubljana airport and departure.