Everything we’d heard about Slovenia told us that we should not just stick to Ljubljana – we needed to get out to the countryside. So, on the recommendation of a fellow hosteler, we set our sights on the small country town of Bohinj, a 2 hour bus ride from the capital.  The direction we headed (NNW for the crossword puzzle geeks out there) took us into the Julian Alps section of Slovenia, a mountainous paradise with lakes and hiking and everything you could want!

Bled Lake and Castle

In fact, on the way to Bohinj we passed another retreat town well-known to Slovenians called Bled.  There is a rather large lake with a super castle perched on a rocky overlook on the lake.  Unfortunately we had to pick one or the other but we will leave Bled to another trip.  It appeared much more built-up and touristy than our final destination: Bohinj!

The View from our Hotel

As you can tell, Bohinj is just as dramatic and beautiful as Bled.  Our hotel was atop a hill near the lake, and was a real treat!  Our private room (with bathroom) (with breakfast) (with balcony) was super cheap and comfy.   No words are necessary about the view either!  After we got in we decided to hang around the room a bit as there was rain off and on.  But later, we went out to find the rain gone and beautiful lake scenery awaiting us:

Dramatic Weather at Bohinj

Of course, not all we did was stare at the lake and the mountains.  We found a place (at the rock face that was directly underneath the hotel) to do some rock climbing!  Since I’d never climbed on natural rock before, we gave it a try.  It was fun!  Someone nearby took pictures of us but we need to contact her to get them.  Perhaps another post?

Anyway after that was done we went and had some dinner (pizza) in town and went to bed.  We had a nice relaxing morning the next day, and eventually got out to the lake once more.  This time we rented a canoe for an hour and went as far as we could go!

We're On A Boat Again

It was a really beautiful day – there was no wind so the water was a perfect sheet of glass, the clouds were high enough to still see the mountains, and the weather was cool enough to be comfortable paddling.

You Can Kind Of See Our Hotel

Afterwards we went and had dinner (smoked lake trout!) and chilled out until bedtime.  Our last day we took a hike around the edge of the lake, a very nice 20km walk that took most of our time that day.  There is a nice waterfall in Bohinj, too, about halfway through but unfortunately they were charging 2.50 EUR to enter.  We decided that since Niagara Falls was free we definitely weren’t going to pay for a small little waterfall in the middle of nowhere, Slovenia!

Babbling Brook

After that our little interlude in nature was over, and we bussed it back to Ljubljana.  We really needed this trip.  After so much time in the cities of Europe it was such a great experience to see some mountains, hike some trails, and just soak it all in without the hustle and bustle of traffic.