Slovenia is a small country. The days out are not.
Which Soča rafting run suits somebody who has never held a paddle. What the train through Postojna actually shows you. Whether Bled is a morning or a whole day. Reviews of every tour you can book in Slovenia.
Postojna and Predjamafrom $68
Rafting the Sočafrom $68
Eating in Ljubljanafrom $18A cave train, a lake island, the Soča and a castle above the old town.
The four bookings a first week in Slovenia is usually built around. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The underground dayPostojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and TourAn electric train two kilometres into the karst, then the castle wedged into the cliff mouth up the road.
02The lake daySavica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled TourBled, Bohinj and the Savica falls in one loop. Take it before the coaches reach the lakeshore at eleven.
03The river dayWhitewater Rafting on Soca River, SloveniaWhitewater on the Soča out of Bovec. No experience needed, and the water really is that colour.
04The first eveningGuided Walk & Funicular Ride to Ljubljana CastleOld town, dragon bridge and the funicular up to the castle. Two hours, and the city makes sense afterwards.
Bovec sells three kinds of wet day. Pick your river.
The Soča runs snowmelt-cold and postcard-green through the Julian Alps, and the whole Bovec valley is built around getting people into it. Rafts for groups, canyons for the brave, kayaks for anyone who wants to steer.
Ljubljana, the lakes, the Soča valley and the short Adriatic coast.
A capital you can cross on foot, a glacial lake with a church in the middle, an alpine river valley two hours west, and forty-six kilometres of Venetian coastline. Five starting points, and the best day out in each.
Twenty million years of limestone, and a train that runs through it.
The plateau between Ljubljana and the sea is hollow. Postojna runs a narrow-gauge train into the galleries, Škocjan hangs a footbridge over an underground canyon, and Predjama Castle is built into the mouth of a cave system nobody has fully mapped.
The Slovenian days out more travellers take than any other.
The whole catalogue →Cave trains, lake loops and rafts, in the order the country actually books them, with what each one costs.
1
Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and Tour
Travel from Ljubljana to Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle in a small group with an English-speaking driver-guide such as Tibor, David, or Luca. Ride the underground train, see the world of the human fish, and explore a cliff-built medieval castle. The six-hour trip includes transport, admission, and pickup from three central locations.
From · $115
Read our review →
2
Savica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled Tour
from $94
3
Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, Slovenia
from $87
4
Slovenia in One Day: Lake Bled, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle
from $151
5
Adventure Rafting with Photo Service in Bovec
from $71
6
Castle Entry Ticket with Optional Funicular Ride
from $17
7
Lake Bled & Postojna Cave with Entry Tickets
from $173
8
Canyon Učja — The Longest Zipline Park in Europe
from $90
Three things that happen in Slovenia and nowhere else.
Alpine lakes and old towns are everywhere in this part of Europe. A blind cave amphibian, a castle built into a cliff mouth and the stud farm that gave the Lipizzaner its name are not.
Postojna and Predjama
The train runs two kilometres in before you walk anything, which is why this works with children and grandparents on the same ticket. At the end of the galleries sit the olms, pale blind salamanders that live a century in the dark and can go years between meals. Predjama, ten minutes up the road, is a castle wedged into the mouth of a cliff, with the cave behind it as the escape route.
- 1Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,146 reviews
- 2Slovenia in One Day: Lake Bled, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 879 reviews
- 3Lake Bled & Postojna Cave with Entry Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 694 reviews
The Soča and Triglav
The river leaves the Triglav massif already that impossible green, a mineral effect of limestone flour suspended in snowmelt. The valley around Bovec was a First World War front line, and the trenches are still on the slopes above the rafting put-ins. One mountain, one river, and the only national park the country has.
- 1Triglav National Park : The Original Emerald River Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 270 reviews
- 2Full-Day Triglav National Park Tour from Ljubljana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 166 reviews
- 3Day Trip in Triglav National Park from Bled★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 130 reviews
The Lipica Stud Farm
Every Lipizzaner in the world traces back to this karst meadow near the Italian border, where the Habsburgs started breeding them in 1580. The foals are born dark and grey out over several years. The farm still works, so a visit is stables and paddocks and a training hall rather than a museum.
- 1Skocjan Caves, Lipica & Piran: Karst & Coast Small-Group Day Trip from Ljubljana★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 234 reviews
- 2Lipica Stud Farm and Piran Full-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 82 reviews
- 3Lipica Stud Farm and Škocjan Caves from Trieste★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 17 reviews
The price of a day out, from a walking tour to a private driver.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good share of the best Slovenian days come in under the cost of dinner in Ljubljana.
Old-town walks, castle funicular tickets, tastings and the short gorge hikes.
The standards: rafting the Soča, canyoning, the Bled and Bohinj loop, cave entry with transport.
Private drivers, full-country day trips out of Ljubljana and the once-a-trip splurges.
Slovenia eats like Austria, drinks like Italy and charges like neither.
Four wine regions, a capital market designed by Plečnik and a cuisine that runs from buckwheat porridge to Adriatic sea bass. Book the market walk before the heat, the tasting that finally explains orange wine from the Vipava.
Four slots in Slovenia that are gone by the time you land.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on timed cave entries, river levels and seasons that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and TourEntry runs on fixed departure times and the train carries a set number of people. Summer slots go days ahead.
- 02Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, SloveniaRafting is a snowmelt sport. The season runs roughly April to October and the best water is early, when the valley is busiest.
- 03UNESCO-Listed Škocjan Caves and Piran Day TripŠkocjan runs a small number of guided walks a day and nothing goes in unguided. Out of high season it can drop to two.
- 04Lakes Bled & Bohinj and Vintgar Gorge Small-Group Day Trip from LjubljanaThe gorge boardwalk closes over winter and caps daily numbers when it reopens, so a summer walk is a timed ticket.
Slovenian weather changes its mind by lunchtime. Plan for it.
Rain shuts the gorge boardwalks and pushes the river up past safe rafting levels, often within a morning. It makes no difference at all a hundred metres underground, in a cellar on the Vipava, or at a table with a chef and a bag of buckwheat flour.
Ljubljana, Bled, Bovec, the caves, then down to the sea.
Bled
Triglav
PiranCapital, lakes, river valley, coast
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