My son and I have been going on an annual adventure trip for the last few years, and this year we decided to go to Slovenia, which is considered the adventure capital of Europe. It definitely lived up to that promise. Over 4 days, we did outdoor rock climbing, three Via Ferrata routes, e-biking through the villages and the countryside, summer tobogganing, a tree-top adventure course (five routes over 3-4 hours), indoor go-karting, and a few other indoor activities. We also had a summer adventure park at Krvavec on our list (ninja course, downhill go-kart, etc.) but that didn’t work out (more on that later).
Slovenia, Bled, and Getting There
Slovenia is a small country of about 2 million people, with good roads and excellent infrastructure. The landscape felt a bit like Scotland meets Switzerland, with mountains, valleys, and colourful cottages. Many of the adventure activities are concentrated around the Lake Bled region (Julian Alps), and we made Radovljica, a 15- 20 min drive away, as our base. We flew into Trieste Airport from Dublin and rented a car there to drive to Radovljica, which was very useful to get to all the activity locations.
IMP: To drive on Slovenian motorways, one needs to buy a permit (e-vinjeta) before getting on the tolled motorways. While it can be bought at some highway stops, the online option was the easiest. The car registration number is needed before this can be purchased, and it took less than 5 minutes to do it online. It is an electronic camera-based system, so there is no hardware to install in the vehicle once the e-vinjeta has been purchased.
Driving style on the motorways is a bit aggressive, with fast-moving vehicles getting very close behind you in the inside lane, even if you are already going at, or slightly above, the speed limit. Despite that, it is quite orderly. In one of the motorway sections of our drive, the traffic had slowed considerably, and we noticed that vehicles in both lanes were parting outwards, thereby creating a lane in the middle for emergency and recovery vehicles even before the traffic came to a standstill. This seemed a lot more efficient than stopped vehicles trying to get out of the way of emergency vehicles.
Via Ferrata
For those new to Via Ferrata (Italian for “iron path”), it is a protected climbing route on a mountain face. It consists of a continuous steel cable fixed to the rock, along with metal rungs, ladders, and suspension bridges. It allows adventurers to safely scale steep, rocky terrain without requiring advanced technical rock climbing skills. Via Ferratas in Slovenia follow an A (Easy) to E (Expert) rating system. There are five Via Ferrata routes in the area around Lake Bled (within a 20-40 min drive). There are two areas (Mojstrana and Gozd Martuljek) with two routes each, and a fifth route which is a bit further away, for which we didn’t have enough time. Of the four routes in Mojstrana and Gozd Martuljek, we completed three.
Gear Rental: Helmets and a Via Ferrata kit are mandatory gear, which we rented from Kofler Sport (Map). It is very conveniently located in Mojstrana village, which is a 2-3 min drive from the Mojstrana routes and a 10-15 min drive from the Gozd Martuljek routes. Apart from the rented gear, I carried a backpack with water, electrolytes, and some snacks. The backpack was secured with waist and sternum straps. I also used a secure case with a cable clipped to my shorts for my phone. It is best not to have anything unsecured, as it could get dropped and injure someone else climbing up.
There are 4 routes to attempt – (1) Mojstrana Blue, rated B/C, (2) Mojstrana Red, rated D/E, (3) Hvadnik in Gozd Martuljek, rated B/C, and (4) Jerm’n in Gozd Martuljek, rated D/E. While there is no particular order in which to attempt them, we found route 1 the easiest, so it might be a good one to warm up with. Route 2 would be next, simply because they are next to each other. Route 3 is inside the Hvadnik Gorge, so it is a good option for later in the day when it might get sunny/hot. We didn’t follow this order, though, and did Route 3 first.
Gozd Martuljek: There is convenient parking here for Routes 3 (Hvadnik) and 4 (Jerm’n). We parked here and then kitted up at the car park before heading to the start of the route (look for the red signs), about 5 mins walk away. We made a slight error and went to Route 4 (Jerm’n) first, the most difficult one, thinking it was the easier one. The first section on this route itself was quite challenging, so we beat a humble retreat and went to Route 3 (Hvadnik) instead, which was supremely enjoyable – challenging enough and very picturesque, going through the heart of the gorge with water flowing below us and trees all around us. It took us about an hour and a half to complete and about a 20-min hike back to the car.
Mojstrana: We then drove to the Mojstrana routes (1 and 2) and parked here. We then followed the red signs to the start of the routes. Both routes start from the same starting point but diverge quickly. The cables have blue (Route 1) or red (Route 2) markers coiled around the safety cables where the routes diverge. Route 2 (Red) is definitely the most spectacular one, with some sections running across sheer drops along the face of the cliff. The routes took us about 50 minutes each, and the hike from the top back to the start, or to the car park, was about 20 mins.
Rock Climbing
I have enjoyed rock climbing from an early age and did a fair bit of bouldering around Bangalore around 2004-05 with a friend who is a very good climber. I rekindled this love in the last few years with a bit of indoor wall climbing and bouldering in Dublin, mountaineering in Scotland, and outdoor climbing in Spain. I had never done lead climbing (info) before this trip, and my son had never done outdoor climbing.
Outdoor climbing requires some equipment (at minimum, ropes, harnesses, helmets, shoes, and quickdraws). We found a guide, Cveto (link), via explore-share.com. Cveto is highly experienced and provided us with a great half-day of climbing, covering beginner, advanced, and lead climbing.
We met at Bled Jezero railway station, and the first crag was just a 10-15 minute drive away in the village of Spodnje Gorje. We did two separate routes at the first crag and then drove a short distance to a second crag, which was a large cave with multiple overhang routes. We, however, stuck to a relatively easier route, though even that one had a few difficult problems to overcome.
Natural climbing routes have varying difficulty levels in different sections of the same route. The ones we climbed ranged in difficulty from about 5b/5.7 (Ref.) to about 6c/5.11a.
Summer Toboggan at Straža Bled and Tree-top Adventure Courses at NOD Adventure Park
Right around the Lake Bled area is a ski lift that takes you up a slope from where you can toboggan down on a steel rail that goes down a long steep switchback route downhill. The toboggan is a small basket you sit in (strapped in with a seat belt) and push a handle forward to release the brake. It’s most enjoyable hurtling down at high speeds but also a bit scary. We did four runs.
The tree-top adventure park was an accidental find. When we were researching options for the trip, we had found one ‘Pustolovski Park’ near Lake Bled, supposedly located somewhere near the summer toboggan. However, the info online was quite patchy; there were multiple hits for ‘Pustolovski’ and, despite going to the map location, we couldn’t find the actual place. We later realized that ‘Pustolovski’ literally means adventure/adventurous in Slovenian (which explains the multiple hits) and that the one we were looking for was permanently closed.
After the tobogganing, we were having a snack at the cafe next door, where a server told us about the NOD Adventure Park (map), which had opened just a week ago. It turned out to be an excellent recommendation. The park had 5 courses going up in difficulty, and we could do all 5 with a rest/snack break in between. The staff was very helpful, and the place had excellent facilities. The location was beautiful too, among the trees, across a river, and next to grass fields from where we could hear the constant music of cow bells in the background.
E-Biking
The whole region is very bike-friendly, with bike lanes on most roads, and road users being generally considerate towards bikers. We booked a self-guided e-biking tour to Vintgar Gorge from Pr1mo Tours (info) and set off in the afternoon. Thankfully, the heat wave had dissipated, and it was a relatively cool and cloudy evening. The ‘tour’ was designed such that we would e-bike to the gorge parking (about 20 mins), then hike the Vintgar Gorge (about 1.5-2 hours) and then e-bike some more before returning to the rental place. We were enjoying the e-biking so decided to skip the Vintgar Gorge hike and instead went exploring the villages and countryside, passing through Triglav National Park.
In retrospect, we should have just rented the e-bikes for 4 hours for €30 (€40 for the full day) instead of paying €45 for the ‘tour’, which included a timed entry ticket to Vintgar Gorge. The e-bikes were a lot of fun, making it easier to cycle up the steep slopes and allowing us to cover more ground than on a regular bike. A full-day rental exploring even more of the region wouldn’t have been a bad option either.
Go-Karting and other indoor activities at Woop Arena, Ljubljana
After a second failed attempt at visiting Krvavec Summer Park (more on that in the next section), we were looking up other activity options, preferably indoors as it was a very hot day, when we came upon Woop Arena (map), around a 50-min drive away in the capital, Ljubljana. They have bowling, karting, darts, billiards, mini golf, escape room, laser tag, pixel, etc.
It’s a great place to spend a half- or even a full-day, especially on a hot or rainy day. The go-karts were electric, and the tracks were a lot of fun with many curves and turns. We did a round of go-karting, a round of mini golf, and a few rounds of pixel (info). Pixel was fun and quite a workout. My Whoop informed me that my exertion level was similar to a 15-minute HIIT session!
The elusive Krvavec Summer Park
Krvavec is a ski resort that has activities like a Ninja course, mountain go-karts, etc. during the summer. This was another place where the information online wasn’t very clear and sometimes inconsistent.
In our first attempt to go there, on a Monday, we went to the cable car station (map), only to figure out that the cable car is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We then decided to drive up to the park but could not go all the way up as there were roadworks blocking the final portion of the drive. Only later did we figure out that the park itself is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
We had some free time on Wednesday, so we tried going there again. Google Maps showed it was busier than usual, so we took that as a sign that the park must be open. However, about 2-3 kms before the cable car station, one section of the road was again closed for roadworks, completely blocking the way to the cable car station and the route (at least from our direction) to the park itself. After a few detours suggested by Google Maps, all coming back to the same blocked road, we finally gave up.
As of now, we have no evidence that the place even exists!
Final words
This was our first time in Slovenia, but it definitely won’t be the last. It is a paradise for active holidays. From walking/hiking to biking/e-biking to water activities to snow activities to altitude activities, it has everything, easily accessible, high quality, and well-maintained. We also saw many campervans (almost one in every eight on the highway), so that could be on the cards too.
Hvala, Slovenija. Še se bomo vrnili.
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