Book a hostel with us and avoid the higher price due to third party booking commission.

Cycling is not for the weak

Whenever I read or listen to cycling recommendations of local tourist organizations, I always giggle when they say: »There are great cycling opportunities in our area.« OK, I believe there are, but we can basically say this for every part of Slovenia except for roads with dense traffic (interregional connections and city entrances). »We offer bicycle rental.« Again, you need to be careful and wise to choose a bicycle suitable for yourself. Looking at most of the offer, these are (please, those bright exception to the rule - forgive me) low quality bicycles, you can recognise by weight. You probably won't bring a weighing scale with you, but when you pick up the bicycle in your hand it should seem light. The heaviest a good mountain bike should be is 13 kilos and 11 only for the road bicycle. The latter are almost never offered anyway.

Content
Last year I joined a cycling camp of a Swiss association of recreational cyclists. How are such things organized with them? They brought entire technical support with them to Slovenia and stayed at the one of the hotels in Portorož, where they divided themselves in three groups. The strongest group included even former professional cyclists and the most relaxed group consisted of mothers with children. A very important part of their experience was evening gatherings and socializing along food and drinks. They were also subjectable to the cultural and historical offer.
 
I am truly story that such cycling events are not copied into our local practice. Cyclists are very good guests, when it comes down to spending – you could say wealthy! If you want to buy a high performance bicycle for 3000€ and are willing to pay half of that for additional equipment, you should be a very welcome target group among tour operators. So, let’s head out on the road. As we are the strongest group, our travel plan will be organized appropriately. 

Ljubljana – Bled, 93 km, 1250 elevation

From Hostel in Ljubljana to Hostel in Bled you can travel a fairly undemanding road and with quite light traffic with some 60km by the river of Sava passing Kranj. But we’ll make things complicated. We’ll take the other bank of the Sava river through Medvode and then continue along the Sora river. We’ll visit one of the oldest towns in Slovenia – Škofja Loka and continue through the narrow Selška valley until we reach Železniki – a former ironmonger’s town. It is here that the narrow valley narrows even more and after 10km we start ascending towards the Soriška mountain, named after a picturesque village Sorica on top. The pass is at the elevation of almost 1.300m above sea level. On the way down you’ll have great vies of the mountains around Bohinj and the lake, reaching Bohinjska Bistrica with ease. If you want you can continue towards Ribičev Laz, which is just 10km away and has two hostels, but our plan was to continue for some 30km until we reach hostel Bledec in Bled. This part is easy and runs along the railroad and the upper stream of Sava Bohinjka. You can download the route into your navigational device from the following link: http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3105536-ljubljana-bled-clanek/ (click on Export GPS data and select GPX file).

Around the Julian Alps, 145 km, 2100 elevation

It’s one of the toughest routes imaginable, but there’s a thematic connection to it, as you will circle this entire region of Slovenian Alps and almost all of the national park Triglav. The option I’m describing is 145 km long (until you reach the train station in Podbrdo). The hardest section is the climb towards Vršič, but for a true cyclist that’s good news! The rest of the way is fairly easy, especially if you take the train at Podbrdo. So, we begin in Bled and take the lesser known rout over Poljane, to reach JEsenice in less than half an hour. There’s a nicely arranged cycling path taking us to Kranjska Gora and afterwards we start the climb upon Vršič, which is located at the elevation 800 meters higher than the beginning of the climb. The valleys of Trenta and Soča are known well across the border, and the Baška grapa is little less known (beginning at Most na Soči and ending at Podbrdo). You might not believe it, but it’s even more mysterious if the weather is cloudy rather than sunny. Nobody will hold it against you, if you take the train at Podbrdo and use the railroad tunnel to return to Bled. But if you want, you can even leave the train and continue (from the other side of the tunnel) cycling with some 25km of easy ride towards Bled. Or you can head up to Soriška planina (at the elevation of 800m) and continue the path of the previous tour. You can also continue to go through Železniki to the ridges of Jelovica. This option is longer, but with less height difference. You can download the route into your navigational device from the following link: http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3233128-okoli-julijskih-alp-do-podbrda/ (click on Export GPS data and select GPX file).

Grape of the Idrijsko-Cerkljansko moutnains, 104 km, 2800 elevation

Idrija hostel can be a great starting point for one of the least known parts of Slovenia. The Idrijsko-Cerljaknsko mountains are perhaps the most ridged in Slovenia, full of steep gorges and hidden corners. No wonder it’s here that the partisan hospital Franja was located. The first ascend is from Idrija towards Žiri and it’s fairly easy, as it’s not really long and you’ll still rested. After some kilometres out of Žiri you turn towards the innocent pass of Kladje, from where you descent to Cerkno, which is the local centre of this hard to reach world. The next 17 km take you along the main local road along the valley of Idrijca, but it won’t take long as it’s downhill all the way. If you’re still not tired out, you can turn right at about half a way, towards Šentviška mountain, from there you will get one of the most unexpected and beautiful view of the Alps. I must, however, warn you that from this point on and until the end, there’s a difficult path ahead. When you’re back to the main road you’ll reach Dolenja Trebuša, from where the rout forks off to another cycling pearl – the valley of Trebuša. But there’s bad news for you – the toughest climb is at the end of the path. The final elevation of 200 meters brings you to a total of 1100m above sea level to Vojsko, from where you go back downhill to Idrija. You can download the route into your navigational device from the following link: http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3105544-idrijsko-cerkljansko-clanek/ (click on Export GPS data and select GPX file). 

Kras, 110 km, 1500 elevation

Kras can be Slovenian equivalent of Provanse and there’s also a very nice hostel to be found in Ajdovščina, which can be a great base for a few day’s cycling trips. For visitors of the Slovenian inland Kras is the most beautiful in November, when the rest of the land is already captured in fog, but Kras still feels the effects of the warm air coming from the sea. The local roads are just begging to receive cyclists, as they are quite narrow and winding so they’re not appropriate for transit traffic or fast cars. At the same time they do have good asphalt base and are not salted in winter. You might get angry since you’ll always be going up and down, but that’s the characteristic of Kras.
 
From Ajdovščina you first start to ascend to the architectural pearl of Kras – Štanjel – and continue towards Dutovelj, which is the centre for making the Teran wine from Kras. Sooner than you can imagine, you’ll reach Trieste, where you’ll see the mighty buildings that will help you create an image of times when this was the main Austro-Hungarian port. Enjoy a cup of Illy coffee, a brand established in Trieste in 1933. If you know somebody to look after your wheels you can even jump in the sea at one of the nicely arranged beaches, otherwise you might want to take the picturesque sea route to the while shining mansion of Miramar, before reaching Devin and turning back inland. After a bit more than 10 km you turn towards Opatje selo. Here you start going uphill again, but the climb is not steep. You’ll reach the highest point at 440 m and then you’re almost back “home.” If you haven’t had enough yet, you can prologue the route, as the Slovenian Kras really has an unusual amount of roads good for cycling. But if you really came in November, the day will be too short and the 110km will be more than enough if you enjoy some prosciutto and teran along the way. You can download the route into your navigational device from the following link: http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3232853-kras-hostli/ (click on Export GPS data and select GPX file).
 
Simon Demšar

Related articles

Book things to do, attractions and tours with 10% discount

Subscribe