Slovenia: summary and route

Slovenia is a beautiful little country, albeit very popular with tourists! We were a little taken aback by both the volume of traffic (80 0.000000oreign) on the road along the Soca valley approaching Kobarid, and also the sheer number of people at the campsite, where we snagged one of their last small tent pitches. Turns out we're the only people who hadn’t heard of the area….. English is widely spoken, and most young people we interacted with appeared to be fluent or close to.

Things were a lot quieter as we headed South and, while the high mountains shrank into the distance, the countryside remained bucolic. Green green green, meadows everywhere, and so much produce. We also didn’t encounter a road that came close to the one near Kobarid traffic-wise for the remainder of our stay, or a campsite quite so full to bursting. Note that not much of the country is particularly flat…...this holds true at least for the western areas that we visited. We encountered some very steep sections!

Komoot kept us off the main roads for the most part, finding country lanes and the occasional cycle path - far , far fewer of these than in Italy, but traffic remained courteous. There are lots of campsites, most of which come in at about 25-28 euros for two people and a small tent. All were of a good standard, usually with bar-restaurants which was good for a cold beer of an evening, and many offering fresh bread in the morning. The bars often have free wifi. Our favourite campsite was probably Kamp Tura, where the lady is too lovely for words, and the pitches are all terraced and car-free. Be warned though, it is up a very long, very steep hill!!

Food prices were a little higher than we were used to in Italy, but this was mostly due to Lidl being less prolific. We saw more of both Lidl and Hofer (Austrian Aldi) once we were in the vicinity of Ljubljana. Shops were well stocked, and we were delighted to be able to find porridge oats ( which are like hen’s teeth in Italy!).

While foreign tourists were present in all regions, we were intrigued that the Savinja river valley was far more the domain of Slovenian holidaymakers. It’s a very beautiful area too - highly recommended.

We’d definitely encourage others to tour in Slovenia, just try and avoid peak season!!