I originally planned to travel with my long-time friend and first ever travel buddy, Julia, to… somewhere. Somewhere small enough to explore without FOMO (spoiler: we only scratched the surface of this beautiful country). My first idea was Bosnia and Herzegovina after seeing its beautiful landscapes on social media, but it was too hard to reach. My second pick was Slovenia. My former flatmate is from there and, after her round trip, she completely sold me on the country. Then my best friend Lanny had a few spare vacation days this year, and thus we found a suitable travel gang.
The itinerary
Slovenia isn’t easy to reach from Germany without a transfer, so our plan was a little… creative. We took the night train from Dresden to Graz (about €140). From Graz, we continued to Ljubljana by FlixBus (around €23) and picked up a rental car for the next few days. After our road trip, we returned the car in Ljubljana, stayed two more nights, then took another FlixBus to Trieste. From there, we flew back to Berlin.
Day 1: Night Train & Arrival — Graz
- Citypark • Kunsthaus • Murinsel • Herrengasse • Schlossberg Slide
Day 2: Into the Alps — Vršič Pass
- Mountain hut • Curvy roads • Starry sky
Day 3–4: Soča & Bled & Bohinj
- Soča • Bled Castle • Bled Lake • Bled Cream cake • Bled Eye-doctor
- Ojstrica & Mala Osojnica Viewpoint • Savica Waterfall • Lake Bohinj • Stari Grad Smlednik
Day 5–6: Ljubljana
- City vibes • Gibanica • Šmarna Gora
Day 7: Trieste & Departure
Departure
Friday evening, after a busy workday, we met around 9 PM near the main station for a quick snack before our 10-hour Nightjet ride in a 3-bed cabin. I’ve used sleeper buses in Vietnam a lot, but a sleeper train was still new and exciting to me. In theory: hop on, go to sleep, wake up to breakfast, arrive fresh. Or so I Hoped, but in reality, every time the train leaned into a curve, my body slid slightly toward the head or foot of the bed, so my sleep stayed light. Still, it was a fun first experience.
Day 1: Night Train & Arrival — Graz
Despite the light sleep, we arrived in Graz feeling energized and ready to explore. And there was plenty to fill a whole day: Citypark, Kunsthaus Graz, Murinsel, and Herrengasse; our afternoon was packed with strolling and soaking up the first vacation vibes. We even stumbled into an African-themed street festival in Augarten.
In the late afternoon we climbed the steps (one of the many more to come) up to Schlossberg and its famous clock tower. Having a mountain right in the middle of the city felt perfect for a quick escape, a quiet spot, or a great lookout. The “highlight” was The Slide, which is a 175 meters long tunnel slide, going down 64 vertical meters through the hill. You sit on a mat, just let it go and arrive at the bottom afer about 30 seconds and some screams. After a full day (and some classic Austrian food), we headed to bed early as we were embarking to Slovenia next thing in the morning
Day 2: Into the Alps — Vršič Pass
We crossed the Austrian–Slovenian border by FlixBus and picked up a Sixt rental in Ljubljana, heading straight for our next destination: a mountain hut near/at the Vršič Pass.
The mountain roads were well maintained but not for the faint-hearted. It went left, right, left, right, with tight curves and the occasional oncoming car made it quite the adventure on its own. We reached the hut around 4 PM, at an altitude of about 1,500 meters. From there, lots of hiking trails spread across the mountainscape. Originally, we wanted to climb a peak, but in the end decided to stay near the base, take photos, and just relaxingly enjoy the views together. The mountain hut had surprisingly a lot of warm dishes to offer and we once again, ordered just a bit too much to finish everything on a good stomach.
Although there were a lot of tourists, the location itself was quite isolated. At night it was pitch-black, and I’ve never seen so many stars. You could even see the Milky Way with the naked eye.
Day 3–4: Soča & Bled & Bohinj
First thing in the morning we drove to a hidden spot some friends of Julia had recommended in the Soča region, a bit farther west. We started at dawn, passing quiet, empty places until we found “the spot”. And indeed, although the entrance path was maintained and even had a Dixie toilet, it wasn’t crowded (yet). On the way back toward Bled, the rising sun revealed even more insane views left and right, along with waves of people arriving. Good thing we went early, but seeing it in daylight also made us realize how many great spots we’d missed.
We reached Bled in the early afternoon, checked into our hostel, and made our way downtown: visited the castle, strolled around the lake, tried some overpriced street food, and, of course, the famous Bled cream cake, with its advertisement all over the place. We had high hopes, but in the end, it was mostly cream and not much cake. Still “a truly unique experience”.
And Back to Ljubljana
Another day, another early morning. We were a little bit sorry for our roommate, but in the end, tried to leave as swift as possible to get to the Ojstrica viewpoint. That hill peak would promise a scenic and iconic view over the lake bled, and the nearby parking spot had a corresponding price tag to it ( 6€ per hour!). And behold at 6:30 AM, there was of course already a small crowd waiting for the sun to rise. We went up from the north entrance and came down via Mala Osojnica on the south, as a guide suggested. To be honest, although a little bit tricky to find, I liked the view from Mala Osojnica more, as the island lines up perfectly with the castle in the background.
After a quick breakfast, we drove west to Lake Bohinj. Supposedely, there’s a “secret” waterfall (waterfall Savica) at the far end, but when we arrived we were greeted by a parking lot with a gate, an entrance fee and a well paved path. Not exactly hidden, but since we were there, we went. Later we found a quiet spot by the lake, had snacks, and finally slowed down to enjoy the trip again. Super clean, not crowded at all, and the huge lake surrounded by mountains was just stunning. We learned the whole area was shaped by glaciers, which explains the overdramatic views.
In the later afternoon we finally arrived in Ljubljana, checked in and realized, we still had plenty time and a car with just way too much fuel. So, after a little bit of rock paper scissor, we opted to drive to Stari Grad Smlednik, a nearby castle on a hill with about 450 m of elevation gain.
Day 5–6: Ljubljana
Admittingly, the past couple days, we were moving around, not only by foot but also literally hostel hopped from one place to another. Still there was one last hike, we had to do! Going to the nearby mountain peak Šmarna Gora. My favorite work colleague recommended it, and even my other favorite colleague (ChatGPT) said locals can’t call themselves from Ljubljana if they haven’t been up there at least once. I had to be very very delicate on how to frame this sensitive topic restraining my excitement, but after a good night’s sleep we were all in and ready for the climb
Fun Fact Šmarna Gora
* Šmarna Gora is a mountain 20 minutes away from Ljubljana.
* There is a racing event each year.
* The “short course” is just 1.8 km long with 360 m of elevation gain.
* The men’s record is held by Filimon Abraham (Germany), who climbed the route in 10:59 minutes in Oct 2020 (26. Šmarna Gora Record).
Šmarna Gora is a popular spot for recreation. We took a slightly different route than Google Maps suggested, thanks to a tip from a local on the bus. The trail was quiet, but we still saw a few athletes powering uphill like there were hot potatoes waiting at the top. As the sun started to set, we descended via the more “official” path and passed loads of people hiking up to catch the sunset.
Overall the next two days we took things more slowly: slept in a bit, wandered the center, and soaked up the Ljubljana vibes. If there’s one thing we’ll miss most, it’s the gibanica cake, which we had two or three times within the span of a couple days.
In the late afternoon on Thursday, we took the last FlixBus of the trip to Trieste, Italy, where our flight would leave the next day.
Day 7: Trieste & Departure
Arriving in Trieste we were shocked by how many banger buildings there were. While Ljubljana felt cute and cozy, Trieste looked tall, pompous, and a bit luxurious. Despite the fancy look, food prices were surprisingly reasonable, and there weren’t many tourists around. We even had light regrets and wished we’d arrived earlier, as we only caught a few hours of late sun. Unfortunately, the next day rained pretty steadily, so we couldn’t explore much before our flight. Still, if you ever need a layover or a small, comfy city to wander for a day, we’d definitely recommend Trieste.
And that was our vacation. We had way more elevation gain than expected, and the word “moderate” took on a new meaning for some of us. I’m happy my two friends grew a bit closer, and that the three of us got to share another adventure together.
Even though I haven’t watched it yet (but my two friends did), I was familiar with the songs from the Netflix movie K-Pop Demon Hunters. We had them on repeat the whole trip. It was especially “calming” every time we hit a steep section with barely no breath left and someone went, “We’re going up, up, up—this is our moment.” /s
Epilogue – Learnings:
Some unstructured thoughts I collected during the trip:
- Don’t trust the weather forecast ( we were surprised in a good way)
- I need to recreate gibanica at some point
- There are just so many beautiful mountains/hills
- Fresh water fountains everywhere
- Definitely can spend more time here
- English is so common, wasn’t able to learn any Slovenian phrases
- Have never been looked weirdly at for having a German citizenship