Slovenia fits the Alps, a cave world and the Adriatic into two hours’ driving.
Which Bled boat actually stops at the island. What Postojna costs once you add Predjama. Whether the Soča is running high enough to raft. Reviews of every tour you can book in Slovenia.
The Soča Valley
Rafting, canyoning, green water
from $68
Ljubljana
A river, a castle, an easy base
from $17
The Karst caves
A railway two kilometres underground
from $70
The cave train, the island bell, the Soča and an afternoon on the castle hill.
Four bookings a first week in Slovenia usually gets built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
- 01The underground dayPostojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and TourTwo kilometres in on the cave railway, then the castle wedged into a cliff face up the road. More travellers book this than anything else in the country.
02The lake daySavica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled TourBohinj first while it is still empty, the Savica falls, then Bled in the afternoon. One minibus, no hire car, back in Ljubljana for dinner.
03The river morningWhitewater Rafting on Soca River, SloveniaGrade II and III water under the Julian Alps, wetsuit and guide included. It runs from the spring melt through to October.
04The first afternoonCastle Entry Ticket with Optional Funicular RideThe funicular up, the ramparts, and the whole city laid out under the Kamnik Alps. The cheapest hour you will spend here.
Slovenia’s classic day out leaves Ljubljana at eight and is back for dinner.
The country is small enough that the caves, the lake and the castles are all day trips from one hotel. Four kinds of day, where each one goes, and what it costs to board.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · Ljubljana and Lake Bled Small Group Guided Tour
On the lake at BledA pletna out to the island, the bell, then the climb to the castle.
Postojna and PredjamaThe cave railway, then a castle built into the mouth of a cave.
Bled as a day tripCollected in Ljubljana, with Bohinj and the Savica falls thrown in.
Castles, plainlyPredjama, Bled, Ljubljana and the ones with no queue at all.
All 47 Postojna and Predjama trips →
The tours more people book than anything else in Slovenia.
Every tour in Slovenia →The ones that fill up first in July, what each of them costs, and what earns them the slot.
1
Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and Tour
Review of Ljubljana’s Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle tour, with train ride, cave tips, guide quality, timing, access, and value.
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
Ljubljana, Bled, the Soča valley, the Karst, and forty-six kilometres of coast.
Five places to sleep and the best day out from each. Nothing in this country is more than two hours from anything else in it.
The Soča runs bright green and cold, and half of Slovenia’s best days happen on it.
Snowmelt off Triglav keeps the river up from April into October. Rafts and kayaks on the main run, canyons cut into the side valleys, and a zipline strung right across the gorge at Bovec.
What a day out in Slovenia actually costs.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. Slovenia comes in under the Alps on either side of it, and a good number of the best days here land below fifty dollars.
Castle and cave entry tickets, the Ljubljana walking tours, bike hire in Piran and the pub crawls.
The standards: rafting and canyoning on the Soča, and the Bled and Postojna days out of Ljubljana.
Private guides, the long Julian Alps days, and the cross-border runs to Zagreb and Trieste.
The Soča runs on snowmelt. The caves do not care what month it is.
Rafting and canyoning open up around April, peak in June while the melt is still coming off Triglav, and wind down through October. Everything underground sits at about ten degrees all year, and so does a cellar. If you are here in the cold half, this is the half that still works.
Three things that only happen in Slovenia.
Lakes and mountains are everywhere in this part of Europe. A church on an island you have to be rowed to, a blind salamander that lives in the dark, and a river this colour are not.
The bell on Bled island
Slovenia has exactly one island, and it sits in the middle of a lake with a church on it. You get out there by pletna, a flat-bottomed boat rowed standing up by men whose families have held the licence since the eighteenth century. Ninety-nine steps up from the jetty, then you pull the rope in the belfry and make a wish. The rower waits, because there is no other way back.
- 1Savica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,015 reviews
- 2Canyoning Bled Slovenia★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 408 reviews
- 3Bled Rafting★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 334 reviews
The olm, and the train that goes to it
Postojna is the only cave in the world with a railway running inside it, and it has been carrying visitors since 1872. Two kilometres in, an aquarium holds the proteus: a blind, pale salamander that lives about a hundred years, breathes through feathered gills and can go a decade without eating. It is found nowhere on earth except the water under this corner of the karst.
- 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 why it is that green
The river leaves the Trenta valley the colour of glass and holds it for a hundred and forty kilometres. What does it is limestone flour, ground fine by the ice above and carried in suspension all the way down. The valley it runs through was the Isonzo front in the First World War, and the trench lines are still cut into the slopes above the water.
- 1Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, Slovenia★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 931 reviews
- 2Adventure Rafting with Photo Service in Bovec★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 839 reviews
- 3Canyon Učja — The Longest Zipline Park in Europe★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 605 reviews
By place
By kind of day — underground, on the river, or at a table
Ljubljana, Bled, Bovec, Postojna, Piran: the loop almost everybody drives first.
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