If you’re looking for a great place to experience tourism by bicycle this post is for you.
We were a group of 15 cyclists, mostly from Fernie, British Columbia, off to Slovenia in May, 2024
Where is this little country you may wonder?
As part of the former Yugoslavia this hidden gem is tucked just north of Croatia, south of Austria, west of Hungary and east of Italy. Here’s your map to visualize all those directions.
Here is the team of adventurous women in order of age, our 86 year-old role model at the top, and our rookie 57 year-old babe-in-the-woods at the bottom.
My sister is second on the seniority stairway and her daughter is the young’un who helps bring our group’s average age down to about 70.
This was a pleasure trip not an endurance challenge so we all voted for e-bikes for the 8-day tour.
They were great, we got a workout if we wanted but four levels of assistance were just a click away. What a relief on a long climb! Biking has never been so easy and so fun.
Our guided tour was called Alps to the Adriatic. The landscape changed as we peddled from mountains to rolling hills to vineyards and villages to the rocky seashore. What a variety of countryside to enjoy by bike - I loved it!
We rode mostly on paths and quiet, paved rural roads, and generally stayed away from freeways, cities and other bike-unfriendly dangers.
The tour started in the Julian Alps at Lake Bled, an unusual name for a place with spectacular surroundings that is home to the only island in Slovenia.
I had time to make a little souvenir watercolour.
Northern Slovenia felt like Austria. Pastoral meadows and wild flowers.
Our guides worked hard to keep us safe. They made us wait out a storm in the shelter of an abandoned railway station where we ate snacks and checked phones until the lightning passed.
I actually like biking in a light rain. A shower cap stretched over my helmet keeps my head fairly dry.
We cruised in sunshine southward following the Italian border, occasionally weaving into Italy and back to Slovenia with no passport checks. Then through vineyards and charming villages all the way to the Adriatic Sea.
Biking at its best, relaxing Slow Tourism. My favourite way to travel.
We followed the prettiest, cleanest Soča River, a flowing beauty that must be one of the loveliest rivers in Europe.
Slovenia is known for its pure clean water. It has strong environmental “Slovenia Green“ policies and is one of the cleanest countries in the world.
Plenty of stops on this tour for sightseeing, snacks, refreshments, a swim and acrobatics.
The biking days weren’t difficult or even very long, less than 60 km a day is easy, especially with a battery sharing the workload. You might want to consider it!
Wine tasting and some fancy dinners. As you see this trip was not just about biking.
There were a few spots we didn’t like.
Here’s a nasty rock patch that was very challenging to ride down and very tough pushing our heavy bikes up the other side. We all survived but it wasn’t fun.
The prize at the end of our tour was Piran, a charming medieval town perched on the rocks of the Adriatic Sea.
We said goodbye to our trusty ponies there as they were loaded for the trip back to Ljubljana and charged up for another batch of foreign riders.
Our tour was booked with Slovenia Cycling who subcontracted the guiding to “HourAway”. Have a look at their homepage (www.hour-away.com). Nejc Peternelj would be happy to give you details about their wonderful cycling and hiking tours in Slovenia.
Thanks for having a look at my story!
More random facts, impressions of the capital city Ljubljana and photos of the entertaining and lovely cycling girls coming soon in Slovenia Part 2.
Stay tuned for the next Caboose on the horizon.
