There’s that special moment in the year when we get to see two seasons overlap. Lively birds singing, trees blossoming and the first flowers announcing the arrival of warmer spring days down in the valleys. However, higher up in the mountains the strong north winds and freezing temperatures still hold a firm hold over the white mountaintops. The best of spring and winter in the great outdoors is right here, it’s just a matter of us grasping it or not.
To that extent I’ve been fortunate to walk endless greening meadows speckled with wild marsh tulips, hike along rolling hills carpeted with purple crocuses, and see the trees coming into leaf along a vibrant small gorge. Over a thousand meters higher, on the other hand, I enjoyed snowshoeing in half a meter of fresh snow up to incredible mountain peaks, while also climbing safely to a white peak with views of both Slovenia and Austria.
Here are five memorable spring hikes in the Slovenian Alps and the hillside close to Ljubljana that I’ve done; some you can do easily with your family and friends, and some are preferably reserved for the more experienced hikers or in company of a certified guide. Either way, enjoy the pictures and the gorgeous first days of spring and the last of winter!
Exploring Slovenia’s best spring hikes:
Flower hike on Golica
Velika Planina and crocuses
Goli Vrh above Jezersko
Zajamniki
Surrounded by forests, about sixty huts lie stretched across this high-altitude pasture with a backdrop of mountain peaks of the Julian Alps to the west and the beautiful Bohinj mountains to the south. The Zajamniki Pasture is part of southwestern Pokljuka, a high karst plateau in the Julian Alps with 6,300 ha of mostly fir forests, inhabited by a variety of wild animals like deer, rabbits and foxes, as well as wolves, bears and lynxes.
Numerous Alpine pastures in Pokljuka like Zajamniki with old wooden huts seem lost in time. They are part of the Triglav National Park, which requires the pastures to continue the Slovenian Alpine architecture traditions. You won’t see any new buildings and, above all, no signs of modernity; only perhaps a small solar panel here and there.
Spring has crept into Zajamniki as well…
Ljubljansko barje (Eng. Ljubljana Marsh)
Tucked away at the southern end of Ljubljana and expanding to the first foothills of the mountains in the south, the Ljubljana Marsh covers 163 square kilometers or about one percent of the country and as such qualifies as Slovenia’s largest wetland. Its marshy flats are interwoven with an endless labyrinth of meadows, fields, ditches, and paths, while being also well-known for their booming wildlife and diverse plants. Among others, they house 89 species of butterflies, 48 species of dragonflies, and over 100 species of birds, some of them considered endangered worldwide, while as much as half of Slovenian bird population picks this place to hatch.
Sometime between the end of winter and beginning of spring the ancient hay meadows of the wetlands are also the spot to see blooming leper lilies, beautiful bell-shaped flowers of a somewhat reddish-purple color. In fact, leper lilies are the first to adorn the still colorless meadows.
As I explored the wonderful Ljubljana Marsh I found meadows filled with leper lilies, the deer peacefully grazing and the trails perfectly empty. What an incredible place just outside Ljubljana!
Exploring Slovenia’s best multi-day treks:
The Karawanks Traverse
From Bohinj to Soča Valley Trek
7 Triglav Lakes Trek
Triglav Lakes and Soča Valley
Iški Vintgar (Eng. Iška Gorge)
Where the Ljubljana Marsh ends, the Iška Gorge begins. It cuts around seven kilometers into the Krim Hills, of which 1,5 km are an easy walk along the Iška Stream with a few open spots for a picnic by the water. Dramatic appearance of the gorge is only deepened by the trees with roots clinging to the gorge’s steep walls which continue into tall and steep forested hills and rock formations above.
When I visited it just a few days ago, the leaves on the trees just started to bud out and the contrast between the delicate awakening forests in the valley and the rough walls above was just stunning.
Martinj Vrh
“Vrh” meaning “a peak” in Slovenian, one would naturally assume a hilltop to say the least when talking about Martinj Vrh. Even though you are greeted by a hilly landscape driving to it, the name actually stands for a village stretched along the hillside that goes as high as 1,000 meters. Due to its remote location, this village would otherwise never catch anyone’s attention if it wasn’t for the purple carpets of crocuses that cover its open meadows early in spring.
Interwoven with many trails and quiet roads, one can do anything from easy loops around the village and in the nearby forest, a beautiful 3-hour and 9-km loop hike around Koprivnik, a 1,393-meter hill above Martinj Vrh, or a 4-hour and 11-km hike to Blegoš, a scenic 1,562-meter hill with many remains of the period before WWII.
Exploring Slovenia’s best summer high mountain hikes:
Dreamy lakeview Jerebica
Triglav viewpoint hike
Stunning Julian Alps hike
Triglav – conquer the highest mountain of Slovenia!
Up next on Blog:
When Velika Planina dresses in purple: welcome to endless fields of crocuses
Weekend on blooming Velika Planina
Hiking in a flower paradise: Mt. Golica and its daffodils
Three spots to see the blooms in early spring
Mrežce, 1,965 m
Almost 2,000 meters high, just on the opposite side of Mt. Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain, across the narrow and more than a 1000-meter deep glacial Krma Valley, stands an impressive mountain with awe-inspiring vistas. Utterly relaxing and, more often than not, completely forgotten by the masses on a normal weekday, Mrežce is the kind of peak that will come as a surprise. After a good uphill on a forested slope, you enter a gorgeous open top with views to die for.
Join Exploring Slovenia’s Guided tour to Mrežce
{Disclaimer for the wise: conditions in the mountains can change very quickly, therefore plan your hike accordingly; read about the planned route, check the avalanche reports, the amount of snow in the mountains, and reports about the temperature and wind changes, consult with mountain guides and local hikers,… We strongly advise you to visit high mountains with a certified guide!}
Exploring Slovenia’s best guided treks:
Triglav Lakes Trek
Triglav Lakes and Soča Valley
Golica and endless fields of daffodils
Gorgeous Mrežce above Bled
Begunjščica, 2,060 m
Saving the best for last, Begunjščica is the kind of mountain that offers a bit for anyone who knows how to use crampons, an ice axe and avalanche safety gear. Accessible from many sides and routes, you choose the route depending on the type of adventure you are looking for; up various couloirs for climbs of different degrees of difficulty, or up from either the Roblek or Prevala Huts for easier but still exposed hikes.
Contact us for a Guided tour to Begunjščica
Read about more amazing hiking in the Slovenian mountains:
Twelve mountains adventures in Slovenia you will likely fall in love with
Viewpoints of Lake Bled for a perfect postcard
The most scenic tour to Triglav
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