Stanjel is one of Green Slovenia's most stunning hill top villages and is perched like a mini Tibetan kingdom over the Kras Teran wine region.

Being just 30 mins directly from the Lodge, it is so easy to stop off here in Stanjel to explore the hill top village for a few hours, enjoy the panoramas, have a bite to eat or an ice cream and still have plenty of time left to visit other Red Karst delights for a most unexpected Green day out. 

And Stanjel is every bit as pretty as the famous nearby Istrian hill top villages of Groznjan, Motovun and Buzet that you might have heard about in Croatia.

Stanjel is a big, beautiful hill top village, with a castle & lemon shaped church, but don't be surprised if you see almost no other visitors on your visit..

Just like so many of these other spectacular mini citadels located on tops of hills, Stanjel is protected by a castle with mighty defensive walls and a main arched gate..

The best way to explore Stanjel is to try to get a bit lost! There is a maze of picture perfect little streets, packed with antique stone houses, wonky old staircases, pretty Karst flowers and wooden shutters.

The village was well fortified with castle walls, towers and this big gate..

One minute you are taking a walk through history, imagining the Medieval citizens preparing for the latest Turkish attack and the next minute a stunning Green panorama comes into view to command your attention!

There is wine here too and Stanjel is the main little town in the Teran wine region, only about 30km long and one of Slovenia's 7 unique wine regions.

quite a defensive wall..

Arriving in Stanjel..

There is a car park on the opposite side of the main road to the hill top village where you can usually find a space.. Just turn left by the Zebra crossing and the parking is at the end of this 100m little side road.

Get your parking ticket, then you just cross the main road and walk steeply up to the village, probably through the main gate, but you could get to the castle walls and then GO LEFT to see round the other side of the citadel, outside the walls first.. 

there is a lovely local arts souvenir shop above the main entrance gate..

Whichever way you go it will be round in circles here in Stanjel, but you do need to know there are fantastic views from every single angle and every nook & cranny in your chosen circle!

Coming through the main archway gate you will be greeted by more steep steps and possibly the most perculiar looking church in Green Slovenia with a unique "hat like" steeple, which we think looks like a giant lemon!

the church is beautiful and sits at the top of this stone staircase..

There is a little souvenir shop in the battlements above the gate and up those church steps to the left will bring you to the main castle courtyard with yet more high defensive walls and a new museum inside the castle..

The courtyard is an absolute beauty and here is the only restaurant in the town, but you can also just have a drink in this uber stunning court yard. The restaurant is imaginatively called Grad Stanjel bistro (grad is castle) and if you know ahead you will want to eat here in Stanjel, then it is very good advice to phone and book a table in advance..

Defensive wall and courtyard for the only restaurant in town..

Stanjel is such a magical place you can best enjoy by just strolling around.. It can take as little as an hour to properly get around the whole village, street by street, with the very best views & panoramas coming from the top of the hill where an older crumbled castle sits..

From up here you will also get very clear views of another of Slovenia's 7 wine regions, the Vipava wine valley.

so many beautiful wild flowers grow at the very top of the hill..

Do try to walk around to the back of the hill too, it is not far and might seem private, but there is a public path and you will be treated to some beautiful walled allotments and even more magnificent views!

Make sure you also get to the far end of the village called Ferrari Gardens, with a little manor house and very pretty gardens you can walk through, with water features and guess what.. MORE AMAZING VIEWS!

view across the Karst region from the top of Stanjel..

There always seems to be some kinda renovation being done in these gardens, but that does not stop you finding some pretty flowers and seeing the spectacular views from the end of the gardens back to Mt Nanos, a mountain that also dominates the view from our Lodge garden from it's other side!

We have noticed over the years how a few local houses have started selling hand made stuff and local products in addition to that main gift shop above the main gate, which sells fantastically made local artworks. Sometimes there are stalls selling local honey or a man selling home made bread, but that's about it!

fantastic views from the back of the hill top..

You will really notice the commercial difference between a visit to a hill top village in Slovenia and to one in Croatia, where there are restaurants all over the place and every type of souvenir shop. 

We would not like Stanjel so much if it followed the Croatian model too far, but maybe another restaurant and one more shop or a cafe would be just perfect!

Above all we love the beauty, tranquility and sophistication of Stanjel..it adds to the massive diversity and variety of totally unique places you can find all around this tiny pocket rocket of a country.

explore the narrow streets with cute little stone houses..

Other Stuff to Do on your Day Trip to Stanjel..

Stanjel is very handily placed indeed for a variety of different trips form the Lodge. Easy to get to directly, but also with so many other places to see along the way or coming back from there, so Stanjel hill top village becomes one beautiful part of a longer, epic Green adventure..

this is a really pretty little town to stroll around and check details..

Teran Wine..

Teran is the rare and unique blood red wine produced ONLY here in the Green expanses you can see from Stanjel. Grown in the rich ruby red soil spread thinly over the leaky limesone Karst rock, a glass of Teran goes down very well with local prsut, (prosciutto or dried ham), cured for up to 3 years in local cellars and another specialty of this mini region.

Maybe you will taste one of the very local unique Teran wines here in Stanjel or at another local Red Karst restaurant..

No wine cellar in Slovenia looks the same..

We did another article on what we describe as Slovenian Tapas, which might be of interest, cos the Red Karst is a KEY area for finding Tapas opportunities, which can be as filling as a main meal, less restricting on your day and often even more fun!

Maybe you will go visit a local winemaker, to see their cellar, vineyards and get a better understanding just how good this wine is and how much care is taken to make it!

Grapes growing in the Teran wine region..

We mention the term Karst a lot as the geology has such a dominant influence over the incredibly varied beauty you will be seeing around here.

For simplicity, we divide the Karst into two big bits for you.. Mediterranean climate RED and Continental Europe climate GREEN!

The Lodge sits at the far end of the Green Karst, snuggled in next to Mt Nanos, which is the gateway to the Mediterranean and Stanjel sits on the other side of Nanos with the Vipava Valley in between us and the Red Karst! 

Ingenious way to collect precious water on top of a Mediterranean hill..

Karst is a geological term for the leaky limestone rock regions which cover about half of Slovenia and is full of caves, disappearing lakes and rocks and the Red Karst Teran wine region stretches from near Lipica, the home of the Lipizzaner horse and the massive Skocjan cave all the way up into the Red Karst hills at Komen and the Italian border, with Stanjel in the middle of it all, sat imperiously on top of a hill!

So you could easily combine any of these places into a Red Karst adventure including Stanjel!

Strong Mediterranean, Medieval look and a Yugoslavian looking concrete balcony, perfect for storing large bottles of wine..

Equally, you could decide to turn a visit to the Vipava Valley into a longer loop via Stanjel..

So maybe you would do a double wine region tour, visiting the neighbouring Vipava valley first and then popping up into the Teran wine region and Stanjel.

a fine view across the Karst to the first of the Italian foothills..

Restaurants in the Red Karst Teran region have to be very good as it neighbours Italy and you can see from the number of Italian cars at the eateries around here that the local food must be great!

Last time we visited Stanjel we forgot to book a table and so just had a drink and then found another fantastic restaurant in the nearby town of Komen, and we included a few photos of our meal in this article for you to see..

Crumbled tower with incredible views over the Red Karst..

Most local restaurants around here will be hidden away in clear sight, so do not be afraid to stop where you see locals sitting outside or Italian cars stopped to eat and give it a try.

Stanjel could not be more different to Piran or Postojna or Bled or Ptuj or Ljubljana or even neighbouring Vipava.. But this is the part of the magic of Green Slovenia where your holiday can be so incredibubbly varied and every new day is a different day to the last with the excitement of tomorrow still to come..