Bikes
Europe's biggest Bike Park.. Green Slovenia has it all for Bikes..
To put it simply, our village of Landol is surrounded by a biking Green paradise! We have lots of fantastic stone tracks which are perfect for mountain biking and quiet country roads to suit all levels of ability.
We have a list as long as your bike pump of local routes to try! From Lipizzaner Lodge you can ride directly into the forest, countryside, along a river or up into the mountains. You can explore a Roman fort, ride to the world famous caves of Postojna or Skocjan and we even have a secret route direct to Predjama castle.
Green Slovenia has every type of bike route you could hope for and our guests sometimes bring their own bikes, but you don't necessarily need to bring one as we can also rent you our own rugged mountain bikes and we have also teamed up with Rockvelo to offer guests the best E Bikes and service in Slovenia!
There is no other country in Europe where you can cycle in so many different environments during the same week.. even in the same day if you like, as the distances around Green Slovenia are so small and each mini region is so ridiculously beautifully and different..
Directly from the Lodge you can choose from the Slovenian, Italian or Croatian coastal paths. You could cycle in either of the 4 Slovenian Alps, alongside stunning lakes or some of the oldest forests in Europe. You could zig zag from castle to castle, bike through vineyards, next to crystal clear rivers or discover Slovenia's magical and mysterious disappearing lakes!
There are quiet tarmac roads through sleepy picturesque villages, disused railways converted into cycle paths, farmers tracks can be followed into the countryside or used for navigating your way up into the mountains and loggers tracks will help you cut your way through the forest. You can even take a bike trip down a massive disused mine for a fab day out.
Recommended Routes..
We can help find a route for your bike ride depending on how long you want to go for and what type of terrain you prefer. The choice is yours, go for just 30 minutes, 3 hours or the whole day! We can help you as much or as little as you like to choose the best selection for you and your party.. if you want to eat or have access to refreshments during your day's adventure, then we know where all the best cafes or restaurants are along the way as well!
Our Bikes..
Some of our guests bring their own bikes, but we also have 9 high quality XL, L, M and S, Slovenian made Cult mountain Bikes to rent, which have disc brakes and front adjustable suspension and 2 conventional touring bikes if you will be a little more on the road.
Breaking News.. for 2021.. Lipizzaner Lodge have teamed up with local Vipava Valley E Biking company Rockvelo to become a "ROCKVELO HUB". It means we can offer the highest quality, most up to date E Bikes for rental on the Postojna side of Nanos mountain with ALL the service, navigation and support you would expect from a company that has so successfully opened up the beautiful Vipava Valley to E Biking tourism..
We will have these high quality E Bikes at the Lodge, on site, so all you will need to do to book one for the day is use the APP OR just let us know in advance and we will book the bikes out for you!
Now you can E Bike from Lipizzaner Lodge..
So you if you don't want the hassle of bringing your own bike here, you have a lot of choices..
Bike Stop..
We are keen cyclists ourselves and Lipizzaner Lodge is perfectly placed on several very popular cycling routes that go across Slovenia and really close to 2 of the top tourist attractions here, Predjama castle and the Postojna cave.. there are numerous others that you don't yet know about too!
An extremely popular biking route goes from Predjama castle straight past our front door and so we decided it was also a good idea to have a "Bike Stop" here, where cyclists can stop for a coffee, maybe get some air in the tyres, a dab of oil, some help with repairs or just some general advice on even better ways to continue your adventures!
We also noticed several of the international bike touring companies make the big mistake to send their cyclists from Predjama castle past Landol onto the fast, busy and frankly dangerous main road that leads to Nanos mountain.. there is a much safer and infinetely more beautiful route that goes from Landol along stunning stone tracks, skirting along the base of Nanos mountain.. and ends up in the same place!
Now we have extra support and expertise from Rockvelo with E Bikes, so we hope our bike stop will go from strength to strength and we look forward to seeing you drop by!
Extra Offer for cyclists..
Partly due to our passion for the environment, we have decided to have a minimum stay of 2 nights for all guests.. the only guests allowed to stop just one night are hikers and cyclists on longer trips through Green Slovenia as we completely understand that you are supporting the environment by using your own green power and that you have a timetable and route to keep to!
You can learn more about our thoughts and actions for the environment on our GO GREEN SLOVENIA page..
The only tip we give to guests regarding this "one night stay" offer is to please book as early as you can, cos if you just turn up and we are full, which can so often be the case, then there will be no room at the Inn for you.. and our Lipizzaner horses sleep in the stables!!
You will need a Mountain Bike for Green Slovenia.. we highly recommend you go for an E bike too..
Slovenia is already the biggest mountain bike park in Europe, a huge Green paradise with just one small cute city and dotted with a few tiddly towns, lots of picturesque villages and everything else that is good about European nature..
There are so many different tracks here that unless you are a total road cycling nut then you will need a mountain bike.
There are several specialist bike parks for the extreme mountain bikers and these guys always research for themselves anyway, so for the majority of the rest of us there is still one important decision to be made.. regular mountain bike or E Bike?
A few years ago we too would have laughed at the notion of using an E Bike, but our views have changed dramatically, especially since we actually had a go on one!
E BIKE or Regular Mountain Bike?
Put simply Green Slovenia is the perfect location for E Bikes.. the only flat bits are the Mediterranean coast and the pretty Pannonian Plains bordering Hungary. If you consider an E Bike can give you up to 3 or 4 times the range a regular bike can, then the stunning wiggly hills and mountains are now possible to explore without a car for us non Olympic cyclists!
We first got into E Bikes to explore Slovenia's biggest Green secret, the Vipava Wine Valley, which is pretty much impossible to get around without an E Bike.. These bikes are normal mountain bikes that just give you an extra whoosh when you need it to go uphill, so you will still get a good cycling work out & experience and you can push your leg muscles as much or as little as you like.
And imagine NOT taking your petrol or diesel car out for the day and instead using an E bike.. not only will you see so much more from a bike and get good exercise, but you will also be helping the environment!
The Rockvelo E Bikes we rent at Lipizzaner Lodge will also be powered from the plentiful sunshine we collect from our own solar panels on our own stables roof!
We have already done a few blogs about our E Bike experiences.. here they are.. E Bike in the Vipava Valley and E Bike over Nanos to the Vipava Valley and there will be many more to come as we continue to map and explore the amazing E Bike routes available in the Green Karst on the Postojna side of Nanos mountain..
This is why we are absolutely sure that for at least one of your days here it would be a great idea to hop on an E Bike and follow a route that might include the biggest cliff castle in the world or the most visited cave in Europe or some much quieter mountains, other caves, castles, disappearing lakes and even a secret WW2 Partisan hospital in the middle of the forest.. you have a lot of choices and even more on an E bike..
We also very highly recommend taking a Rockvelo tour to explore the Vipava Valley and we found another wonderful company called HourAway Adventures offering E Bike tours in the hidden Poljane valley close to Skofja Loka, with a stunning showpiece ride up Mt Blegos for an amazing view of ALL Slovenia's Alps in one panorama.. What about that!
We still see our regular mountain bikes being used for much shorter local biking adventures, maybe to cycle to a local restaurant along a secret route in the countryside rather than take your car. We also do "Early Bird" cycles from here, where you can get up before breakfast and go for an hour's bike ride loop of the sensational countryside surrounding Lipizzaner Lodge!
Here are some Great Ideas for a Bike Ride in Green Slovenia..
We already mentioned some of the sensational E BIKE days out you can have in the Vipava and Poljane valleys and we know that you will love these cos we have had many guests who have been there and done it and we only ever heard great feedback!
There is an old Roman road that goes through our little vilage of Landol and connects with the forests where huge oak trees were transported from Slovenia to build the foundations of Venice!
Along this quiet road there is a huge disappearing lake at Planina, with Rapunzel's Tower and uberamazing cave full of baby dragons to explore which would be a perfect day out on an E Bike.
The biggest Disappearing Lake in Europe is at Cerknica and could be combined into a fantastic day out with a "figure of 8" loop combining the world class Notranska Rock Ralley, (Rakov Skocjan).. which is a massive 3km collapsed cave nature park with 2 huge stone arches at either end..
There are numerous mountains with little tracks to bike up for the views and not so far from here is an area covered in apple trees, forest and little stone tracks with a secret WW2 hospital tucked away in the trees, just waiting to be found!
There are fantastic biking trails all over Green Slovenia, many set up along converted train lines, so really perfect for cycling.. one goes along the beautiful Soca river from Nova Gorica to Kanal, another goes all the way down to the now Italian city of Trieste on the coast, one goes along the Slovenian coast and pops into a very long tunnel that delivers you into the pretty little seaside town of Portoroz and another we know goes alongside Slovenia's longest river, the Sava in Slovenia's "North West Triangle" bordered by Italy and Austria.
We have plenty other ideas for biking routes you could take all over Green Slovenia too.. what about this.. we think it would be just lovley to bike further down the mighty Sava river on a track alongside the water between two fantastic castles, Brestanica and Sevnica.. so all in all, a bike ride, 2 castles with chocolate and wine.. wow what a day!
And how about spending a day down the only mine in Europe at Mezica where you can kayak in the morning and bike in the afternoon!
The options are absolutley endless for biking here, you just need to make enough time to enjoy it all and get someone local to help you out with the secret route!
Road Bikes..
Slovenians are also passionate about road bikes too and may well have a winner of the tour de France for many years to come, but you see, Slovenia is also just so perfect for road bikes, being a mini tour de France circuit!
We have also found a great guy, Andrej, who organises a series of unique Tour de France style Slovenian races with a difference, that you might be interested in?
These races are for teams of amateurs who want to ride in a Tour de France atmosphere, but the winners are those that get closest to the average time of all the teams!. Each Summer month he plans to have a race in a different region of Slovenia, so your team can select their race based on terrain and best date for you.
There is a Tour de France style start and finish and at each checkpoint you get to sample some of Slovenia's culinary delights and to meet lots of friendly locals. There are 4 days of racing and 4 nights of parties! Fabulous. Here is the link to the Rekreatur website and Lipizzaner Lodge is proud to be featured on the site.
Every Summer there is also a 2 day "Race Around Slovenia" aka, "RAS", road race around the whole of the country. We once had a team of 7 Austrians staying in our apartment before competing in this race and then.. 48 hours later.. they returned, completely exhausted after the race.. they slept and slept and slept!
Their team had 2 riders who did 4 hours cycling alternately around the whole of Slovenia and 5 in the support team, as the race goes non-stop through the day and night. The guys, riders and support team, said it was the toughest thing they had ever done!
So now you see we are not just making wild claims about Green Slovenia's Bike credentials.. per SQ KM there is nowhere to beat it in all Europe.. happy biking!
French Connection en Slovenie
