Due to it's close proximity to lake Bled, if there is one Green Slovenian gorge you might have just about heard of, then it will be Vintgar Gorge.. Well, there is so much info (good & useless) about lake Bled on the internet, that we do not waste time adding to that on this website..

We much prefer to sing from the rooftops about all the other numerous & amazing Secret Places to Visit here that pretty much nobody is telling you about and the uber magnificant Vintgar Gorge is one of those!

Our guests can easily find Bled, Ljubblyjana, the Postojna Cave and Piran, but we still usually help them out a bit with extra secret tips for them to get an even better Green experience..

Lake Bled is just an hour's drive from the Lodge, so a really great idea for a daytrip would be to go see the lake AND combine it with Vintgar Gorge followed by an evening meal in Radovlica or Ljubljana on the way home..

 

What do you really know about Vintgar Gorge?

We went a few times to Vintgar about a decade ago, when you actually walked along it and came back the same way on the boardwalk.. To be fair, even then this could get a bit congested and nowadays you just get to walk it in one direction along the flow of the river.

Well we revisited last autumn, a decade later and were VERY impressed with all the little improvements they have made at the gorge to deal with "the crowds" & visitor safety and we also discovered the fab forest hike you can do back from the gorge to the visitor centre..

So we will tell you all about how we "DID" Vintgar Gorge!

 

Slovenian doesn't translate easily into English, but we have noticed, living here over the years, that predominantly shy locals are very slowly harnessing the power of using decent English and putting it into decent marketing to very gradually let the rest of the world know just how amazing Green Slovenia really is.

So if you look at the Vintgar Gorge website, for example, AT LAST, they are ringing the bells loudly and rightly claiming Vintgar is one of the most beautiful gorges in the world.. spot on! 

But we hope you are sitting down for this next bit, cos we will explain at the end of this article how, in our humble opinion, Vintgar Gorge is maybe the 6th best gorge in Green Slovenia! 

 

How cheeky is that.. only a GREENSLOVENIAMONKEY would say this! (check out our GREENSLOVENIAMONKEY VIDEOS OF SLOVENIA on TIKTOK)..

Yes folks, have no doubt Vintgar is totally awesome and how on earth could you not include it in your to do list for this little pocket rocket of a country, but you also need to know that Green Slovenia is ridiculously blessed with so many more UNMISSABUBBLE water and other Green features, so we will also mention a few of those gorges we PERSONALLY rate higher than Vintgar at the end!

 

 

What is a Gorge?

Each gorgeous gorge you visit in Green Slovenia will be completely different in size, shape, access and most importantly experience, but generally a gorge is an enormous  narrow crack between steep rock walls cut away over millions of years by water..

And Green Slovenia has plenty of rocks and water..

 

How to DO Vintgar Gorge..

So Vintgar Gorge, is a classic "must see" secret place in Green Slovenia with spectacular wooden walkways allowing you to get real close to this natural wonder and the stunning river with an unexpectedly fantastic forest hike back to the visitor centre into the bargain too!

This breathtaking passage of water, slices it's way through the rock to create a most beautiful natural passage and is a natural wonder, with sheer cliff faces, wonderful tree lines and powerful water flows, the icy water always changing colour.

 

You might see chunky fish, massive timbers trapped in the gorge like matchsticks and will have a really excellent walk surrounded by nature.

Little alarm bells do need to be going off now though for those who cannot walk so well, cos there is a lot of walking here, the gorge boardwalk walk is relatively flat, BUT the forest hike back has some really steep bits and can be slippery in parts, so might not be for all, including little legs..

 

But do not despair, cos If you think you might only be able to walk the boardwalk length of the gorge then luckily we might have a possible cheat below now when we tell you about Parking..

 

Park & Ride..

Like we said, we were very impressed indeed how well access to Vintgar Gorge has been reorganised with some handy Park & Rides.. Lake Bled, just 10 mins drive down the road and the perfect partner for this daytrip, could learn some lessons from this..

The tiny old car park at the gorge itself was never big enough for increasing visitor numbers driven by Vintgar's proximity to Lake Bled and the lack of decent info about the many other amazing places in Green Slovenia, meaning visitors tend to swarm here..

 

So these access problems were dealt with by a few new Park & Ride car parks AND a ticketing system that resticts visitor numbers and gives you an exact time to enter the gorge..

Great job, but bless them, simple stuff like a map or a price list can often be made unnecessarily overcomplicated here and for such a small country there also seems to be a lot of internal inter town arguments.. so you might find the map a bit heavy on detail and even these Car Parks might end up changing location year by year!!

 

Where to Park..

So let's keep it as simple as we can.. If you consider you ain't gonna get a space in the tiny main gorge car park, UNLESS YOU GO BY BIKE OF COURSE, then either take the free shuttle bus from Bled old town bus station OR park in car park 1 and take the bus from there..

The buses are regular and will drop you off directly at the main gorge entrance, so if you have bought your entrance ticket online in advance, as you might have to in the busier school holiday weeks, then you can time your arrival to perfection.

If you just rock up and buy your ticket at the Park & Ride, make sure you check your entrance time and then jump on the next bus for that time.

 

When to Visit..

There is still one Elephant walking around the Room, swinging it's trunk around and wiggling its tail and this one is in your control..

The best months to visit and get the absolute best out of Green Slovenia are without doubt April, May, Sep and Oct.. and there is no law that forces you to visit the most beautiful country in Europe only in the high summer!

Maybe due to circumstances outside your control, you have to be here in the school hols and so then you might need to plan your visit to Vintgar gorge very carefully based on when you can get an admission slot and you will almost certainly need to buy your ticket online in advance..

 

Which day to visit is not a problem for Lodge guests who, due to our sensational location, can pick & choose where & when they visit, which day, based on availabilty, weather and what they fancy doing tomorrow!

But if you have made the mistake of organising your holiday in one of the smallest countries in Europe by hopping around from place to place, hotel to hotel, getting stuck in region by region, then you might only have a 2 or 3 day window at lake Bled to buy your Vintgar ticket and might have already missed out on the gorge for that day by the time you start clicking.. 

Of course, we totally get it that some people can only make it here in their main summer holidays and really do not worry, cos even then, ONLY the better known places will be busier in July and Aug in any case, so with good local advice, you can still plan your logistics and avoid bottlenecks..

 

But one thing that just cannot be controlled is the weather and think about it, the middle of summer is probably the worst possible time of year you could choose to go see an epic water feature!!

That is another reason why April, May, Sept and Oct are statisically so much better bets to enjoy the multiple water features we have here..

BUT, we will give you another secret tip now that needs a little luck, but really does work and one you might not have considered, but this might help you get to see a bit more water gushing through the numerous waterfalls and gorges here in the middle of summer..

 

Did you know Green Slovenia actually gets more rainfall than London, which is one of the reasons you will see more Greens here than on a paint shop colour chart!

But the rain here doesn't drip down for days & days.. it absolutely hammers it down, usually for short periods and then the sun comes out again..

So if you are here in the high summer and want to see more water in your waterfall, plan to go there after a day of rain or a heavy thunderstorm and you will be amazed at the extra volume of water going through the eco system here..

 

How simple is that and we have seen this with our own eyes! 

We are lucky enough to live here, so we were able to take that bit of advice to an extreme and we chose to visit Vintgar on a cloudy October day after a few days of rain and boy, you can see from the photos in this article, we were really rewarded with a rampaging torrent of water busting its way down Vintgar gorge!

But there will be water all year round and it will still be ice cold with sensational colour and plenty of it, so a gorge or river is still a great place to be spending time by on a hot summer's day..

 

Visiting Vintgar Gorge..

There is a cafe and shop at the gorge entrance and you can only go through the entrance barrier at the time your ticket says, which is a good idea as it does limit the numbers walking along the boardwalk at any one time..

You will need to wear a helmet, which is pretty cool, but not so sure what help it will be if a large rock does land on your nut?

And then you are off down the path, following the river as it makes it's powerful journey through the gorge.

 

The rock cliffs rise dramatically as you board the boardwalk and gingerly make your way next to and sometimes above the raging water on wooden bridges!

It is like the rollercoaster has broken and you have to walk along the wooden boards to safety instead and it is pretty much up to you how quickly or slowly you walk through, so let's say 45 mins to an hour, with a lot of wows..

Behind every rocky corner you will find another spectacular sight.. the sheer power of the water really attacks your senses of balance, colour and the sheer noise of the flow will shock you by it's absence when you leave the gorge!

 

This water is on a mission, cutting through the rock and joining the longest river in Slovenia, the Sava, which flows all the way to Serbia!

We had a geologist guest from the US who told us that these curtains of rock along the gorge are really special too, showing clearly how rocks had crashed up against each other over millions of years.

 

You also might see huge timbers that have fallen from the steep slopes into the raging water and crashed against the rocks. You could imagine a giant game of Pooh sticks as you cross the little wooden bridges and wonder for how long the logs have been trapped there in the water.       

In Slovenia, the third most forested country in Europe, they know something about nature & forests and the policy here is to let nature clean it all up in her own time..

 

So the more you look at this scene, the more you realise this is nature at work and then you can get a sense of the real beauty and power of this timeless cutting.

At the end of the route there is a stunningly high arched railway bridge and a little cafe at the very end of the gorge, with another bridge that will make your knees knock as you edge across!

 

Exiting Vintgar Gorge..

The water thunders under this exit bridge to form a powerful waterfall and you must walk over to leave the gorge and begin the hike back to the visitor centre.

The path back is initially very steep and if it has been raining could be slippery, so decent shoes required. Not far into the walk you will see a sign to PARKING 3, which is mainly for buses, but we think you might also be able to park there..

 

Parking 3 is a bit after the END of the gorge, so in theory if you are not great at walking, but want to see the gorge, you could park here, get the shuttle bus to the main Gorge entrance and bingo, you will only need to walk back to the end of the gorge and then to your car!

This makes so much sense, but there is a cavet that you MUST check first if the shuttle bus is running from P3 to the entrance and it might only be in the high summer when you can do it..

But if you can walk then we highly recommend you use P1, park, shuttle, walk the gorge and then do this fantastic forest hike back to the gorge.

 

The hike back to the visitor centre is a mix of paths through some fields, forest and then you are in the trees high above the gorge walking back in the opposite direction to the riverflow.

The route is well marked and we had no idea before about this extra walk, so for us it was a lovely Green surprise and this might even be your only experience of the vast Slovenian forests..

Hopefully not, but we do know the biggest mistake visitors make is to give themselves way too short a time to explore the most beautiful small Green country in Europe, so if this walk will be your only forest hike here.. better enjoy it!

Give yourself about an hour to do it, so the quickest you will do the gorge and back is about 2 hours and then factor in parking, coffee and using the bus so you are looking at a half day..

 

 

Vintgar Gorge, World Class, but maybe only the No 6 Gorge in Green Slovenia!!!

We are pretty sure the only reason Vintgar Gorge gets into so many top tens and reviews for Slovenia is that people have not seen the other gorges here!

It is absolutely true that this gorge is one of the most beautiful in the world and we make this next analogy quite often to ram home the point that if you were lucky enough to have Vintgar Gorge in your country, then it would probably be one of the very top tourist attractions and be totally overwhelmed with visitors..

 

This just illustrates how unfair it is for the rest of Europe that little old Slovenia is so absolutely packed full of world class Green wonders of nature and if we had to do just a Top 5 Gorges in Green slovenia, we would humbly put Vintgar at Number 6..

Just take that in for a second, especially after seeing the photos here and maybe after visiting Vintgar yourselves, but we highly recommend you make time to go see these other gorges that would be our personal numbers 1,2, 3, 4 and 5..

Our criteria is not based on numbers of visitors or reviews in google or any of that nonsense, it is based on the number of "wows" you might utter and how much joy and connection with nature you will experience during your time at the gorge..

 

You can find all these gorges in our gorgeous Gorges section and we will put clickable links to each one here below too..

ALL are completely different to Vintgar, maybe not so long, most without boardwalks, but ALL unique and amazing in their own way and at a few of them, if you can believe it, you might be the only people in the world there.. for a bit anyway..

So go see Mostnica Gorge, (Little Bridge Gorge), Tolmin Gorge, the Soca Gorge, Kamnik Gorge and the Kosec Gorge (we just found Kosec, so are gonna write up our epic hike to & scramble along it real soon)..

 

Only then might you appreciate how it would be such a pleasant but almost impossibubble struggle to ever have to do a real top Ten for Green Slovenia, when you have to factor in all those caves, castles, rivers, waterfalls, vineyards, lakes, mountains and ALL the rest of it..

One day we will do it.. but there will have to be well over 50 places in our Green Slovenian Top Ten.. one of them will be Vintgar Gorge for sure..