the Brkini.. Middle of Nowhere
Even in the most populated countries it is possible to get a map out and find a sector to go visit that contains hardly any roads and is mainly green..
In Slovenia this is not difficult to do at all, but if you really want to go off grid here then make a note about this stunning little mini region called the Brkini, which will be the next Big Green thing, already is for us..
We absolutely expect this secret little mini region to be tipped real soon by Lonely Planet as one of Europe's top ten secret destinations to explore, so we are giving you advance notice and heads up now!
The uber beautiful Vipava wine valley has already been discovered and heavily tipped by Lonely Planet, we think the Teran Kras and Gorica Hills, (BRDA) mini regions should also be included in a European Secret Place Top Ten and now the Brkini must be a sure fire bet for another mention.. just as soon as visitors actually start finding it!
And if you think we are being greedy or narrow minded about including ALL of these undiscovered Slovenian mini regions in a TOP TEN SECRET PLACES for the WHOLE of EUROPE, then go have a look at them for yourself and tell us we were wrong!!
Vipava, Teran Kras and Brda are also 3 of Slovenia's SEVEN wine regions and the Brkini is covered in apple & plum trees..
Incredibubbly.. ALL four are completely different too and just around the corner from the Lodge!
As for the Brkini, if you knew such a secret place.. off the grid, but really close, stuffed with fruit trees & rolling hills, fantastic restaurants, endless hikes and friendly people, then you would understand why we are singing from the rooftops about it all..
Much of Green Slovenia is clumsily compartmentalised for tourism into meaningless regional names, often boxed inside more regional names, impossible to say or find and with limited identities, cos that is what the internet and travel guides do to much larger countries and so they also try to replicate it here..
So before you even start planning your trip to Slovenia you are almost forced to start "regionalising" where you think you must travel and stay a few days here and a few days there, region by region, or Dot by Dot..
But that is ABSOLUTELY UNNECESSARY here as Green Slovenia is SO tiny and SO easy to get around!
We spotted immediately that it is a much better idea to find a comfy base to explore the lot and then get some help identifying which mini regions are actually worth visiting for you and which secret places you will discover in day or half daytrips..
So we put our money where our mouth is and built the Lodge in the middle of it all!
There really ARE plenty of little mini regions around here where you truly can sense, smell and feel their identities, like little Green islands within the Green island in Europe that is Green Slovenia.. and the Brkini sure is one of those..
Mercifully easy to say, we have explored the Brkini from top to bottom and only after multiple trips, did we realise there truly is an identity here, something completely different to the rest of Green Slovenia and now we are gonna help you explore and discover it for yourselves.. if you want!
Slovenia has a lot of places with comedy names and many others that English speakers have close to zero chance of ever pronouncing, so we should be grateful for a region we can actually say and let's face it.. it does sound a lot like Bikini!
Pretend you are feeling cold and say "Brrrrrr" at the start, then complete the "kini" bit of bikini and you will get Brkini.. job done.
If you are indeed feeling a bit cold, then maybe try the protected and unique Brkini Plum Brandy called Slivoka and in summer have a glass of Brkini cider produced from the sweetest apples in all Green Slovenia and that is saying something..
We cheekily refer to the Brkini as the 8th Slovenian wine region, cos of all the unique Gin, Schnapps and Cider produced there.. but no indigenous wine!
In a region absolutely stuffed with juicy apple trees we could not understand why nobody had thought to make cider here too?!
Well, we found and tasted Malner Brkini Cider.. it is delicious.. In fact the producers went to Somerset in the UK to learn how to make it proper like, but of course this Slovenian vintage is made from apples so far away from any kind of interference or pollution that you cannot even get in sleepy Somerset, so expect the taste to be extra special here!
And you can also taste Malner cider at the Lodge..
So where on Earth is the Brkini?..
This is a really good and fundamental question.. whatever you do, don't ask a local, cos if you canvas 10 people you will almost certainly get 11 different answers for this one!
Ok, so Green Slovenia is so small that visitors do not need to stress too much about the numerous bigger regional names.. for most people it is enough to know Lipizzaner Lodge is located between the mountains & the sea and you can easily get to all the places you might have heard of to visit here..
In a little more micro detail.. we are on the edge of the Green Karst and the Red Karst, with Lipizzaners, caves, castles and disappearing lakes all over the place..
Well, just around the corner from the Lodge are several Mediterranean valleys, wine regions and the Slovenian Mediterranean Coast..
And the Brkini is tucked and hidden away in the middle of all of this.. you could say In the Middle of Everything, (cos it is so easy to find) and the Middle of Nowhere, (cos without help, you probably won't find it at all)..
You probubbly won't find a definitive map of the Brkini, but it is not so necessary, cos we are gonna tell you about some places inside the Brkini to go visit..
But if you did want to drill down a bit on a map, the Brkini is pretty much on the south side of the Reka Reka river, (means "River River".. we did say there were lots of comedy names), which runs from the Skocjan cave past Prem down to the totally unpronounceabubble town of Illisrka Bistrica on the Slovenian border with Croatia.
If you look at a map, then PREM with it's beautiful castle is in the far bottom right corner of the Brkini and then Brkini stretches up and left in the shape of a big pair of lips to just before Skocjan cave and our fave little village in the Brkini, called Rodik!
But let's not get too fixated about these Brkini lines, cos the key thing here is you are having a fantastic day out and a new Green adventure, so it REALLY doesn't matter if you are doing this IN the Brkini or technically just OUTSIDE the Brkini.. and you probably won't know this for sure anyway!!
So the key thing to know, is this part of the world is yet another one of Slovenia's secret little corners, with it's own identity and atmosphere, so different from any other mini region in Slovenia and you will very probably be exploring it on your own!
Why on Earth would I seek out the Brkini?..
In short, you would come here cos there is nowhere else like the Brkini in the whole of Europe..
You would come here cos there are thousands of other people who think they are discovering Green Slovenia and maybe they are, but for some reason they will not be getting under the skin of the most beautiful small country in Europe and exploring any of our 100's of Secret Places to Visit..
We would boldly say, you ain't discovered Green Slovenia until you have got a little lost in the Brkini!
The entire Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Brkini is only 25km by 7km, but if you can plonk yourself somewhere on this little green island then you are in for a day of perfect solitude, with rolling hills, stunning stone tracks, little isolated stone villages, sometimes spooky churches and you will have a very good chance of having a fantastic local meal and getting to try some local plum brandy into the bargain!
Being covered in fruit trees, particularly apples and plums, the spring blossoms here are totally out of this world and a strong reason to explore the Brkini in spring too and we will also tell you later about why it is worth being here at the end of winter for the carnival..
The Brkini is a totally unexploited, unexplored corner of Europe for you to randomly hike, bike or drive around. In fact our best advice would be to get a bit lost in the Brkini!
The Bird strike..
On our most recent trip to the Brkini we were taking a photo you can see on this page of some cows in a field and just as we got back in the car the sky in front of the windscreen went quickly dark with shadow.. it was surreal, we twisted our necks around to see a massive bird of prey flying off.. probably a buzzard, but who knows what it was.. it's wings were massive!
We can only tell you about this moment in nature, it is up to you to come see it.. but stuff like this happens time and again when we are out exploring in the really green bits of Slovenia and we absolutely love it!
There are little remote tourist farms dotted around the Brkini where you might be able to try some local products such as the plum brandy, juices, jams and dried fruit.
And there is another local Brkini delicacy made from plums.. the Plum Gnocchi.. that will fill you up for sure!
How on Earth do I explore the Brkini?..
Think of the Brkini as a kind of European Green Bermuda Triangle..
You will need some kind of strategy with a map or satnav and even though the villages here are tiny, it would actually be best to plot a course between some Brkini villages, either hiking, biking or driving on the stunningly wiggly roads or going for it on the stone tracks cross country..
If you do leave your car behind, then maybe use the help of a fantastic app for exploring Slovenia off road.. we especially recommend Komoot..
Brkini is all higgledypiggledy and so are the roads.. they seem to go deliberately in the wrong direction for making your way logically through this mini region and as so many villages are on the top of a hill then that may well be the end of that particular road, so you might need to turn around and go back!
So there is no really straightforward way of exploring here and that is the best bit about it all!
You will need to find a point to enter the Brkini and then try as hard as possible to stay IN the Brkini, but just like WWF wrestling, the Brkini may chuck you out of the ring a few times, so you just have to climb back in!
Three Great Entry Points, WEST, SOUTH & NORTH..
Here are 3 suggested Entry Points we will call the WEST, SOUTH AND a sensational new NORTH gate into the Brkini that we only found by chance a couple of years ago and is just 23 mins directly from the Lodge!
Some larger main roads tend to skirt around the edge of the Brkini, so you might even drive around outside a bit to get to your access point, if you see what we mean..
The classic WEST entry point is what we call the "Hog Roast Road" that runs from Kozina all the way down to Podgrad and the Croatian border and follows along the western edge of the Brkini, with several ways in and out!
For a long time we thought the only entry point for the Birkini was actually from the SOUTH, direction Illirska Bistrica and a fantastic place to start your Brkini adventures might be Prem Castle..
From here, wiggle your way towards Podgrad then maybe snake up into the centre of the Brkini at Artvize, which is the highest point of the Brkini and maybe pop out near Skoflje or Vremski Britof by River River.. aka Reka Reka!
On one of our exploratory missions we were totally shocked to find a new secret back door into the Brkini that popped out at a village called Rodik from the NORTH, which is just around the corner from the Skocjan Cave and like we said, only 23 mins from the Lodge!
This in turn opened up another huge discovery that we call the Brkini Restaurant Cluster, basically an unbelievable collection of several REALLY, REALLY good and varied Brkini restaurants in and around Rodik and we will tell you all about these and other stuff to do in the Brkini now below..
But remember, Brkini is NOT about ticking boxes on a map, it is about wild, free, green exploring.
A Green adventure in the Brkini is for roaming around, there is no Taj Mahal or Eifel tower to go vist, but there are a few secret Brkini places that you might be interested in putting into your Brkini day out..
Stuff to see INSIDE the Brkini..
Dimnica Cave Devil's Barbeque Cave..
There are a lot more show caves to see in Green Slovenia than you might realise and there is no rule that you have to go see that undoubtedley best marketed one with the choo choo train!
Postojna cave would probably be around our 8th or 9th fave cave here when we finally get around to doing our Top 20 Caves in Slovenia, which is no reflection on Postojna.. with respect, if it was in your country, it would very probably be not just the top cave, but one of the top tourist attractions too, it is that good..
It's just we know some much better caves to visit here in our humble opinion and we would rate going down the huge natural rock spiral staircase into the depths of Dimnica cave with a guide and exploring the caverns, river and other secrets held there as an overall better value cave experience..
the Brkini Restaurant Cluster..
We couldn't believe our luck when we discovered a cluster of top, top local restaurants just around the corner from the Lodge in the Vipava Valley, but imagine how we felt, when after living here for ten years, we accidentally found this secret back door into the Brkini at Rodik and another, YES ANOTHER cluster of Brkini local restaurants.
Just like in Vipava and just 3 mins further way from the Lodge we can offer guests a whole choice of excellent local Brkini eateries.. ALL offering that magical "LOCAL" Slovenian good value tag with 2 specialist fish restaurants, one Michelin starred restaurant, a specialist meat restaurant and a couple of Brkini farm restaurants.. ALL within a couple of KM of each other!!
Totally spectacular and why on Earth would you fall for all the marketing and hype about Ljubljana being the centre of the food world in Slovenia, when you could discover real Slovenian Cuisine here in places like the Brkini and look out of the restaurant window to see where the food on your plate came from.. Simply Unbeatabubble..
the Mitski Park Hike..
We would describe the Brkini as one enormous hiking park and encourage you to get lost a bit, but there is an excellent marked trail starting at the TIC (Tourist Info Centre) in Rodik that takes you up into the thick forested hills above the village for an epic 4-5 hour treasure trail linking some huge stone carved monoliths depicting local legends..
You can get a map for the trail(s) and also cut bits off for a shorter hike if you prefer, but we should warn you that like pretty much any trail in Green Slovenia, there are gonna be hills and steep bits.
But if you want to lose yourself in the Brkini forests and still have a fighting chance of finding your way back, then the marked Mitski Park Hike might be the one for you!
Brkini Gin & Cider making..
If you ask a local from the rest of Slovenia, the one thing they will probably be able to tell you about the Brkini are the carpets of fruit trees and the spring blossoms, despite probably never seeing them for themselves!
We found a Cider maker in another corner of the Brkini, already selling their sweet and dry ciders all over Slovenia AND planning to do cider tastings and visits in their unpronounceable little village of Presnica, (think Elvis Presley for saying this one)..
The Cider brewery is called Malner, so look them up and we have yet another spectacular hike you could do from there, which takes you up Slavnik mountain and up out of the Brkini for a set of views over the Slovenain coast & Hinterland, 4 different Slovenian Alps, the Italian Dolomites and one of the highest mountains in Croatia, Ucka, for good measure!
And if Slovenia didn't have enough amazing Green things to blow your mind with, the Brkini has around 20 different types of wild juniper berries, perfect for making the highest quality gin and you can find out more, buy some, even make some at Brin Gin in Rodik..
Prem Castle..
Prem Grad (castle) is a very beautiful and underrated castle indeed, standing at the southern Gateway of the Brkini.
It would be wise to phone ahead to check they are open today, cos they do a lot of school tours, but if you can get one of the lovely ladies in the TIC (tourist info centre) based at the castle to show you around then all the better.
This is one of those typically unknown Slovenian castles with a lot of special little features, especially a very cheeky statue commisioned by a past owner, where he is sticking his tongue out at his wife and a grand reception room covered from tip to toe in the signs of the Zodiac.
They have done a grand job too, restoring this pretty castle, with a little shop and a cafe..
Less likely, but also possible, is to have a go at the "escape room game" in the main tower, but check first if they have done this in English yet, cos if you try the Slovenian version you are seriously, never getting out of there!!
The car park is tiny, but let's face it the castle is usually empty too, so drive up into the village first and do a donut about turn to get the right angle to drive back into the car park.. you will see.
Zalesje Secret Partisan Hospital..
There are several secret Partisan hospitals preserved and hidden away in the vast Slovenian forests and there is also one you can go visit in the Brkini!
Coming here to Zalesje would be a really great way to also do a bike or hike in the Brkini with a specific Green target in mind.
We would advise contacting the local TIC (in Illisrka Bistrica) in advance to get a guide to show you around the secret little forest hospital complex, or you might not find the best secret bit, which is a small operating theatre hidden in the side of a steep hill.
But you could also make your own way to the "forest park" where the 4 restored Partisan hospital buildings are and try to find them.. there are signs outside the wooden hospital buildings..
Even if they are "closed" you can still peek inside and get a feel for the incredible secrecy, bravery and the immense human story here in such a beautifully remote forest location..
Either way, you need to first get to the pretty Brkini village of Ostrozno Brdo, where there is a little Partisan museum and from there meet the guide or make your own way to the Zalesje forest..
the Illirska Bistrica Carnival (Pust)..
Being so close to Venice, you would not be surprised to know that Slovenia also has some mighty fine carnivals and we did a whole Carnival page to help you decide which one to go see if you are here 4 weeks before Easter..
One of the biggest and best carnivals in Slovenia takes place in the tricky to say town of Illirska Bistrica and contains many carnival characters and players from the nearby Brkini villages who dance around waving colourful sticks and various weapons in the air to scare off winter..
If you haven't seen a Pust, (carnival) in Slovenia, then we can only recommend you wrap up warm, get a silly hat and give one a go!
the Secret Baby Lipizzaner Farm..
When Lipizzaners are born they are black and turn white in their first few years..
The Lipizzaner horse breed was created by the Austrian Emperor over 400 years ago at Lipica, just 20 mins from the Lodge in the Teran Kras.
Maybe you will visit the home of the Lipizzaners too, but we will ONLY tell guests who are totally interested in these horses the location of a secret farm where lots of young male Lipizzaners are sent to frolic around in the fields together for their early years.. this is in the Brkini and not so far from Lipica.
On the Edge of the Brkini..
We reckon there is more than enough choice of stuff to do and things to see to entertain you in the Brkini for a day or more, but we also suspect you will have allocated way too little time to visit the most beautiful small country in Europe, so it might be you need to combine some other Green places with your day out in the Brkini..
Several of our other Secret Places to Visit are dotted around the edge of the Brkini and we already mentioned a few.. These would be great combos to combine with some time spent in the Brkini, depending on what you want to get up to and here are a few more..
The uber massive Skocjan Cave, the Pivka Military Museum, Vremsica (Weather) mountain and the 17 Disappearing Lakes of Pivka and you can click on them to find out more..
If you are into your water sports, there are also two large reservoirs in the Brkini mini region used as lakes by the locals for SUP boarding, swimming and canoeing, so if this is your scene have a search on MOLA and KLIVNIK lakes, close to Illirska Bistrica..
Well folks, you heard it here first.. the amazing Brkini mini region..
Maybe even do not try to have too much of a plan for visiting the Brkini, just drive around between a suggested Entry and Exit point!
It will be so much fun to explore here and get a little lost, even if you pop outside this mini region by mistake for a bit until you have consulted a map and find your way to pop back in, happy popping!
French Connection en Slovenie
