One of the biggest mistakes you can make when planning your dream holiday to Green Slovenia is to totally underestimate the number of days you will need here and so we challenge you now to not even double, but triple the days you first had in mind and that will just about do it!

Slovenia is such a tiddly country that first time visitors do not even begin to comprehend how many amazing green places there are to visit here..

You see there are dozens and dozens and dozens of sensational options, easily combined into a new day's Green adventure.. if you only knew!

This is exactly why we built our Lodge between the mountains and the sea, so guests can have a comfy base from which to see the lot if you want.. or more importantly, if you have the time!!

plenty of shade or sunshine, as you wish..

Year after year we keep finding new Secret Places to Visit that we add to this website.. Some places we stumble upon, some are found and recommended to us by our own mini army of travelling Guests and others have been on our target list for a while..

But still, imagine our shock, when after 10 years, yes 10 years of living here, we finally made it to find a secret sandy stone bay in the shape of a crescent, with high, sheer cliffs above, perfect blue Adriatic sea and a choice of shady or sunny side!

Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls.. We had finally found Moon Bay!

Did someone mention Slovenia is too full.. maybe read more of our Secret Places to Visit articles..

How to Find Moon Bay..

We do not waste any time on this website catering for the google clicking tick monkeys who just want to turn up at a place, take a photo and go.. no thanks, that is not our kinda Green tourism..

Fortunately, Moon Bay is quite tricky to get to, so you really must want to go see it to actually find it.. but boy, when you do, it will be well worth it!

imagine walking along this path..

So you can easily see where Moon Bay is located on a map, curving along the coast between the pretty seaside town of Izola and the place where locals like to go for a swim at Strunjan..

But your only way to get there is to hike and whilst it might look easy to get to on the map, once you try and do it, we recommend you have had a little read of this article first so you are prepared!

What is Moon Bay actually like?

Moon Bay is like nothing else we have ever seen on our travels..

We had known about it for a long time, but when we finally made the trip to find it, we were shocked at how much more beautiful it was than we could have imagined.. and we can imagine a lot!

The beach is well hidden even from the path on the top of the high Adriatic cliffs, so every step you take down the cliff staircase delivers an even better view of this magical place..

as close a s photo can capture the excitement of finally reaching Moon Bay..

The steep stone steps bring you to an unexpected shoreline with big rocks breaking up the waves and, if you are lucky, some cormorants will be sitting on the rocks, sunning themselves, wings outstretched, waiting for you, like nightclub bouncers..

The bay sweeps round the high crumbling cliffs in a semi circle with a line that you just want to follow to the end..

As the sun moves during the day it transitions parts of this crescent to shade, whilst the rest will be baked in sunshine, so you can choose your favourite spot.

plenty of beachcomber, beach explorer opportunities..

Also, rare for the Adriatic sea, which is normally like a flat lake and maybe cos of the shape of the crescent, but here in Moon Bay, little waves crash onto the picture perfect beach, so you do get that perfect sea sound here, which only adds to the utterly magical atmosphere.

Walk to the other end of the curve and you can also see the two most beautiful Slovenian Venetian seaside towns of Izola off to the right AND Piran looking far left..

This is a unique and special panorama that you cannot capture on a camera, only with your own head.

As the wind blows, the waves crash, the sun shines, maybe sit on a rock for a bit and just take it all in.. this is Moon Bay, baby! 

Moon Bay is not a Hippie's retreat, or a family beach, or a secret swimming spot, or a hiking challenge or a romantic bolt hole, it is ALL of these and one of those completely different secret Green Slovenian options that we just told you about above..

So you will need to decide whether you can fit into your limited holibubble time in the Greenest country in Europe!

But if you can.. give it a go.. our photos cannot do this Green treasure justice, you have to be here to SENSE it all!

Cormorants sunning themselves on rocks add to the Mediterranean feeling..

So who should Go to Moon Bay?

You should go!

But first make sure you know what to expect and be prepared for your mini Green adventure!

You need to be reasonably fit and a little determined.. Pack a sandwich too!

Thankfully, there are no facilties at all on this paradise stretch of Slovenian coastline, so no noisy bar, no toilets and a steep, spectacular and safe cliff staircase down.

stunning cliff top path to stroll along..

You will need to wait a few million years for fine sand, but the pebbles & rocks are smooth and the sea is easily accessible.

So you need to bring everything with you for your day, find your spot and spend as long as you want here..

Equally, you might decide to just enjoy the hike here, explore the beach, maybe have a paddle and then hike back!

This is why we call it Green Slovenia, Baby..

But you will need to hike here and back, so this might not be a family trip with little legs involved.

Sadly this is also not a wheelchair friendly trip and whilst it is not allowed to bike on the top cliff path, you COULD bike around the longer loop, park the bikes by the cliff path and then walk the 100m or so along the cliff to the steps.. BUT then you still have to go up and down the steep steps!

the cliff path between Moon Bay and Strunjan..

It is tricky to say exactly how long the hike from the Strunjan car park will take as there are so many pretty things to see and take photos of along the way, but an hour is very reasonable and if you really went for it maybe even 30 mins.. but why would you do that!

Remember to take some water as you cannot buy any along the way..

One little Word of Warning..

Some of you reading this will come from countries where it is perfectly normal to rip your clothes off at every opportunity, but some of us paler looking ones who come from little islands where the very worst we would expect to see on a beach is a huge belly hanging over a pair of Budgie Smugglers!

Well for those of us shocked by the naked form, this is central Europe, Baby, so the further you walk along Moon Bay beach, there is a chance of bumping into a moving bag of dried up prunes, maybe at the very end of the beach.

spend an hour or the whole day here..

This is a shame for those wanting to enjoy that incredible panorama of Izola to Piran we mentioned at the end corner of this beach..

Never understood why some of these people seem to need to sit by a rock in the middle of that same panorama to get their artistic photo taken!

But if you needed to know, then now you have been warned and if you didn't need to know, then move on!

How to Actually Get to Moon Bay..

So you are NOT gonna just use some easy to follow signposts or blindly follow your phone to ge to this secret Green Bay.. 

The whole key to this puzzle is to get to the Coast Path..

We knew exactly "where" the bay was in our heads, but still encountered some unwanted anxieties trying to find the right path. So much so that we actually found TWO ways to get to Moon Bay and so we will explain both of them in detail now..

the main Strunjan car par and roadside parking.. the walk starts just to the right of here by the hotel..

Park at Strunjan Beach Car Park..

Whichever way you approach the Moon Bay hike, it should be from the little seaside cul de sac of Strunjan, a direct 40 min drive from the Lodge!

And if you want to have another swim afterwards, with maybe a drink or a meal, then you need to know that Strunjan is "where Slovenians Go for a Swim"!

There is a big open air car park, go in and pay & display your ticket in advance and ALWAYS OVERESTIMATE your time required in Slovenia and get your coins out to have at least an extra hour..

if you reach the Strunjan Cross, it is about half way to the bay..

Hike Direct to Moon Bay..

Cross the road to the big sprawling hotel complex, remembering there are no signs here to show you where to go, but you need to get past that hotel, with all the out buildings, gardens and apartments and hug the left, where the coast is.

This is the crucial bit, cos just behind the hotel is a path that will lead you directly to the the coastal path, which is now marked as the Skocjan to Piran coast path.

You will know you are on this path, cos there will be stunning blue sea and an increasingly big drop down to your left!!

This is a KEY point in the path, by the hotel.. YOU MUST COME THIS WAY TO GET TO THE CLIFF PATH..

Follow the path until you get to a big cross that some might describe as Slovenia's Rio de Janeiro moment!! 

This is where you will get your first glimpse of the bay ahead and now you follow the path dominated by thick shady trees and big tree roots sticking out of the path like veins..

Your goal is the Cliff staircase down, which is marked and pretty obvious, but at this stage you will have lost sight of the Bay.

This is where the cliff steps begin down to Moon Bay..

These steps are steep, but take your time and you will be treated to ever closer flashes of the bay and the deep blue sea through the treelines..

And then you will be there.. A little hop down off the last step onto the pebbles will be like going through an invisible door into a place far off in time.. Echo Beach, far away in time!!

the longer Loop Hike..

It is very easy to cross the road and kinda keep going a bit too far away and around from the hotel until you get to a little sub system of local roads that lead between small landholidings and Green Allotments.. 

But these allotments are in the Mediterranean, so expect big, tall, bushy grasses, olive groves and vines!

this is the wider, longer route that circles up and around to the other side of the bay..

There ARE ALSO these Strunjan route signs here, which add a little to the confusion, so we ended up keeping the coast to our left, but going up a series of very pretty little side roads.. (always following the signs that read Strunjan to Izola) that made a kinda larger loop and brought us finally up to the cliff tops directly above the Bay!

We didn't even know this at the time either, as you cannot see the bay from above here, so we walked back along cliff path towards Strunjan a little, catching a few glimpses of the Bay below and getting more confident that we would soon find a staircase.. and we did!

the cliff path between Moon Bay and Strunjan..

So this means we had found a way to do a complete loop to the Bay.. Good to know about if you maybe want to come this way and see all the beautiful little gardens leading up to the coast and then walk back to Strunjan via the coast path!

As we said earlier, this longer route, (but only 10-15 mins longer) would be your only chance to use a bike here.. Indeed to route continues off shadowing the cliff towardss Izola..

This is the Green Slovenian coast, Baby..

Whichever route you take, do not gamble with the car park, as we did see an inspector when we got back with 10 mins to spare!

We know how amazing Strunjan is to swim, so we popped another couple of hours intot the meter and trotted off for a bite to eat and a swim!

Combo Suggestions to Combine with your Moon Bay Hike..

Despite the Slovenian Riviera coastline being only 47km long, never forget, this is longer than the British, Swedish, German and Swiss Mediterranean coasts combined!!

There are a lot of really different seaside options to combine with your hike to Moon Bay and we listed many of them in our COAST section.

Have a dip in Strunjan later.. with a seafront restaurant and a cafe..

For us on this particularly beautiful, hot September day, we spent the rest of it swimming and relaxing in Strunjan..

But you could easily pop off for the rest of the day to one of those Venetian beauties of Piran or Izola or the tutti frutti seaside at Portoroz.. now just minutes away by car..

You could go to Koper old town to have an explore and a meal or go wine tasting and exploring in the massive Slovenian Coastal Hinterland..

Maybe you will continue your hike or bike further down the coast or head inland to explore some of the other little villages with wonky churches and one with a very special  Medieval Fortress Church..

Like we said.. Small country, Lots to do, if you know..