It is highly likely you will be rocking up in Green Slovenia with big plans to go visit a castle and a lake.. But there are so many fantastic castles and lakes here, that we respectfully bet all the sticks in Slovenia that you don't even know about even a fraction of them!

Well this majestic Zovnec castle is completely hidden away in the thick forested hills of central Slovenia, just 1 hr 20 mins from the Lodge and you could make a real day of it by popping over to the nearby Braslovsko lake afterwards, for a stroll and a fish lunch.. what about that!

There is a lot of work still to do at the front of the castle, but it still looks perfect now..

There really is an incredible stock of castles of ALL ages, shapes & sizes in the Greenest country in Europe and there is only one castle rule.. of course you go see Predjama castle, cos there is nothing like it in the entire world..

After that, there are really no rules about which castle to visit and you most certainly do not have any obligation to trudge around Ljubljana castle, just cos you happen to be in the capital and can't think of anything else to do!

Well, we wouldn't swap Zovnec or the dozens of other castles we know around Slovenia for 20 Ljubljana castles, but it is up to you to see past all the internet bubble babble & lazy marketing to realise what hidden treasures there really are here..

You have to see it with your own eyes to believe how ancient stone castles can merge with nature so beautifully..

We are happy to help you make a start on that with our Castles Page and now we are gonna tell you all about Zovnec castle, one of those sensational other castles you can go see if you have the inclination and the knowledge..

We had never heard of Zovnec castle either and maybe just like us, you were drawn to find out more about it after catching a glimpse of a photo of the fairytale towers, maybe even for the first time on our website!

One of our many little green missions here is to hunt down and explore every single one of the 300 plus castles in Green Slovenia and once we happened to see a photo of Zovnec at a local tourist fair, so we just knew we urgently had to go find out more about this one..

What an entrance to a castle..

Where on earth is Zovnec Castle..

We did not have a clue where it was, but due to the Lodge's excellent location, nowhere is too far away and we just needed to bomb up the motorway around Ljubljana and head out on the motorway that goes towards Maribor, turning off before Velenje and Celje at the CEPLJE junction to be standing in the Zovnec castle car park in just 80 mins!

We did our research.. so you don't have to.. and spoke to the people in the local village society who look after the castle and are repairing it and so had already made an appointment to meet Andrej at the castle!

But Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, what a welcome and a visit we had and like so many other planned trips, it is always worth leaving a bit of extra time for another Green Slovenian adventure within your Green Slovenian adventure on the road and now we're gonna tell you all about it!

Very handy sign as the castle car park approaches..

Visiting Zovnec Castle..

It isn't too difficult to find the little castle car park on googlemaps and there are also handy brown castle signs if you remember castle is "Grad" in Slovenian..

There are two ways you can go around the large grassy Zovnec lake to get there, but try to take the smaller road going ANTI CLOCKWISE around the lake as you will see the "old castle" on the way!

One way around the large Zovnec lake..

We didn't even realise this until our guide Bostjan mentioned it, but we did notice quite a grand old building on the way to the lake, looking nowadays more like a farm with outbuildings.

It totally made sense to learn this was the site of the first castle built, more like a grand manor house, so when the riches started rolling in and the threat of attack increased, it also made total sense that the much larger castle was built high up on the hill and defended by big walls, three gates and a drawbridge!

The real castle car park is well marked along a single lane track with plenty of space to park and put your hiking boots on..

Cute little car park AND marked on Gurglemaps, so you should be able to find it..

You then have a 20 min hike up the narrow stone track directly to the fortress and like most of the best castles around.. this will be mostly uphill!

There is a lot of reward for doing this short but lung busting hike as you are surrounded by green forest the whole way and you get to pass through the 3 gates on the way to the castle!

The first is almost hidden away and covered by the green jungle, so look carefully for it and if you planned on invading this castle, once you got through this gate, the second is not so far with a long narrow avenue, we are guessing was also very easy to defend.

the final uphill stretch to the castle and narrow, so much better to walk up here and leave the car in the car park below..

Invaders would probably not have then stood in awe to gasp at the first proper view of this uberstunning castle as you might, but the last little bit to conquer is the long wooden bridge that leads to the main castle gate.

Maybe fill your water bottle from the cute forest water tap next to the visitors hut and now is the time to let your medieval castle dreams go wild!

The first castle gate is hidden away in the leaves now..

Zovnec Castle is in very good hands..

If it wasn't for the amazing local village society that looks after Zovnec and has been carefully repairing this fairytale fortress for the last 30 years, then we would not have such an amazing castle to gasp in awe at..

We all have a massive thank you to say to all the local volunteers who have been lovingly restoring this castle, quietly, by themselves for decades!

We really wanted to see inside the towers so we first contacted the nearby Braslovce TIC, (Tourist Info Centre) and they put us in touch ultimately with Bostjan, a local man who is part of the local society responsible for renovating the castle and has been working here in his free time since he was a boy!

You need to know the man with the key to get into the best secret Green Slovenian castles..

For us, he became the King of the castle!

He met us at the drawbridge with his cuddly dog and was kind enough to unlock the tower door and show us the progress!

But first he climbed out onto the battlements in his flip flops to raise the flag and then he showed us inside the tower..

Bet they could raise part of this drawbridge in the good old days..

You will almost certainly read somewhere how friendly Slovenians are and if you are lucky you will also experience it for yourself and we were treated here like the returning royal family, exploring every nook and cranny.

It goes without saying that Bostjan and the local society take great pride in their restoration of the castle, BUT LET'S SAY IT ANYWAY..

WELL DONE to you guys for doing such an amazing job with dedication, skill and love to restore one of Europe's Medieval treasures for the rest of the world to enjoy!

Stunning workmanship and a handy mini ski slope in the winter..

We were shocked how well the restoration had been done, every detail was perfect inside and any visitor can see how amazing the towers and front battlements are from the outside, but wow, the inside was something else.

The shields of the Celje royal family were hanging on the walls, side rooms had exhibits & photos documenting the renovation and we were also taken down into a spooky cellar which took our friendly host a few extra moments to find the key, but when he did we were given a cup of coffee with bits in (Turkish) and the ceremonial welcome schnapps!

The highlight, literally, was to be taken up to the tower room, which had a most magnificent round table all decorated with the colours of the counts of Celje.. Like we said the detail here is immaculate!

the shields of the Counts of Celja, the last royal family of Slovenia..

These were also the best views in the house, (or castle) with sensational vistas out to the lowlands, the lake and the surrounding forested hills that seem to merge with these old crumbled stone walls like an Inca fortress does in Peru..

By chance, the luckiest three Austrian ladies in Slovenia had somehow found the castle on google as they made their way to the coast, hiked up the hill and were wandering around outside.. so they got included in the tour and we translated for them in German!

If Slovenia ever does the TV show Traitors, then we know a perfect castle with a perfect Round Table..

Bostjan took us outside now to see the current project rebuilding the massive side walls that were in danger of falling into the forest below.

He skipped around in those flip flops as we edged carefully behind him, teetering on the edges and here we realised the true scale of job ahead.

These amazing people rebuilt this entire wall..

It is not just a case of cementing a few stones on top of the wall, he explained how they had to clear the forest and stone debris first, secure the walls and then they could start the rebuilding.

It is worth saying again what a totally amazing job these local people are doing! 

the scale of the task of repairing this huge castle is awesome as the people actually doing it..

Maybe your hobby at home is collecting Toby jugs or gardening or making home made beer.. Well imaging being part of a group that renovate a royal medieval castle! It kinda blows your mind!!

There is always something to do here so Bostjan went off to fiddle around with some tools, which gave us the chance to explore the rest of the castle grounds and enjoy the incredible views across towards Celje and the Savinja river..

We found a vine being nurtured at the side of the castle, where they may well have been a garden too and there is an even bigger crumbled tower in the centre of the castle that looks like something out of Lord of the Rings.

Every good castle should have a little vineyard..

When you consider how many castles there are in Green Slovenia, then not even a very rich country could restore all of them, but surely these are world treasures and the whilst Slovenians are the custodians, then it shuld be up to the rest of us to help chip in to preserve and restore them..

There is a delicate balance here in Green Slovenia to be had between those who run the country, run tourism and run the local societies, providing the man and woman power to restore, open and show off these amazing castles.

This is how a bunch of friends rebuild a castle..

Well, we love how they have done it here in Zovnec and long may it last.

Our Austrian ladies could not quite believe their luck and were totally inspired with the treasure they had stumbled upon here in a country they were intending on whizzing through to get to the Mediterranean coast..

This tower has a Lord of the Rings look about it and if it was never repaired it would still look amazing..

But we all gave generously into the little wooden collection box in exchange for well over the asking price for a souvenir shield and hoped that we had helped these amazing people just a little bit towards reaching their goals..

And after such a magical, unique visit like this, we sure did bounce down that lovely green track back to the car!

Stunning view across to Lake Zovnec and the hills behind..

This is a very Important Castle indeed..

Bostjan explained this castle has a huge story and is very significant in Slovenian history!

The last Slovenian royal family finally ran out of heirs hundreds of years ago and their castles were ceded to the Hapsburg empire, but their FIRST castle in Slovenia was Zovnec!

Theis is where the counts of Celje originated from and it kinda makes sense when you explore around up here that this was such a special castle cos it is all so grand and high up.. It just does not feel like a regular castle!

Now this is what we imagine a fairytale castle should look like..

Well the counts of Celje moved to a bigger castle in the bigger town of Celje and you can find out more about them in the town museum in the old town there and you really must go visit the castle up on the hill high above the Savinja river and Celje..

It has a fab tower to go up as well as amazing views and if you are there for sunset, then we haven't seen a better one in Green Slovenia, with the sun disappearing behind the castle walls and rolling hills behind..

So this could be a great activity to do at the end of this daytrip to central Slovenia, as Celje is just down the road from here!

Fill your water bottle up here..

So when is Zovnec Castle Open?

You can come here whenever you want as the gates are always open and you will see a lot of the views and be able to explore the courtyard, so it is deffo worth parking in the car park and hiking up..

But if you want to see what we did inside then come on a Sunday morning, when the tower is open and you can also meet some of the people responsible for rescuing a castle!

In the old days, if you made it through the main gate, you probably wouldn't get too far up this alley..

If you would like to ask about the castle or see more outside a Sunday morning, then we strongly advise you call the nearby Braslovce TIC, (Tourist Info Centre) on 00386 (0)707 882 53 and they can put you in touch with the local society..

BUT this is not something you are gonna do within seconds of just rocking up in the car park, with a few clicks on google and no planning.. 

It is also part of the reason we write all these articles to help & explain how tricky it can be to really get under the skin of Green Slovenia, but we know this is the most beautiful Green country in Europe, so this is the way you get to see Secret Places to Visit like this..

This is Green Slovenia, baby..

You need to know the man who has the key to the castle and make a plan..

But imagine if you live in one of those new countries of the world with about as much history as you can fit onto the back of a postage stamp, then wow, something like this castle is completely out of reach until you rock up to the old lady of Europe and if you are organised enough then you can get behind the scenes of places like this and knock on a door with almost one thousnad years of history hidden behind!!

And if you know where and how in Green Slovenia, we would say it really is very easy to get your back stage pass around Green Slovenia!

Lakeside..

What about a spot of lunch after the Castle..

It was a blisteringly hot summer day and this was a day off and a day out for us, so we now wanted to go have some lunch after visiting Zovnec..

We had noticed some lakes on the map and Bostjan recommended we go to the quiet fishing lake of Braslovsko where there is a lovely local restaurant too..

Very nice local restaurant at Braslovce lake..

So after discovering another secret castle we immediately discovered another secret lake with an absolutely fab restaurant too.. how lucky were we.

Yep, just a short drive back into the village of Braslovce will get you onto another single laned track and a little car park next to a beautiful lake with a little restaurant specialising in fish dishes!

This is as close as you can get to Slovenian Fish & Chips..

There are deckchairs to sit in and enjoy the rhythm of the lake and you can also do a 20-25 min walk around the lake, soon leaving the hustle and bustle of the restaurant..

(We are joking here a bit, cos there was just one other table occupied when we were there, so compare that with a busy restaurant near Bled..)

Walking around the fishing lake..

But there is a bit of truth to this as parts of the lake side take you back into green nature with roots sticking out of the ground and fish bobbing around in the cloudy water..

Wow, what a place and a reward fit for a king after walking up to the castle & back and circling the lake!

Lovely mix to the lakeside path with tree roots making the route here..

Other Stuff you could do on your Daytrip Adventure..

There is another little lake with another restaurant on the other side of the village direction Preserje which we know absolutely nothing about.. yet and this whole mini region is in the stunning Savinja valley on the banks of one of the most pretty rivers in Green Slovenia, the Savinja!

This river starts from a waterfall in the amazing Alpine Logar valley and flows down towards Celje finally joining Slovenia's biggest river, the Sava.

There are lots of other places close to Zovnec we know, but we also recommend exploring and getting as close to this river as possible..

They had a pretty good chance of seeing who was coming in the good old days..

We already mentioned how close the small city of Celje is with the castle the Counts of Celje ending up in on top of the hill..

Upriver near Mozirje is the unique little river island park filled with different gardens called Morzirje Gaj.

Another of Slovenia's fantastic, almost completely unkown show caves, Pekel Cave, is also a possible combo for this day out or maybe you will prefer to go try a local brew at the Beer Fountain in Zalec!

Typical central Slovenian Celje vista, with flat expanses growing hops for beer and beautiful green surrounding hills..

Ljubljana is so small and easy to get into that maybe you will decide to stop off on the way home for an evening meal by another river, or maybe you will come back to the Lodge across country on the quiet, stunningly beautiful country roads!

So what about all that.. bow wow wow, yet another fairy tale Slovenian castle with such a massive history that continues into today and still connects with the local people is well within your grasp..

All you need to do is get your logistics right and go become part of the story in yet another day out in Slovenia surrounded by Green Nature!