We are not quite taking you to the end of the Earth in this article, but we are certainly going to the end of the Karst in Green Slovenia, which is very clearly marked by a beautiful gigantic long cliff with some rally fab hikes along it too..

Karst is a Slovenian word used by the rest of the world for the leaky limestone that covers almost half of Green Slovenia and where nature has created the most amazing caves, disappearing lakes, sinkholes, underground rivers and cliffs..

The highest cliffs in the Mediterranean run from Italy across Slovenia to Croatia and this particular section cuts the Slovenian coast and coastal Hinterland off from the rest of Slovenia and is called Kraški Rob in Slovenian or the Karst Edge..

We just love exploring Green Slovenia bit by bit and we have uncovered lots of hidden secrets along this vast cliff area in separate day trip adventures and we will tell you more about them at the end..

Like Willo the Wisp.

If only those visitors who rushed to Piran to "see" the Slovenian coast and get their selfie, knew how huge the Coastal Hinterland really was and if you don't believe us, check out a map of the coast using our LOCATION page..

You can see the coastline is quite short at 47km long, but even along here we could tell you about some fantastic little towns and beaches that are NOT called Piran.. 

But now take a look at how much more of the map expands back into the mainland of Slovenia, pretty much back to this huge cliff and this area is what we lovingly call the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland..

This is where the Karst stops and the pine trees up here on the cliff are smaller than further inland..

Add the coast to this Hinterland and this is all Slovenian Istria together, which combines with Croatian Istria over the border to make an ancient part of Europe you might even have heard of, called Istria..

OK, the geopgraphy lesson is over for now, but we think it always helpful to explain these things, cos there is so much more to Green Slovenia than you have probubbly been able to find out elsewhere on the internet..

Shall we go for a hike along the last Karst Cliff then? It's hot down there, so you will deffo need to bring some water and some decent hiking boots or shoes too..

Just wandering along the last Karst Cliff in Slovenia..

Getting to the Karst Edge & Prapoče..

We will now concentrate on just a small, but stunning section of cliff path near the little village of Prapoče..

We had been living here over a dozen years before a friend suggested a walk here at the start of spring.. Slovenia is small but full of different climatic and geographic European regions and along this Mediterranean cliff you can find some of the very first spring flowers, so we didn't need to be asked twice!

Orchids growing on the top edge of the cliff..

If you look at a map you will struggle to even find the tiny hamlet of Prapoče and when you do, there will be little evidence of the enormous cliff that runs pretty much from Socerb on the coast, via Prapoče all the way to the Slovenian Croatian border..

It takes just half an hour from the Lodge direct to this cliff and you could either whizz down the motorway direction coast, exiting at KASTELEC / SOCERB joining the surprisingly good 623 cliff top road, turning off at Prapoče..

This track was overgrown with flowers at the end of spring..

OR come off at Kozina and do a bit of local road, turning off in the village of PETRINJE to cut the corner across to the 623 road and Prapoče..

OR use the excellent coastal road directly the whole way from the Lodge, ignoring the motorway and having a great time on this fantastic local road to the coast..

The 623 is remarkably straight for a Slovenia road and it runs parallel with the cliff, but we think it might also be an old Roman road.. Do not miss the turn to Prapoče and just before the village there is a parking sign to go left and park up.

This road leads off the main road into the village, but just turn left here for lots of parking..

Hiking the Karst Edge from Prapoče..

Depending what time of year you park up here on the long strip of roadside track that doubles as the car park, as soon as you step out of the car, your senses might be immediately attacked by gangs of colourful butterflies and flowers and.. silence..

Just hike down the road to Prapočce and we are gonna tell you about a lovely loop you can do to the cliff and back, so you can choose to go left or right here..

You could pay to park at the cave or the castle or park here in Prapoce in Green paradise for free, your choice..

We already know the cliff runs from Italy towards Croatia, so for simplicity and so you know which way to point your nose, we will say "direction Italy, (towards Crni Kal and Socerb) or "direction Croatia" and if you look at a map this might help you..

We will go direction Italy, turning off to meet the cliff and then walk back along the cliff, direction Croatia to get back to Prapoče and complete this loop, which could take anything between an hour to two, depending on you..

Hiked entrance to Prapoce village, both ways will reach the cliff, Croatia direction left and right for direction Italy..

Of course, once you reach the cliff, you can decide to walk further along the cliff in either direction for a much longer walk, just remember where Prapoče and your car is and another reminder to take water with you, cos it can get pleasantly hot here..

We are not going to get into micro details for how to do this hike for two reasons.. 

The track leading from Prapoce to the fields of flowers, telegraph poles and direction Italy..

Firstly, this is a simple loop with a gigantic cliff in the middle, so by using technology and your common sense, you will find the cliff.. 

Secondly, there are some paths through fields, so we can't really say turn left at the big tree, but you should be able to find the way to the cliff.

The Loop..

OK, so just before the village, walk right, out of Prapoče, direction Italy, along a lovely stone track, past some delectible little local allotments and not far out of the village, turn left along a meadow track immediately passing a little magical stone circled wall surrounding a bunch of trees and continue out into the green wilderness!

A magic fairy ring built with Karst stone around a little copse of trees on the way to the cliff..

We loved this walk so much, we went a few times with different friends to show them, so our photos here are from different times of year..

You will reach some wooden telegraph poles and there will be a little path running up the hill on the LEFT into the trees to take. If you are looking at your phone map now you will see how close the cliff is, or at least the long path leading alongside the cliff, just through these trees, about 400m..

Be sure to keep an eye out for the numerous flowers that will be growing next to this mini forest path and in two shakes of a dragon's tale you will pop out onto quite a decent stone track, which runs alongside the cliff..

In spring these fields are an easy walk from Prapoce and you can turn left here at the telegraph poles to reach the cliff paths..

From here you can cut directly across another small patch of trees to the cliff, which now has another narrower path right on the edge of the cliff.

And suddenly, cockadoodledo, you will be standing on top of the last Karst cliff with wide views over the coastal hinterland all the way across to the Adriatic sea, with the town and port of Koper easiest to see!

So this is the spectacular end of the Karst leaky limestone bit of Slovenia and whilst there are some drops, it doesn't really feel so high or scary here.. There is a lot of rock and most parts of the cliff you can carefully clamber or even walk down a bit to see which flowers you can find or get better views!

Slovenia is just so wonderful you can see the change in scenery and geology right in front of your eyes in so many different places..

If you walked off now towards the sea you would be going direction Italy, but on this loop, we will now head the other way along the cliff direction Croatia and back towards Prapoče..

The narrow, often rocky cliff path weaves along next to the cliff until you meet a hidden cave entrance, (remember this is a KARST cliff) and then we suggest you rejoin the larger main stone path to hike back into Prapoce as the cliff path becomes just rock..

The views from up here are very special indeed and you can see the vast contrast between the surprisingly lush green fields, meadows and forests of the coastal Hinterland directly under the rocky pine covered expanse of Karst you are standing on.

Stunning vista across the coastal Hinterland from on top of the last Karst Cliff to the Adriatic sea..

There is absolutely nothing stopping you climbing down sections of the cliff to go explore below the cliff or staying right on top of the cliff as far as you can go, but whichever way you take, there will be a turning point carved out of the main cliff for a bigger stone roadt that leads down into the hinterland, but we will go left on this same road back into Prapoce.

This is a very lovely loop indeed and Prapoče is one of those villages seemingly caught in time.. 

We still can't quite believe our luck to have landed in a country that changes so dramatically and refreshingly every 20 mins you go, in every direction..

This track leads adjacent to the cliff towards Prapoce, the cliff is about 20m to the right..

This beautiful little cliff top village could not be more different to Bled in the Alps, or Ljubljana in the marshes or Vipava old town in the Vipava wine valley, or Izola on the coast, or Ptuj in the East, or Tolmin on the Soca river, or Dobrovo in the BRDA wine hills..

Slovenia has such a unique position in Europe, bang in the centre, showing you different glimpses of the entire continent and we really cannot think of another country where you can see the whole of Europe in one small Green package..

For another fab hike and uber epic view over all of this INCLUDING this last Karst cliff AND back towards the 4 Slovenian Alps AND the Italian Dolomites AND Croatian Istrija think about doing the Slavnik Hill Hike and you can see across to Slavnik hill from this last Karst Cliff path..

Is this the smallest church in Green Slovenia or just a pretty bell without a tower..

Other Parts of the Last Karst Cliff to explore..

Like we said, if you think you are gonna go to Piran and buy an ice cream and a postcard and then have "done" the Slovenian Mediterranean coast, then you are in for a bit of a pleasant shock, cos there are lots of other lovely seaside locations, a whole Coastal Hinterland AND this huge Karst Cliff to explore..

We noticed the red signs in Prapoče showed Hrastovlje as just a 90 min hike and this would be a really fun way to go see one of the biggest, amazing secrets of Green Slovenia.. a stunning set of frescoes hidden inside a church, protected by a medieval castle, sat on a little hill overlooking vineyards and olive groves and sat in the middle of your view from the top of this cliff walk!

That is Slavnik Hill, another epic hike included in our SECRET PLACES TO VISIT section, looking inland from the cliff path..

Direction Italy, the vast area of cliff above the village of Crni Kal, (which also has a church with a huge wonky steeple) hides a broken castle perched on a cliff stack that you access via a short bridge over the precipice!

There is also a mighty fun american style burger bar called Vikki's Burgers on one of the steep road curves near Crni Kal with more incredible views of the coastal hinterland and in our humble opinion, the best burgers and shakes in Green Slovenia..

Vikki's Burgers is just down the road with epic views over the coast and behind to the cliff..

Continue to Socerb and there is a Venetian castle with views over Trieste, Slovenia and to Croatia and you can find out more about all this stuff in our Coastal Secrets article..

There are also specialist rock climbing spots at the far end of the Slovenian part of the cliff in Osp..

At last we got at least one photo of a butterfly.. There were so many different ones floating around here..

We recently headed off further down into the Coastal Hinterland, right to the border with Croatia to finally hike the path to the Istrian Ears, along another section of this vast cliff..

And we know there is much more to find on, under and around the Karst Edge, so watch this space or go create your own Green adventures at the last Karst Cliff..