Lake Bled, Slovenia

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Mario, the dogs and I headed to Lake Bled, Slovenia. This trip marked European country #4 for the dogs and European country #13 for me!

Slovenia shares borders with Austria, Hungary and Croatia and across the sea from Italy. It was about an 5-6 hours drive  depending on traffic.

​Our adventure started Thursday after work. Lucky for us it was a German holiday so there was some traffic, but not like it usually is, which is great for us because there is some road contraction along the way. We headed towards Munich and spent the night there. Our hotel was located in city center, so  we walked around and saw a few sites.

Friday morning we headed towards Hallstatt, Austria. It is a village on the shore on Lake Hallstatt. By the time we arrive it was around lunch and the city was already packed, so parking was full. So we drove out of the city and found a parking lot by the lake. We enjoyed the view of the mountains and lake while relaxing on a blanket. It was a nice weather and nice to relax after driving for a few hours. I am still pretty sad I wasn’t able to see Hallstatt, especially since  it added 2 hrs to our trip. But enjoying the view of the lake with the mountains in the distance was a nice reward. If is meant to be, I will revisit Hallstatt.

After taking in the views we continued on our adventure towards Lake Bled. With it being Friday we did hit some traffic getting into town. Our guest house which we were staying for 3 nights, had a fenced in garden type yard that the dogs could run around in. They were in heaven, they sure miss having a yard! A room with a view and a balcony. We learned from our awesome host Anna Marie that the house was building 1905. She showed us a map of the area and gave us some pointers on what to see and do. The house was about 10 minute walk to the lake which was great. After checking in we walked down to the lake to take in the view. 

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the neighboring lake called Lake Bohinj. Our host  told us to take the scenic route to the lake and which had us going  through some small towns. Lake Bohinj is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia and is part of the Triglav National Park. First, we explored the Slap Savica which is a waterfall. You climb for about 20 minutes and it ends at a gorgeous waterfall.  

​We drove into town and ate a quick sandwich before heading to the next waterfall/gorge which is called Korita Mostnice. I didn’t realize when I did my research but the hike was 2 hour climb each way. We did about half before the dogs and us got super tired. Both dogs did an awesome jobs hiking! That night we walk around the lake and ate at a local pizza shop. The Slovenians were super dog friendly. While at the pizza shop, we had a lady with her 2 small children come over to love on the pups.

Sunday morning we headed to Vintgar Gorge which was about an 10 minute drive from the guest house. We got there early before the crowd and walked along the boardwalk which ran along side the gorge. At the end you were greeted by a beautiful waterfall. As we were leaving it was super busy so we had to carry the dogs out of the gorge. But once again the dog did great hiking!

After resting for a bit we headed to the capital of Slovenia which is called Ljubljana which was about an 30-45 min drive from Lake Bled. By the time we got there it was already in the mid 80’s, which was a little to hot for the dogs, so we saw a few sites and then headed back to the guest house.
After the sun went done and temperature cool off the bit.. We put the dogs in their doggie stroller and walked around the lake which was about a 4 miles walk. It was nice to see in at dusk.

Monday morning we left Lake Bled and headed home. It was a wonderful weekend full a nature filled adventure. On the way home we stop at Golling to explore their waterfall. It was a short 5 minutes walk to another pretty waterfall. Anyone who know me knows I LOVE waterfalls so seeing this many during this trip was amazing.  We arrived home early afternoon after hitting a few traffic jams or as we call them here in Germany staus.