Slovenia Is Europe’s Best Kept Secret & A Paradise For Adventure

On a continent struggling with over tourism, Slovenia is the hidden Europe, a welcoming yet half-forgotten country that vigorously embraces adventure travel. I learned this on a recent walking trip with Backroads, which brought me through the legendary vineyards of Goriska Brda and along the Alpe Adria Trail to the heart of the Julian Alps.

Backroads, the world’s largest active adventure company, was among the first to reveal its secrets to hikers on a walking trip. I joined a fall departure of their Italy & Slovenia Walking & Hiking Tour, a six-day ramble along the translucent green waters of the Soča River and the Alpe Adria Trail, one of Europe’s legendary hiking routes.

After a pickup at Venice Airport, my trip began on the Italian side of the border, in Friuli Venezia Giulia. That day’s introductory walk was through the rich vineyards of Friuli, with an afternoon that wound through the woodlands of the Alpe Adria Trail, which stretches 466 miles through Austria, Italy, and Slovenia. On our trip, we would walk a few sections of the “Garden of Eden,” as it’s been dubbed. Our three guides – Karmen, Lara, and Virginia – two Slovenians and one Italian – epitomized the smart, capable, and enthusiastic leaders that are hallmarks of Backroads.

This was not a technically challenging walk – we averaged between six and nine miles day, on a trip rated 2 to 4 out of 5 – but even so, there were extended options each day. That first outing was punctuated with lunch at the lauded Osteria La Subida and a walk through the Collio wine district, with the Julian Alps of Slovenia in the distance. That night, we shuttled to Gredič, a famed gastronomic restaurant in a former fortress just over the border in Slovenia.

Slovenia (not to be confused with Slovakia, which it sometimes is) borders Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia and is about the size of Massachusetts. Its green pastures, acres of vineyards, snow-tipped mountains, lack of crowds, and just enough commercialism in the form of hotels and restaurants reminded me of the Switzerland I first visited three decades ago. The world’s first country to be declared a Green Destination of the World, it’s the third most forested country in Europe. The walk was on small, quiet roads and mountain trails, with remote farms, wooden hayracks and grazing livestock set against an Alpine backdrop.

Hemingway & The Great War

The next day, we immersed ourselves in the Goriska Brda wine region, the land of Pinot Grigio, Merlot, and Friulano. This border region was the scene of fierce fighting between the Italians and the Austrians during the Great War, and we walked past the overgrown remnants of gun emplacements from World War One. The ongoing battle at Kobarid was the centerpiece of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, and in the town center is the remarkable and chilling Kobarid Museum, which documents the atrocities.

Slovenia was long a chess piece in the region’s wars. It was part of the Habsburg Empire for many years, followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy later annexed it before becoming part of Yugoslavia after the Second World War. Independence arrived in 1991, and membership in the European Union in 2004. Throughout these changes, it retained its language, one of Europe’s most challenging, and its shifting cultural history can be seen on restaurant menus, which often offer goulash and pasta in equal measure.

Triglav National Park

From Kobarid, we set off along the emerald-colored waters of the Soca River gorges and white limestone cliffs and ended the day with a train ride on the historic Bohinj Railway. Built between 1900 and 1906 as a part of a strategic railway constructed to link the capital of Vienna and with the outlying Adriatic region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially with the vital port at Trieste. Today, a ride on the Bohinj Railway reveals the hidden beauty of a little-known countryside, a jaunt through some of the most-forgotten scenery in the Alps.

Then, we went to Triglav National Park, home to Mt. Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia at 9,396 feet. The symbol of the Slovene nation, you can see it on the country’s flag and coat of arms. We checked into Hotel Bohinj for two nights, a stylish Alpine hotel on the shores of Lake Bohinj with a stellar restaurant, a wine cellar full of Slovenian treasures, and relaxation in the form of Turkish and Finnish saunas and an alfresco plunge pool.

The following day, we boarded an electric ferry for a silent trip across Lake Bohinj to begin our day’s hike, which took us past a river with water that was electric green in color and tree roots covered in iridescent green moss. This landscape felt like it belonged to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. There was a steep hike to Mostnica Gorge and then easier walking through the green Voje Valley, where a lunch of goulash and Laško Beer at a classic Slovenian mountain hut made it the ideal spot to linger.

On day four, we saw the showpiece of Slovenia, Lake Bled, where the centerpiece is an island with the 8th-century Church of the Assumption on its summit, a vision out of a fairytale. Our viewing point was from the teahouse where Marshall Tito, Yugoslavia’s dictator, had built a summer house.

Beekeepers & Michelin Restaurants

We walked out of town on a country lane and stopped to visit a beekeeper in a country where beekeeping is a national sport. Then we walked for miles along the Sava River, so clear that a flotilla of giant brown trout could easily be glimpsed in its gin-clear waters. A long climb to reach the well-preserved medieval town of Radovljica followed. It has frescoes on some of the buildings on the main square, a beekeeping museum, many cafes, and the outstanding Radolška Čokolada for handmade chocolates.

Then to Vila Planinka, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World in the alpine heart of the country in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. The hotel had woody Alpine décor, and most rooms had balconies, making it all the better to take in the views of the peaks that had already snowed by mid-September. Their restaurant has a Michelin Plate and a stellar wine list. Relaxations came in the form of two saunas, much needed after the next day’s walk. It was our most challenging hike, heading up through dark forests with serpentine tree roots straight out of a Grimms Fairy Tale, followed by a long descent into the Jezersko Valley, and then a farewell dinner and wine tasting.

We ended with a short drive to the capital city of Ljubljana, one of Europe’s most charming small capitals, where I spent a couple of days.

Seeing Slovenia for the first time on two feet was the best way to get a sense of a country that was at once familiar and strange, relentlessly friendly and strikingly beautiful. Untrammeled, full of small surprises, and historically rich, it’s a place waiting to be discovered.

Visit Backroads for more details.

Forbes5 Great New European Walking Trips For 2025By Everett PotterForbes5 New North American Wilderness Walking Trips For 2025By Everett Potter