Two hours from Ljubljana: a cave railway, an island church, an emerald river.
Which Postojna ticket includes Predjama Castle. What the Vintgar Gorge day costs once the minibus is in. Whether the Soča is running high enough to raft this month. Reviews of every tour you can book in Slovenia.
Postojna, the Soča, Bled, and the hill above Ljubljana.
The four bookings a first week in Slovenia hangs off. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The underground dayPostojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and TourA train two kilometres into the rock, then the castle wedged in a cliff mouth at Predjama. Fix the entry time first and build the transport around it.
02The river dayWhitewater Rafting on Soca River, SloveniaWhitewater on the Soča out of Bovec. Snowmelt runs it hard from April; by late August the same stretch is a float with swimming stops.
03The lake dayLakes Bled & Bohinj and Vintgar Gorge Small-Group Day Trip from LjubljanaBled, Bohinj and the Vintgar boardwalk on one loop. The gorge closes for winter, so this is an April to October day out.
04The cheap afternoonCastle Entry Ticket with Optional Funicular RideFunicular up to Ljubljana Castle and the walk round the ramparts. Under twenty dollars, and the whole old town laid out below you.
Slovenia’s most popular days out.
Every Slovenian tour we have reviewed →These carry more travellers than anything else between the Alps and the Adriatic, and each one earns its place for a different reason.
1
Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and Tour
Travel from Ljubljana to Predjama Castle and Postojna Cave in a six-hour guided tour. An English-speaking driver-guide such as Tibor, David, Luca, or Neza handles the route and tickets. You’ll explore a cliff-built medieval castle, ride an underground train, and walk through Slovenia’s famous cave system.
From · $115
Read our review →
2
Savica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled Tour
from $94
3
Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, Slovenia
from $87
4
Slovenia in One Day: Lake Bled, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle
from $151
5
Adventure Rafting with Photo Service in Bovec
from $71
6
Castle Entry Ticket with Optional Funicular Ride
from $17
7
Lake Bled & Postojna Cave with Entry Tickets
from $173
8
Canyon Učja — The Longest Zipline Park in Europe
from $90
Lake, cave or castle: Slovenia’s headline day comes in three shapes.
Nearly every first visit spends one full day on the sights outside the capital. Here are the three versions of it, what each costs to board, and what you actually see for the money.
Ljubljana, Bled, the Soča valley, and the coast at Piran.
A capital you can cross on foot, a glacial lake with a church on an island, an alpine river two hours west, and forty-six kilometres of Adriatic at the bottom of the country. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
The Soča runs a green that people fly in to photograph.
Snowmelt off Triglav keeps the river cold and that improbable colour right through summer. Bovec is the base: rafts and kayaks on the main channel, canyoning in the side gorges at Sušec and Fratarica, and the Vršič pass over the top once the snow clears.
Ljubljana: the castle hill before lunch, the riverbank after.
Everything in Ljubljana →
The old town is a twenty-minute walk end to end, so the day is really about what you hang either side of it. Funicular first, then the market colonnade along the water, then a table on the Ljubljanica that nobody will ask you to leave.
Funicular, ramparts and the view north
Walking up to the castle costs nothing; the ticket buys the tower, the puppet museum and the ride. Take the funicular up and the woodland path back down, which almost nobody does.
Postojna and Predjama, out and back
The cave and the cliff castle sit forty-five minutes down the motorway, which is why half the tours leaving Ljubljana go there. The good ones book your cave-train slot before you arrive.
The market colonnade, then the tasting rooms
Plečnik’s riverside market for cured meat, buckwheat and cheese from the Alps, then a run of small plates off Stari trg with a glass of Rebula or Teran in front of you.
Slovenian day trips, sorted by what they cost.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best Slovenian days come in under the price of dinner.
Castle tickets, old-town walks, the funicular, and the short tastings around Ljubljana.
The standards: Postojna and Predjama, the Bled and Bohinj loop, rafting out of Bovec.
Private guides and the eleven-hour runs that take in three regions before dark.
Bled is twenty minutes of lake and a full day of everything around it.
The island and the bell take a morning. The rest goes on the Vintgar boardwalk hung over the river north of town, the cream cake nobody manages to skip, and Bohinj half an hour further in where the coaches thin out.
Every Bled day out →
A railway under the Karst, a salamander in the dark, a rowing right at Bled.
Caves and lakes are everywhere. An underground railway, a blind salamander that lives a century in the dark, and a boat rowed by a job you inherit are not.
The Postojna cave railway
A train has run into this cave since 1872 and it still covers the first two kilometres before anybody walks a step. At the far end a tank holds the olm, a pale blind salamander that lives about a century down there and can go years between meals. Above ground, Predjama Castle is built into a cliff mouth with a tunnel out the back.
- 1Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,146 reviews
- 2Slovenia in One Day: Lake Bled, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 879 reviews
- 3Lake Bled & Postojna Cave with Entry Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 694 reviews
The colour of the Soča
Limestone dust suspended in snowmelt gives the Soča a green that looks edited in every photograph. It holds all summer because Triglav keeps feeding it cold water. Rafts and kayaks run the main channel out of Bovec, while the side gorges at Sušec and Fratarica are canyoning country, with jumps you are free to decline.
- 1Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, Slovenia★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 931 reviews
- 2Guided Day Tour to Soča and Kranjska Gora★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 584 reviews
- 3Half-Day Rafting Tour on Soča River with Photos★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 383 reviews
The pletna to Bled island
No engines are allowed on the lake, so the flat-bottomed pletna boats are rowed standing up by men from a small number of local families who pass the right down the generations. Ninety-nine steps run from the jetty to the church, where the bell gets rung for a wish.
- 1Savica Waterfall, Lake Bohinj, and Lake Bled Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,015 reviews
- 2Slovenia in One Day: Lake Bled, Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 879 reviews
- 3Lake Bled & Postojna Cave with Entry Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 694 reviews
Four Slovenian bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on timed entry, fixed cave-train departures and a river season that answers to the snowpack rather than to your calendar.
- 01Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle Tickets and TourEntry runs on fixed cave-train departures with a cap on each one. The summer morning slots go first.
- 02Lakes Bled & Bohinj and Vintgar Gorge Small-Group Day Trip from LjubljanaThe gorge boardwalks are timed-entry and close for the winter. Out of season there is no walking them.
- 03Whitewater Rafting on Soca River, SloveniaThe river runs on snowmelt. High and fast in spring, gentler by late August, and effectively over by November.
- 04Skocjan Caves, Lipica & Piran: Karst & Coast Small-Group Day Trip from LjubljanaTraining sessions and carriage rides at the stud follow a fixed weekly timetable, and some days it is shut entirely.
The rivers answer to the snowmelt. The caves hold ten degrees all year.
Rafting and canyoning are an April to October answer and the gorge boardwalks close with them. Postojna and Škocjan sit at about ten degrees every day of the year, the castles stay open, and the cellars are better in the cold anyway. Plan the water first and let the underground fill the gaps.
Slovenia gets forty-six kilometres of Adriatic and uses all of them.
Piran is a Venetian town on a spit with sea on three sides and a bell tower copied from San Marco. Koper is the working port with its old core still inside it, Izola is where people actually eat, and the Sečovlje salt pans are still raked by hand.
- 1Piran Walking Tour with Local Wine and Food Tastingfrom $42
- 2Škocjan UNESCO Caves and Piran Full-Day Tripfrom $101
- 3Private Mediterranean Fish Cooking Workshop with Irenafrom $199
By place: capital, lakes, valley, coast
By kind of day: cave, river, castle or cellar
Ljubljana, Postojna, Piran, Bled, Bovec: the loop almost everybody drives first.
The newest Slovenian tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Postojna Cave & Photostop Predjama castle – Group Tour from Koper
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Bled and Bohinj Valley Canyoning with Hotel Pickup & Free Photos
Read our review →
Postojna cave & Predjama castle small group tour
Read our review →
Postojna cave and bled lake day tour from Ljubljana
Read our review →
Lipica Stud Farm and Škocjan Caves from Trieste
Read our review →
Slovenian highlights – Lake Bled, Postojna Cave & Predjama Castle from Ljubljana
Read our review →
Ljubljana Castle: Time Machine Guided Tour + funicular
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8-Hour Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj and Waterfall Savica Tour
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