A scenic adventure: Embarking on a road trip through Slovenia

 

The picturesque country of Slovenia has quickly become a hidden gem for drivers seeking natural beauty, charming towns and diverse landscapes all within a relatively small area. A road trip through this enchanting land offers a journey of discovery, where every bend in the road unveils breathtaking vistas and cultural treasures.

 

This years summer tour brought us to Slovenia. Not the high mountain roads, Virsic and Mangart along Triglav Nationalpark (we did this during our Austria Curves 2016 adventure), rather more countryside towards the border of Croatia. For some of us it was the first time discovering the country, but there was some nervousness what to expect?

 

We started our journey in Austria and all the participants met at Pass Thurn for lunch before heading via Felbertauerntunnel, Gailbergsattel and Plöckenpass into Italy. Close to Tolmezzo we took a beautiful scenic road thru the mountains before arriving in San Daniele di Friuli to enjoy their stunning ham. Definitely worth a visit (https://www.prosciutterie.com). Overnight stay was in the beautiful city of Udine.

 

Thursday morning we started the trip from Udine, east into Slovenia. More than 330 kilometer ahead of us, destination Novo Mesto. Slovenia showed itself from its best, beautiful sunshine, lot’s of green and beautiful curvy roads. After a short detour into Croatia we arrived at the destination of Novo Mesto late afternoon. What we found was a beautiful Hotel (https://www.hotel-center.si) directly in the Oldtown and pedestrian area. We enjoyed a fantastic evening with great food and wine (https://www.don-bobi.si). Every one was about to fall in love with the hospitality in Slovenia. 

 

Day 3, from Novo Mesto to Celje. Eight hours of driving ahead. We first went south before heading east into Croatia to follow a very very small and narrow road along the border to Slovenia. Back in Slovenia the roads got better. Late afternoon we did a short stop at a brewery in Lasko. Then the highlight of the day: The winding road from Hrastnik via Trbovlje to Prebold. Just unbelievable, endless amount of curves, just a great finish for the day. 

 

Saturday’s route from Celje to Klagenfurt was the longest driving distance. Even that the shortest way to Klagenfurt is just 130 kilometers, we made it more than 330 kilometers and more than 8 hours of pure driving. We left Celje in western direction to drive Crnivec Sattel and Volovjek Sattel, followed by Paulitsch Sattel. From there  towards Austria and Seeberg Sattel, which brought us back to Slovenia. We kept driving south west to arrive in Bled at the beautiful lake Bled in the late afternoon. Just across Loiblpass and we arrived at our final destination the beautiful city of Klagenfurt. 

 

Sunday morning it was time to say good bye, as some of us drove back to Germany via the motorway, and  others took the scenic route to add more passes to the roadblock. 

 

Slovenia surprised us all. Great country, beautiful landscape, nice people and hospitality, great food and fantastic roads. We will definitely come back!

 

Just a week later, heavy rain, thunderstorms and devastating flooding hit Slovenia hard. We saw a lot of destroyed places on TV, where we just had a great time one week earlier. Our thoughts are with the all the Slovenian’s which were affected from this catastrophe.