I think I need to move to Slovenia. From kayaking in Bovec, to walking along the Soca, to hiking through the Julian Alps on the Juliana Trail, to sleeping in huts—I’m a convert. We hadn’t planned on spending so much time in Slovenia, but we met a German woman in New Zealand that told us we had to visit if we liked hiking and wanted a cheaper and less crowded way to see the Alps. We were in.
We even got scammed in Slovenia and I want to go back. It was day one of a three-day, two-night hut hiking trip and we got to our first hut after a few hours trudging through the rain only to be told we didn’t have a reservation, and there were no bunks left in the bunk room. But he had a beautiful single available. The single was beautiful. And had its own bathroom and pillows!!! (We’ve been sleeping in the van without pillows for a few weeks now, rolled up clothes in our sleeping bag case suffices. But I do love a goddamn pillow.)
We were grumpy about the extra cost but didn’t want to hike out so we accepted it. The night, the food, and the views were great. In the morning we come to realize that we got charged extra for not having a reservation. And we found out later that day when we helped a Brazilian guy traverse some snowy patches to the next hut that there were in fact beds in the bunk room. AND LATER we got emailed asking how our reservation was. So we had a reservation! I’ll be real, H and I can respect a scam but this did take several hours of frustration to walk off.
The next hut confirmed our registration, was cheaper, the food was delicious, and the views were just as good. In peak summer this hut services 800-1000 people for lunch and 50 people sleep over. We had it to ourselves with 3 others. We stayed up that night playing cards and dominoes and talking with the other folks.
The next day we hiked out and spent a quiet night in a parking lot with some other campers. We’re finding that while “wild camping” isn’t permitted there is a lot of mid options from limited services, to basically a trucker parking lot, but you don’t get in trouble for sleeping there and free is free.
From there we made our way to the very classic Slovenia stops, Bled and Ljubljana. This was the first time in a few days where we came across Americans. Most of the other sites in Slovenia were filled with Germans.
A last tidbit about Slovenia that I loved learning is that Slovenia has a relationship/visa agreement with several South American countries where kayak instructors, rafting guides, and more move to Slovenia in the summer and then head back in the Slovenian winters—South American summers—to work their rafting jobs there. And vice versa. The demand is so high and with the flipped seasons and comparable landscape it works. This summer there are 30+ guides from South America living in Bovec.
