Itinerary for 3 weeks caravan trip in Slovenia with children

We are just back and we want to share our Itinerary for 3 weeks caravan trip in Slovenia with children. Three weeks with (mostly) nice weather and a couple of heavy showers. We love outdoors and hiking, and therefore we were looking for walks and natural sights. In these three weeks, we have climbed quite a lot of mountains (ok, we used 4 cable cars to skip a part of the climb), hiked a lot of gorges and visited a couple of waterfalls. For our kids, there’s no better thing than step out of bed and be outdoors. Before leaving, we had many places in mind to visit and during the trip, we have changed our plans according to the weather and our mood.  Here is our itinerary:

Chiemsee & Altenmarkt im Pongau

We drove in 4 days the almost 1400km from The Netherlands to Slovenia. With a baby and a toddler, we didn’t want to have a lot of long driving days and therefore made three stops: Wertheim (almost 600km), Chiemsee (400km) and Altenmarkt im Pongau (110km). I will write a post about the places we stopped on the way because we were looking for places to enjoying the way and spots where the children could play and have fun instead of driving through.

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In Austria, we visited the Eisriesenwelt: the largest ice cave in the world. In order to reach it, you need to walk 20 minutes to the cable car, and another 20 minutes from the cable car to the entrance of the cave. If you want to exercise, you can also walk the whole way up and down 🙂

But reserve some energy for the cave itself, as you will need to climb 1400steps! For the kids, it’s quite tiring, so if they are still under 5, bring a baby carrier. We weared both kids inside the cave. Bring also warm clothes, as inside the cave is really cold. Our intention was to spend 4 hours here, but we spent the whole day and therefore, we stayed in a camping in Altenmarkt im Pongau, not far away.

Bled

After Another 168 km, we arrived in Bled, where we spent three nights. I expected a very touristy and crowded place, but the first thing we saw was the little island in the middle of the lake, people swimming and little boats sailing. The first impression wasn’t a crowded place, but a great place for summer holidays. We droved around the lake in order to get to our camping and we were fascinated by the colour of the water. It was just like in the pictures you see in the advertisements: a rich emerald colour.

The four days we spent in Bled had the same structure: a hike in the morning and swimming in the lake in the afternoon. We were really lucky with the weather and it was hot during the day and rainy in the night.

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Bled is a good starting point for many outings like hiking in Vintgar Gorge and/or Pokljuka Gorge, rent a boat to visit Bled Island, take the tourist train around the lake, walk up Bled’s castle, walk through dinosaurs at Dino Park, take the chair lift at Straža and enjoy tobogganing on the sledding track that is situated on the ski slope, and of course hike to Mala Osojnica to get the best picture of Bled’s lake.

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If you ask me, you can spend a week or two in Bled without getting bored. We would have loved to spend more time in Bled, but we decided to camp in Bohinj for another three nights. You can also easily drive every time from Bled to Bohinj (it’s just 30km).

Bohinj

If Bohinj is not on your itinerary, you should add it right away. Lake Bled is beautiful, but Bohinj has a special charm. The quietness is only broken in some places by kids playing and swimming in the shore of the lake. Other than that is surrounded by nature.

In fact, one-half of the lake is only accessible by foot or bicycle and it only has 3 houses. This was also the reason to try Bohinj campsite. We wanted to experience the quietness and a more authentic “camping experience”. Also, the camping in Bled was good, there were much more tourists. At the Camp Zlatorog Bohinj, there were mostly locals and the atmosphere was really relaxed.

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We had the luxury of having a place next to the lake and I have to admit that this spot was the best in our whole trip. The kids woke up, had breakfast and went straight to play on the shore of the lake. It didn’t matter if it was cold or hot, sunny or rainy, I couldn’t take them away from the lake 🙂

TIP: at the Camp Zlatorog Bohinj take a camping spot in the shore of the lake (A+ area)

The first day in Bohinj, we took the cable car to Vogel (1535m). The start of the cable car is just a 5 min walk from the camping, so you don’t need to take the car. It departs every half an hour. We were lucky because on that day there was a “family day” at Vogel (once a month on a Saturday). On the top, there were a lot of activities and entertainment for the children, plus older kids (ours are still free of charge) would have had free entrance. We took part in the treasure hunt, which led us to Orlove Glave.

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If you plan to do a lot of activities around Bohinj, you can better buy an activity package in order to save money. We bought one which also included a meal on the top of Vogel.

From the campsite, we also took the boat (it departs every 1 – 1,5 hours) around the lake. You can step out on the other side of the lake, cross the famous stone bridge and visit the Church of St. John the Baptist, which is famous for its fresco paintings. Another great hike is Savica Waterfall. It’s about 20minutes walk (or better said stair climbing). It’s an easy one for the kids.

We wanted to hike Mostnica Gorge as well, but the weather didn’t allow it (it started raining and lightning as soon as we parked), plus I had twisted my foot and I had a bit of pain. Next time!

Soča Valley 

Our next adventure was the train ride from Bohinj to Most na Soči. Why? Because we took our car and caravan on it!! This motorail train can carry cars, vans, pickups, and camper vans which don’t exceed 3m in height and 2,4m in width. Our caravan is just 2.35m and Paul put to practice his driving skills during the uploading and downloading of the caravan. The space to turn in the platform, as well as space on the sides of the train, is limited.

We stayed in Kobarid for two nights and hiked to Slap Kozjak. The hike is easy and the waterfall is spectacular. Really worth the walk. Just look at the colour of the water!! If your kids are older, you can do a lot of water activities here.

We also wanted to visit the cheese museum, but Liam fell asleep in the car 🙁

Postojna

Our next stop was Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle. From Kobarid is 2 hours drive even though is only 115km. You can read our review of Postojna and Predjama Castle here.

Our visit to Postojna Cave was at 11 and lasted 1,5 hours. For our kids, there were two highlights: the train that rides 3,5km into the cave, and the human fishes (Proteus anguinus) that are at the end of the 1,5km walk. The whole path is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers, so not an issue with young children. Well, you need to bring a jacket as the temperature inside the cave is just 10 degrees.

From Postojna Cave, it’s only a 9km drive to Predjama Castle. In July and August, there’s a shuttle bus between both locations, in all other months you need to drive yourself. At the Predjama Castle, you get an audio guide and then you can explore the castle at your own path.

If you are travelling with a camper (or a caravan), you can also stay the night in a designated parking at the Postjona Cave. The price per night is 20€ and it includes electricity. As the kids were still happy, we preferred to drive to Ljubljana (a 58km drive).

Ljubljana

There’s only one camping close to the city centre, Ljubljana Resort Hotel & Camp. It’s well located as you can catch a bus to the city centre just across the street, but the maintenance could it be better (warm water doesn’t work often, swimming pool is closed and showers could be cleaner). The weather in Ljubljana wasn’t so great and this was the reason to stay just two nights.

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In the city, we took the funicular to Ljubljana’s Castle, enjoyed the vegetable market and walked around the city. We also took a rest at Mala Ulica, a great spot for children and the perfect playground for rainy days.

The day we left Ljubljana, we drove first to Velika Planina. In the summer, the cows are in the higher meadows. These meadows are called “planina” in Slovenia and you can find many of them. If your children, like ours, love nature and cows, visit one. Velika Planina is not far from Ljubljana and really worth it!.

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Depending on how long you want to hike, you can take the cable car and the chair lift up to the top or walk all the way up. When we were there, the chair lift from the cable car to the top of the mountain was closed because of the wind and we had to walk an extra hour (I really recommend to take the chair lift if you go with children). We first had traditional lunch in a mountain lodge and then walked around Velika Planina and its cows. We bought cheese and fresh milk (I mean really fresh milk, I had to cook it before we could drink it).

Ptuj & Maribor

Our last stop in Slovenia was Ptuj, where we spent three nights at Terme Ptuj. Here, we took it easy and enjoyed spending a day in the swimming pool, an afternoon in Ptuj, another day in Maribor and the last morning in the swimming pool.

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In Maribor, we took the tourist train around the city (almost 1 hour) and also the cable car up to Pohorje. Next to the cable car, you can take a chair lift for also  tobogganing, but as it was almost rainy, we didn’t want to risk.

Putterersee

On our way back home, w stopped again 3 nights in Austria, at Putterersee. We loved this kind of campings: next to the mountains and with a lake/river. Here the temperature went up again and we were able to swim in the lake.

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Not far from the camping, we hiked Wörschachklamm and visited the Wolkenstein Castle ruins.

Nürnberg

The last stop for the kids and I was Nürnberg, where we also visited Playmobil. From here, the kids and I flew to Madrid, and Paul drove home with the caravan.

Have you ever been to Slovenia? What would add as a must see /do to our itinerary for 3 weeks caravan trip in Slovenia with children?

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