First Time in Slovenia AMAZED Us: Must Know TIPS Before You Go

If you're planning your first trip to Slovenia, then you need to watch this video! We share 25 must-know tips for your visit to Slovenia - must know tips for beautiful places like Lake Bled, Ljubljana, and the Julian Alps. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure in Slovenia, all in 4K!

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Transcript

We have just returned from an amazing trip to Slovenia, and if you're heading to Slovenia or even thinking about it, we're going to tell you everything you need to know before you go. We're going to cover three different areas the capital city, hiking in the Julian Alps, and the amazing magical Lake Bled.
Welcome to travel with Track Us Down!. If you're just finding us, I'm Monique and I'm Doug. Our channel is all about retiring early, moving abroad, but mostly living what we call a better second half of life. And a big part of that is travel from our base here on the beautiful island of Madeira, Portugal. I think that Slovenia was one of those places I thought was far away, and really I didn't have any concept of what Slovenia was. But after being there, we cannot recommend Slovenia enough. For those of you who don't know, Slovenia is part of the former Yugoslavia, part of Eastern European countries. So let's start with Ljubljana, or as I used to call it, Ljublijana. But the phonetic pronunciation is right here, and it's Ljubljana. And you need to know that before you go. And it's all over the city, they have t-shirts with it. Ljubljana. It's a beautiful, charming capital city and we absolutely loved it. So we're going to tell you a few things that you need to know. If you're thinking of heading to Ljubljana, the main thing for this hidden gem of an Eastern European city is to stay near Old Town. Its old town is beautiful and it's so walkable. There are microbreweries everywhere and restaurants. Very modern, very easy to get around and very enjoyable and historic. So historic. And you can definitely catch a free walking tour that's available right in the center of the city, but it's just as easy to explore on your own. You can follow a little map or simply just stroll around and see what you find. We really enjoyed wandering in Ljubljana. One thing I found is how modern the city is and how tech smart the city is. There's all kinds of young people there running. They're jogging, they're hiking, they're rowing. They're out on their bikes. They're pushing baby carriages around. There's electric buses everywhere. Another thing that's good to know about Ljubljana, like Doug said, it's such an active city. It definitely has a youthful vibe. They do have a huge park right in the middle, kind of a Central Park kind of idea with walking paths and trails, and you can literally spend a whole day in Ljubljana exploring the park in the middle,Tivoli Park in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It's definitely giving me fall vibes here in September. Much different than Madeira. There's the big kind of oak trees with the leaves. You can hear the wind blowing through the leaves. We haven't been used to that. We've been seeing nothing but palm leaves and just kind of tropical. Yeah, it was definitely a surprise for us. Never been to Ljubljana, never been to Slovenia. And this city is so much fun. Just relaxing to sit and have a coffee and a cafe somewhere or a beer at a microbrewery. It's important to note that many things are closed in Ljubljana on a Sunday, so that park idea of just strolling around and doing sort of a city hike within the park is a great idea to do on a Sunday. They do have a huge cafe culture restaurant culture in Ljubljana. Lots of different restaurants along the river that cuts through Ljubljana. Very charming. And the prices are affordable, I would say. And some really great food. What food did you enjoy? My favorite was kind of one of their national dishes. It was called Riçet and I think I'm pronouncing that correctly. It's like a barley stew, a thick barley soup full of beans and vegetables. It was so hearty and so warming to the soul to have something like that. What other one did you like? If you take a look at the Slovenian cuisine, there's so many options and so many real fun foods to try as you spend time in Slovenia and Ljubljana is a great place to try those things. My favorite was what they call Slovenian fast food, the Burek, and it's basically a pastry filled with different things and it's absolutely delicious. Speaking of restaurants, tipping is not expected in Slovenia, but you can always just round your bill up or leave 10%. Another thing to think about is are you going to be able to communicate in Ljubljana? And if you speak English, absolutely. English is sort of the language that everyone in the tourism kind of speaks. So we had absolutely no problem communicating in English. For me, a history lover, one of the main sights to see in Ljubljana is Ljubljana Castle. This goes back so far in time. It is a castle built on top of a castle built on top of a castle. I never knew there was so much history, Roman history and nobility history there. We had such a great time at the castle. So one of the tips for going to the castle is you can explore the castle for free, and we would highly recommend just doing the free tour. There is a paid portion where you get to go up a tower, and I think you go to a puppet museum and another museum. We would suggest to skip that part and just do the free tour. It's quite a hike up to the castle, but it's a beautiful walk. You can explore for free and then head back down. There's also a really cute cafe right in the castle that it's worth sort of stopping and having a coffee in there, or a drink and just enjoying sort of the castle atmosphere. There is something else in the castle that we didn't experience that we would recommend.
Oh, they have a main jazz club in the basement of the castle. It's decorated kind of Art Deco style. It's in an old setting and the acoustics are amazing. When you go down there, you just feel like you're in an old jazz club. It's kind of built like the base of the Eiffel Tower with the wrought iron railings going around. It's pretty cool. So if you're in Ljubljana on a weekend, I think every Friday night they have a different jazz thing going on there. It would be definitely something to check out. One of the fun things about Slovenia and Ljubljana is their coat of arms, which is the dragon. It goes back to Jason and the Argonauts. It goes back to mythical times. There are dragon statues everywhere and dragon emblems. It's just kind of neat to be around. You feel mythical when you're walking around there. It almost feels Lord of the rings. So you mix the dragon with all the green space and all the charming towns, and you get this really modern, kind of charming old world combined. So for sure, our recommendation would be to spend 3 or 4 days exploring the beautiful capital city of Ljubljana. Enjoy your time in this amazing capital city. But we didn't go there to go on a city tour. We actually went there for the Julian Alps. Slovenia has a large section of the Julian Alps named after Julius Caesar. We love hiking. We love forest bathing. This was a great opportunity for us to do some trekking across country, across mountains and valleys. We went there for the hiking, so we set off on a four day hike, which Monique planned perfectly. 
And so it begins. We are at the beginning of the hike, heading to the mountains. One of the things that is a tip to know if you plan on hiking is that there is a Juliana A trail that goes around the mountains in the Julian Alps. But that can be very intimidating to start thinking about. Where are we going to hike? So you can definitely find a base somewhere like Lake Bohinj or Lake Bled and do day hikes from there, if that's what your comfort level is. But if you want to try hut to hut hiking, which is what we did, we would highly recommend that you go online and you start researching to see different tours that go from hut to hut, and it kind of gives you an outline of what you could plan, even if you plan on going on your own. We decided that we were going to hike hut to hut, and we would plan it ourselves, basing it on some of the tours that were available. So we started our hike in Lake Bohinj, which is a very common place to start hiking and headed up into the Julian Alps from there. From there we had booked pre-booked our hut to hut hiking and we're going to talk about what the accommodations are in the Julian Alps, what the physical challenges are of doing a hike like this, and what you can expect from the nature when you are hiking in the Julian Alps. When you book some of these tours or look at these tours, they're very expensive. Of course, they raise the prices because they're doing all the planning for you and the booking. Monique just picked the exact same hotels in the road, and we booked it all ourselves, and it was considerably cheaper. We have a level of comfort with hiking and trekking across some of these mountains. We've done it before, so we felt perfectly comfortable booking it ourselves. But we had the inspiration from some of these pre-planned tours makes it a lot easier, and although the trail is always fairly well marked, we would highly recommend that you have a Garmin with you. I love the Garmin line. Is the Garmin inReach I-66. It's everything you need. This will get you through any kind of alpine experience, a small hike or a big one. It's connected to two different satellite systems. The main thing is this will keep you on route. You can do your own planning with their online tools and online maps. So we just snapped a route between the different heights. It puts you on official routes, which really comes in handy. We originally were going to hike much higher up into the mountains, but because of the recent storms that came through Europe, there was trees felled from the winds and the whole area where we were going to go up higher was suddenly closed down and our hut up there cancelled our reservations. So we had to plan a new route to another hotel at a lower altitude. And this was perfect for that. It kept us on track on course and we never felt like we were going to be lost. I love this device. I highly recommend it and I would use it for any kind of hike. Of course it has an SOS button if you need it. I think the Garmin for me just gives you that comfort factor is if something does go wrong or you have to change plans, that we have a way of doing it. So we would highly recommend having a Garmin with you. The thing to remember is that there's not any cell service up when you get into the elevation, so you can't just rely on your phone, your phone's going to go dead or it's going to have no service. So you need something hooked up to a satellite. And speaking of cell phones, if you are traveling to a different country, don't forget to get an eSIM. We have a discount code for you from Airalo in the description box below. Very handy for Slovenia. So back to the tips for hiking in the Julian Alps. Definitely if you can plan your own route, if you feel comfortable doing that and get yourself a Garmin. The next tip is to be prepared for the physical aspect of hiking. Definitely want to be prepared. If you walk or hike already and you're used to elevations, you're well on your way. Have to remember you'll have a pack with you. We were planning for a city tour and we were planning for cross-mountain hiking, so our packs were about a 40 litre size. So I want to say my pack was a little bit heavier than I would normally like it, and that extra weight definitely makes it harder to go. In terms of what you should expect when you're hiking in the Julian Alps, there is a lot of just flat walking that is quite easy, but there is also elevation gain because you do have to head up to the mid mountain range and that can be a lot of up. So you have to have good footwear because your soles will get shredded, they'll get ripped right off. No flip flops and you can get wet feet. So you want to have something that's waterproof and you want to have something with really good sole like a Vibram sole. I think being ready for any kind of weather is important to whenever you're mountain hiking, being ready for rain, being ready for colder weather. And if you're lucky enough that you have great weather and you're hiking, then that's all the better. The next tip you need to know is what are the accommodations like? The hut to hut? Hiking in the Alps have really great accommodations. These are what we would call bed and breakfasts almost. When you get there, we're talking hot shower, we're talking clean room and really nice breakfasts. When you say hi to kind of gives you a different thought. It is not a hut in any sense. These are like ski chalets in the winter time. All pine. Beautiful. They'll have a little bar down there, a little restaurant, beautiful rooms, nice showers. These are pretty nice lodgings. It's not really a hut. We're not sleeping in a dorm or anything like that. What you can expect in terms of scenery and what some of the highlights are. What do you think? The scenery is stunning. You're talking lush valleys, cows in their pasture with bells on leading up to high mountains. You get up to mid mountain elevation. You have the snow peaks in the distance. What's the highest mountain there? Mount Triglav is amazing to see as you're hiking, and then you can come back down to a valley or into a small lakeside town, which we did, and we can't wait to tell you about it. Along the entire hike, you will hear church bells sometimes from little towns, and it's just a really charming mountain hike. You really feel like you are somewhere special. And as you head down into the amazing Lake Bled, which is a very steep descent, but was amazing to finally arrive at the final destination and the final place. We want to share some tips with you. Lake bled. The views are stunning as you walk down into this valley, into this iconic historic town. You got to spend a week there. It is amazing. So here are some things that are good to know before you go. If you're planning on going to Lake Bled. If you do any quick Google search of Lake Bled, you will find these most iconic photos of a beautiful greenish blue magical lake with a little island in the center with a beautiful little church. And that is what you see when you arrive in Lake Bled, it does not disappoint. It is beyond expectations. The waters are turquoise green, kind of a greenish blue surrounding this island. It is so picturesque it's idyllic. I can't believe the colors of this lake. It just makes you want to jump in. You would think being that color, that it's going to be cold, but it's not. The water was about 24 Celsius when we were there. Lots of people swimming paddle boarding loved it. So here are some things you need to know about Lake Bled. It is historically a town that people go to for wellness, to take the air, to take the sun and to relax. So there is a lot of wellness centers and spas in Lake Bled. But even if you just stay at a regular chalet or a hotel, you can partake in all the wellness that is around. Just from the beautiful air, the beautiful surroundings and the walking and the amazing sights that are there. We loved it. We were there for about three days, but there's so much to do. Definitely one of the main tips, one of the things that you want to do when you're there is walk around. It is a wellness center. You can walk around the whole circumference of this lake. It's not too big. There's all kinds of trails all the way around it paved trails, people walking, eating ice cream, riding bikes, jogging. You can get to one end and go swimming off the dock. There's stand up paddle you can row. It is like European idyllic setting. The walk around the lake takes about an hour if you don't stop, but it's hard not to stop because there's so many things to stop for. Another thing that's absolutely worth doing in Lake Bled is paying to be rowed out to the little island. Or you can rent a rowboat for yourself. I think it's just under the €20 mark, but definitely worth going to the little island once you're on that little island. It's an easy walk around. There's a bunch of steps. There's a church, there's a couple cafes. It's just as nice enjoying the views from the island to looking at all the rest of Lake Bled. The next thing you should do if you're spending time in Lake Bled is head up to the castle. Now in Ljubljana, we recommended not paying for a castle tour, but here we would absolutely recommend paying for the castle tour. It's worth it. The views from the castle are incredible, but there's also a really great museum to go through and learn a lot about the history of Lake Bled and about it in modern times, and the wellness that has always happened in this area. The castle was first mentioned in the year 1004. In recorded history. This goes back into the lure of Europe. When you're up there, you can look down on this idyllic lake. You can see people just rowing across the lake. You can see people swimming. I want to go back there so bad and spend two weeks just in Lake Bled. Another thing that Lake Bled has that we would highly recommend is they have a variety of restaurants, every kind of restaurant you have, and it's definitely a cafe. Restaurant culture in Lake Bled as well, to head out for a coffee and head out for beautiful evening meals. And they do have something called bled cake, which is a cream cake, and you can have it at the place where it was originally invented called the Park Hotel. So we would definitely recommend to sit down and enjoy a piece of bled cake and enjoy the atmosphere all around you and its beautiful daytime and its beautiful at nighttime. The castle lights up. At night the lake glows. It is such an enchanting place to be. Day or night. Our last recommendation in Lake Bled would be to rent e-bikes and head out on a biking trip to Vintgar Gorge. It is amazing. The bike riding is easy with the help of the e-bike up the hills and you get a completely different perspective. Leaving Lake bled a little bit to be outside of Lake Bled and enjoy the gorge, which is really well known in Slovenia. Do you go outside of the little town of Lake Bled and you go to this amazing, mysterious gorge again, very Lord of the rings. If you take a tour and go by bus or drive, it'll be very busy. Parking lot will be packed. If you take a bike, you can park right up front. It's just beautiful. You have to wear the helmet for rockfalls. The gorge has rushing water and it's really well done. Where you walk on the side, it's a one way walk and when you get to the end of the gorge, you have to hike back to the beginning. It's a really beautiful hike again, giving you beautiful views out over pastures and back towards Lake Bled. When you're done your e-bike back to Lake Bled, there are plenty of places in Lake Bled to rent e-bikes and we would highly recommend it. Those are the three areas that we would highly recommend if you plan on going to Slovenia, and some of the things that are good to know before you go. Ljubljana, the capital city. Hiking in the Julian Alps and Lake Bled. So if you like a good conversation about retiring early, moving abroad, living a better second half of life, which includes travel to all these amazing kind of lost or unknown places, please remember to like our videos, subscribe to our channel and give us a thumbs up. We really appreciate your support. We love traveling to these places from our base here on the beautiful island of Madeira, Portugal. Thanks so much for spending a little bit of your day with us, and we'll see you in the next video. As always, check back in, and, Track Us Down!