Vintgar Gorge and Lakes Bohinj and Bled

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Having completed the walk we drove over the mountain scenic road that was super popular with cyclists and motor bikers, the views were not so special after our hike! Stayed for two nights in the town of Jessince which is near Lake Bled, on the other side of the Julian Alps.

Spent a day driving and taking short walks around the area, starting with Vintgar Gorge and ending at Lake Bled. We had read that Vintgar Gorge was super touristy to the point of making a visit unpleasant. We arrived just before it opened at 8am and went straight in, the first people there, and for the hour or so it took us to walk the short 1.6km board walk from the entrance to the waterfall at the end we hardly saw anyone. It was very beautiful and atmospheric with clear blue/green water and steep canyon sides. When we turned round it was much busier but not nearly as busy as the reading had indicated.

From here we drove around to Lake Bohinj. This is a popular spot so parked in a field on the edge of town (all day parking fee only, no by the hour parking). It was a short walk into the small church of St John the Baptist which has frescoes on the inside and outside and stands on one side of a busy bridge that marks one end of the lake. We had lunch by the bridge and strolled around the church side of the lake. We were surprised how many people were sunbathing there, didn’t go too far, watched the para-gliders coming down from the hills for a a while.

We ended the day at Lake Bled, again parking outside of town paying the all day rate. This has a very different feel to Bohinj, less crowded, more sedate somehow. This is a picture perfect lake and easy to take a stroll all the way around. There’s an island in the lake with a monastery perched on a small hill and behind that standing on a high hill overlooking the town is a castle, what more could you want? The afternoon light was just right on the castle and monastery.

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