We are delighted to report that two Slovenian castles have landed on Matador Network’s list of “16 fairytale-worthy European castles to visit in wintertime”. Slovenia’s oldest castle, the 1000+ year-old Bled Castle was ranked number 7 on the list and the Predjama Catle, one of the world’s most dramatic castles that sits nestled in the mouth of a cave was ranked number 8.
Bled Castle
Perched atop a steep cliff 130 meters above Lake Bled is Bled Castle, one of Slovenia’s oldest medieval fortresses. The first written mention of the castle dates all the way back to 1011, although much of its present look comes from the restoration that followed an earthquake in 1511. (photo: Franci Ferjan)
Predjama Catle
Predjama Castle is one of the most dramatic and fascinating castles in the world. The castle is perched halfway up a 123 metre cliff in the gaping mouth of a karst cave. It was built piecemeal over the years from 1202, but most of what you see today is from the 16th century. (photo: Valter Leban)
Not that we ever doubted it but Lake Bohinj was included on the list of the most gorgeous short hikes in Europe in a well-known and prestigious newspaper and news website The Guardian.
Lake Bohinj is surrounded by the most majestic mountains of the Julian Alps. (photo: Turizem Bohinj)
Here’s what The Guardian has writen about the Lake Bohinj circular hike: “Just an hour’s drive from Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, Lake Bohinj is the country’s largest glacier lake, situated inside Triglav national park and surrounded by the grandeur of the Julian Alps. Starting and finishing at the lakeside village of Ribcev Laz, the trail leads past a handful of secluded beaches and on to Slap Savica, a majestic waterfall and source of the nearby Sava river. From the path there are plenty of magnificent views of the lake, with the surrounding mountains mirrored in it.”
The complete list of “Five gorgeous short hikes in Europe” includes Ladder of Kotor (Montenegro), Fairy Pools (Isle of Skye, Scotland), Pico do Arieiro Trail (Madeira, Portugal), Lake Bohinj circular (Slovenia), The Flysch route (Spain). The article is available here!
This is some of the most beautiful hiking territory in Europe. (photo: Turizem Bohinj)
From the path there are plenty of magnificent views of Lake Bohinj. (photo: Turizem Bohinj)
The trail leads past the Savica Waterfall, one of the most popular and amazing waterfalls in Slovenia. (photo: Mojca Odar)
Lake Bohinj is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia, covering 318 hectares in the Bohinj Valley of the Julian Alps in the Triglav National Park. (photo: Ales Zdesar)
Lake Bohinj is a gorgeous tranquil place to rest and unwind as you breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of the untouched nature in the Triglav National Park. (photo: Tomo Jesenicnik)
We are delighted to report that Slovenia has landed on Business Insider’s list of “14 of the best places to travel on a budget in 2018”. In the article, they summed up their decision with the following words: “With the hospitality of Italy, the gorgeous mountains of Austria, and gourmet delicacies of neighboring Istria, Slovenia has it all for a fraction of the price.” The list includes countries like Argentina, Colombia, Estonia, Peru, Chile, Morocco and Portugal.
Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. (photo: James Relf Dyer)
“While much of Southern Europe can come with tons of tourists and a too high price tag, you can have a five-star trip on a three-star budget in Slovenia,” says Collette Stohler, who runs the travel website, Roamaroo. “You can have the elegance and gourmet delicacies of the Mediterranean at an Eastern European price. The best part is — you can visit the capital of Ljubljana, the beautiful lake town of Bled, Piran Beach on the Adriatic, and the Goriska Brda wine region all within two hours of each other.”
Business Insider is an American business, celebrity and technology news website launched in February 2009 and based in New York City.
The complete list of ’14 of the best places to travel on a budget in 2018’ includes Malaysia, Argentina, Slovenia, Nepal, Colombia, Estonia, Peru, Albania, Guatemala, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Chile, Morocco, and Portugal. The article is available here!
Beautiful Lake Bled is a must-see when visiting Slovenia. (photo: James Relf Dyer)
Many people say that Piran is the prettiest coastal town of Slovenia, and we think it is. (photo: Alan Kosmac)
Tucked away in a small corner by the Italian border, the Goriska Brda region is Slovenia’s little ‘Tuscany’. (photo: ZTKMS Brda)
Slovenia — a very small country with a population of just over two million — is bonkers about bees. There are 5 beekeepers for every 1000 people, and 8 hives per square kilometre. And the age of the average beekeeper is falling as more young people take it up: many turned pro in the last 10 years.
Slovenia enjoys more aesthetically pleasing hives than much of the world. (photo: Jost Gantar)
That is why we are even more pleased to report that on Slovenia’s initiative the United Nations has declared May 20 to be World Bee Day. Bees are amongst the most important creatures to humans on Earth. These amazing insects pollinate a third of everything we eat and play a vital role in sustaining the planet’s ecosystems. So, the main objective of World Bee Day is to raise awareness about the importance of bees and help drive measures to ensure bees’ survival for the benefit of the entire humankind.
May 20 is the birthday of Anton Jansa (1734-1773), the founder of modern beekeeping and a native of Breznica, a small village in northwestern Slovenia. In 1770, Anton Jansa became the first royally appointed teacher of apiculture for all Austrian lands, as Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa appointed him the head of the first beekeeping school in Vienna. Drawing from a hundred-year tradition of beekeeping, he laid the foundations of modern beekeeping.
Slovenia had proposed that World Bee Day is observed in May, because this is the most important month for bees in the Northern Hemisphere – it’s when bees are the most active and start to reproduce, while the need for pollination is also the highest in this period.
Studies conducted by the UN and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature have shown that the population of bees is declining. Various human causes have contributed to this situation, including intensive farming, the widespread use of pesticides, and pollution from waste materials. Bees are exposed to new diseases and pests, while their natural habitat is declining because of population growth. In addition, the survival and development of bee populations is being increasingly threatened by climate change.
The beekepers in Slovenia use several varieties of hives. There are stacked white boxes, huts with colorful “drawers”, and brown barrel-like hives with lids. (photo: Jost Gantar)
A mobile beehive apiary on the back of a vintage truck in Zirovnica, the cradle of beekeeping in Slovenia. Some of the hives are designed to be mobile, loaded on the back of old trucks, so that beekeepers can easily move their bee families from the valley to the mountains and back again. The means a wider variety of honey flavors for individual producers – flavors like chestnut, flower, sage, and honeydew. (photo: Jure Kravanja)
Beekeeping, which is a traditional agricultural activity in Slovenia, was first mentioned in writing in The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, an encyclopaedia written by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor and published in 1689. The encyclopaedia contains the first longer presentation of beekeeping in Carniola, the territory of present-day central part of Slovenia. Valvasor writes that ‘one can see special little houses for bees in this land‘. (photo: Jost Gantar)
In Slovenia honey is produced by more than 10,000 beekeepers. On average, each has 16 beehives. With almost 5 beekeepers per 1,000 population, Slovenia boasts the highest percentage of beekeepers to the general population of any nation in Europe by far and it is one of the highest percentage of beekeeping nations in the world! (photo: Ales Fevzer)
Slovenian beehives are well-known for their bright colors and their artfully painted front slats which are unique to Slovenia. (photo: Domen Grogl)
Slovenia is the only country in the EU that has protected its indigenous bee, the Carniolan bee. The Carniolan honey bee is native to Slovenia and is one of the most common bee species in the world. (photo: Marko Sinkovec)
For each kilogram of honey collected, a bee family must visit over 4 million flowers and fly almost 200,000 kilometres (five times around the world). (photo: Jost Gantar)
Every year, Slovenian beekeepers produce between 1,300 and 2,500 tons of honey. That’s a lot of sticky, sweet goodness for such a small nation. (photo: Nea Culpa)
Most of Slovenia’s 10,000 beekeepers operate small, local farms. Slovenia was one of the first nations to fight the use of harmful chemicals and it keeps some of the strictest standards of ecological beekeeping in the world. (photo: Boris Pretnar)
In recent years over 1.5 million tons of honey has been produced annually around the world. Production has been increasing the most in Asia, while in Europe it has been falling slightly. (photo: Jost Gantar)
The Idrija Municipal Apiary is an exceptional example of a skilfully crafted and executed and painted apiary and is one of the highlights of the 20th century Slovene apiculture. (photo: Marko Sinkovec)
The apiary intended for aromatherapy in the Goriska Brda region. (photo: Jost Gantar)
Slovenia was one of the first nations to fight the use of harmful chemicals and it keeps some of the strictest standards of ecological beekeeping in the world. (photo: Marko Sinkovec)
All the photos above are from the Media library of I Feel Slovenia!
The very unique Govc Beehive in the Robanov Kot valley was built in 1929 in the Vienna Secession style. (photo: Bojan Kolman)
A close-up of brightly colored, square beehives in Slovenia. They are painted green, blue, purple, red, yellow, white and orange. The different colors are so that the bees can identify their hive. (photo: Luka Esenko)
The new global Women, Peace and Security Index, released at the end of October at the United Nations, has placed Slovenia as the fourth-best country for women out of the 153 countries.
A new report has found that Slovenia is the fourth-best country for women. (photo: Nea Culpa d.o.o.)
The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index, developed by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Peace Research Institute Of Oslo (PRIO), is structured around three basic dimensions of women’s well-being: inclusion, justice and security. It looks at everything from women’s education and financial inclusion, to cell phone use, discrimination and violence.
Slovenia placed fourth in the ranking, with top scores in women’s financial inclusion and cellphone use. The index also reveals that women are generally highly educated in Slovenia, and a vast majority of women perceived their communities to be safe.
Overall, the best countries for women are Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Singapore, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. The United States ranked No. 22, in part due to having no legal mandate for equal pay nor legally guaranteed paid maternity leave.
At the bottom of the list are Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Sudan, Niger, Lebanon, Cameroon and Chad.
The index is to be updated every two years.
The chart below shows countries ranked by quality of women’s lives in 2017 (0 = worst, 1 = best).
(Infographics by Statista)
Slovenia is a top country to be a woman. (photo: Nea Culpa d.o.o.)
Slovenia is getting a great deal of attention in the travel press this year. This time, the Reader’s Digest magazine put Slovenia on top of the hottest places to visit in 2018.
The picturesque Lake Bled is one of the most outstanding places that are worth visiting in Slovenia. (photo: Janez Tolar)
They summed up their decision with the following words: ‘Everyone seems to be discovering this affordable gem in Eastern Europe at the same time: Recently Lonely Planet named the Julian Alps one of the top 10 regions to visit. The New York Times featured the charming medieval capital city of Ljubljana in its 36-hour destinations (we also found an amazing tree house there). National Geographic awarded the capital is Legacy Award, and local chef Ana Ros was named the World’s Best Female Chef in Pellegrino’s “The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.” The small nation with the big green image (it’s one of the world’s most eco-friendly destinations) offers rafting, hiking, boating, and biking in the summer; alpine skiing in the winter; and fabulous food and culture year-round.’
The complete list of ’10 Places You NEED to Go in 2018’ includes Slovenia, Portugal, Detroit, Namibia, Thailand, Maremma (Italy), Barbados, Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), London and Alaska. The article is available here!
Slovenia’s charming capital Ljubljana. (photo: Ales Fevzer)
Piran, the jewel of the Slovenian coast. (photo: Nea Culpa d.o.o.)
The breathtaking Skocjan Caves are among the largest and most impressive cave systems in all of Europe. (photo: Nea Culpa d.o.o.)
The Logar Valley is one of Slovenia’s best kept secrets. (photo: Tomo Jesenicnik)
The Julian Alps have been named one of the top regions in the world for travellers in 2018. The region receives the accolade in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2018, the highly anticipated collection of the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences for the year ahead. The bestselling, inspirational travel yearbook from the world’s leading travel authority highlights the top ten countries, cities, regions and best value destinations that Lonely Planet’s experts recommend travellers experience in 2018.
The Triglav National Park covers an area of over 800 square kilometres (4% of Slovenian territory), almost across the entire area of the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia. (photo: Jernej Leben)
The Julian Alps have earned its place as a must-see destination for 2018 thanks to the natural appeal of the region which offers “mountain bliss in an overlooked corner of Europe”.
This is what Lonely Planet had to say: “With the natural appeal of Chamonix or Zermatt – but with fewer crowds – the Julian Alps offer mountain bliss in an overlooked corner of Europe. Over two-thirds of the region is protected by the Triglav National Park mandate, a mechanism that not only curbs development along the summits but ensures that improvements to local infrastructure are effected in a slow and studied manner. Once suitable only for the intrepid, the Julian Alps are gently opening the door to every stripe of traveller. A growing number of locally run operators are pairing pulse-racing treks with upmarket versions of homestays in stylish shepherd digs.”
Lonely Planet’s writers and experts spend time on the road in almost every corner of our planet Earth, and each year they report which places and destinations are set to take off, offering travellers the best experience available. The destinations selected for Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel meet specific criteria; it could be that something special is going on in the year ahead or there’s been recent development and a lot of buzz about the place, that it offers travellers new things to see or do, or that the Lonely Planet team of experts thinks it has been overlooked and underrated and suggests travellers visit before the crowds do.
Below is the full list of the world’s best regions:
1. Belfast & the Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland
2. Alaska, USA
3. Julian Alps, Slovenia
4. Languedoc-Roussillon, France
5. Kii Peninsula, Japan
6. Aeolian Islands, Italy
7. Southern USA
8. Lahaul & Spiti, India
9. Bahia, Brazil
10. Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic
The Julian Alps are especially picturesque in spring when nature comes to life with its most beautiful arrangements of color displays and all sorts of flowers blooming everywhere. (photo: Bojan Kolman)
The hike to the Triglav Lakes Valley which lies in the heart of the Julian Alps is a must-do for all who visit Slovenia and are eager for a taste of its mountain scenery. The valley is named for a system of ten lakes that sit in this high mountain valley in the Julian Alps. (photo: Masa Vodenik)
Lake Bohinj is surrounded by spectacular mountains of the Julian Alps. (photo: Luka Esenko)
Lake Krn is located in the south of the Julian Alps at an altitude of 1340 meters. It is 400 meters long, 150 meters wide and nearly 18 meters deep. There are actually three lakes around the Krn mountain, but this one is the most popular among hikers. (photo: Gregor Skoberne)
Triglav, with an elevation of 2,864 meters, is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene Nation. (photo: Luka Esenko)
Many people in Slovenia were upset when they found out that the famous heart-shaped road amidst the vineyards near the village of Svecina in eastern Slovenia was photoshopped into a photograph of an Alsatian town. It appears that the French town tried to co-opt a very unique Slovenian tourist attraction in order to lure foreign tourists.
The famous Slovenian heart-shaped road was photoshopped into a photograph of an Alsatian town.
The French town wasn’t the first to steal the photograph of the heart-shaped road to use it for their own purposes. A few years ago, the road was also featured in a video clip designed to promote Austria as a wine-growing region.
The Strasbourg Tourist Office Board has, meanwhile, apologized for the misuse of the photo and promised that the brochure will be removed from their website.
The famous heart-shaped road near the village of Svecina in eastern Slovenia. (photo: Nea Culpa d.o.o.)
The heart-shaped road was photoshopped into a photo of an Alsatian town.
The heart is a symbol of love, most often romantic love, but love in a broader sense as well. Slovenia is the only country in the world, which has the word LOVE in its name. (photo: Masa Vodenik)
The UNESCO has recently inscribed 63 new areas of ancient and primeval beech forest in 10 countries on the World Heritage List and among them are two Slovenian beech forests: the Krokar virgin forest and the Sneznik-Zdrocle forest reserve.
The primeval beech forests of Krokar and Sneznik-Zdrocle joined the Skocjan Caves on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The latter, inscribed 30 years ago, were until now the only natural monument in Slovenia on the UNESCO list. (photo: Marko Masterl)
The Krokar virgin forest is an example of completely untouched primeval forest in the heart of the well-preserved forests of the Kocevje region in southern Slovenia, which are also part of the Natura 2000 network. The Sneznik-Zdrocle forest reserve, on the other hand, consists of ancient beech forest with sections of primeval forest. Like Krokar, it lies within a large forest complex that is included in the Natura 2000 network.
Inscription of the Krokar virgin forest and the Sneznik-Zdrocle forest reserve on the World Heritage list represents a recognition for Slovenia and a commitment to further enhance the protection of both forest reserves and other beech forest ecosystems in the future.
Today, an international arbitration court handed Slovenia a victory in its long-standing maritime dispute with Croatia, granting it direct access to international waters in the Adriatic Sea.
The town of Piran on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia. (photo: Ubald Trnkoczy)
The countries have been arguing over a stretch of their sea and land border since both declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 as it disintegrated into war and broke up.
The dispute, which centres on the bay of Piran, held up Croatia accession to the EU for many years. Only after both parties agreed to arbitration was Zagreb granted entry to the bloc in 2013.
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