Exploring Slovenia’s Julian Alps 🇸🇮

A Family Hike to the 7 Lakes Valley

This week, the Postcard Club takes you to Slovenia; a beautiful destination that is way too underestimated. We follow the footsteps of

Gretchen

and her family.

Gretchen is a writer and photographer specializing in adventure travel. She shares destination guides, stories, and explores the why behind travel as a way to reach your own potential. She shares her family’s stories of traveling around the world and across the United States on her Substack Chasing ADVNTR as well as her blog and Instagram.

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Overshadowed by its nearby cousin, the Dolomites of Italy, the Julian Alps of Triglav National Park offer a raw landscape, with rock faces that plummet to the valley floor and lakes that stretch like a string of jewels up the valley floor.

Not completely off the beaten path, the Mountains of Slovenia offer incredible opportunities for hiking.  The mountains are rocky and jagged and alpine pools and turquoise rivers are everywhere. 

Our family of 5 arrived in Slovenia on a road trip from Italy during the summer of 2022. We were spending 3 weeks driving around Italy and Slovenia after a family wedding on the Italian Island of Ischia.  We hit some of the popular sites in Italy, including Rome and Venice, where we baked in the heat and felt overwhelmed by the number of tourists.  Slovenia offered a new perspective with slightly cooler temperatures in the mountains and room to breathe. After a week in Slovenia we were headed to the Dolomites for more hiking and another overnight hut trip to Croda de Lago.

After spending the day in the Capital, Ljubljana, we made our way to Lake Bled.  Lake Bled seems pulled right from the pages of a fairytale.  Complete with a little tourist train that takes you around the Emerald Lake.  Standing alone in the center of the Lake, the centuries-old church is only overshadowed by the castle on the cliffs overlooking the lake.  After a hot week in Southern Italy, Lake Bled felt simply like paradise. 

We spent a few nights in the town before we repacked our bags and took just what we needed for an overnight hike to one of the huts in the 7 Lakes Valley.  The small parking lot was already overflowing as we set off on a short but steep slog up the first part of the trail.  Starting in the forest, the 7 Lakes Valley climbs out of the trees to a series of exposed lakes above tree level. 

The Trail

The first mile up a logging road is unpleasant and the perfect time to simply put your head down and just keep going. It’s a heart pumping climb with no views and uneven footing. Within an hour the trail leaves behind the trees and enters the first open meadow and the sound of cowbells replaced our heavy breathing.  

At this point the hike goes from a slog to fantastic.  The trail to the hut from the parking lot is only about 5.5 miles but passes from meadows to overlooks, between fields of wildflowers and cows and finally a few small lakes to reach the mountain hut: Koča Pri Triglavskih Jezerih.

After a leisurely lunch, we watched the helicopter reprovision the hut.  The copter would swing up the valley dangling a load of food and drinks from a hanging rope and hover over the hut dropping the food onto a landing pad.  The most impressive drop involved lowering and lifting a set of propane tanks precisely where they needed to go behind the hut.

Dropping off our bags, we continued up the valley.  The landscape here is rugged with only a few outcroppings of trees.  The glacier that carved this valley left a clear path where it scraped away and deposited rocks as it receded, also leaving behind a stunning series of lakes, aptly named for their color and appearance: Mlaka v Laštah (Pond in Ledges), Rjavo jezero (Brown Lake) or Zeleno Jezero (Green Lake).

We passed  a few patches of snow until we were surrounded by nothing but rocks for miles.  After a few miles, we retraced our step back to the hut, with an extra high-five for Freja, our 11 year old, for completing her longest hike to date.

The Hut

After a long, steep trail, there’s nothing more rewarding than settling onto a welcoming porch with a drink and dessert. This Slovenian hut was just like so many others scattered across the mountains of Europe. We shared the space with mountaineering groups, Boy Scouts, and day hikers, all digging into hearty mountain meals. Our room for the night was simple but cozy, and our kids fully embraced their first hut-to-hut hiking experience in Europe.

After a great night of sleep, we opted for an early breakfast - where my kids were shocked by some of the spreadable meat options.  They gave slide-eyes (as only tweens and teens can do) to the other guests happily spread their meat from small packets across their toast.  

We packed our bags, and headed out on the wet and slippery loop back to the car.  The valley had a completely different feel in the mild rain with no distant views, and fog that clung to the trees and rocks.   The low clouds gave an ethereal feeling to the trail that was enhanced with the occasional roaming cow.  At one point we staggered out of the fog to encounter a massive herd of cows that we gingerly picked our way through.

A final lunch next to the last lake and a steep downhill to the car wrapped up our overnight hike to the 7 Lakes Valley.  We returned to the car slightly wet, but exhilarated after our time in the mountains.  From here we headed west to the other side of the mountains and the town of Bovec for more hiking and exploring.

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➡️ Check out Gretchen’s trip to Croda da Lago in the Dolomites

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