High Trails of the Julian Alps

Above the ridge at Triglav

Planika Hut sits at 2,401 metres on the southern slopes of Mount Triglav. Supplies arrive by helicopter, the tap water isn't drinkable, and there's no electricity — the building stores washing water in a reservoir and runs on what the weather gives it. You arrive after a 1,285m climb out of Pokljuka, eat in the restaurant, sleep in a dormitory or multi-bed room, and wake before sunrise to watch the colour return to the snow-capped peaks. This is the third night of a walk that begins on the shore of a glacial lake and ends, six walking days later, back among hotels with hot showers. The point of the route is what sits between.

The Julian Alps in practice

Slovenia's Julian Alps are compact and well-walked — this is not a Himalayan-scale wilderness — but the trails are properly mountainous, the huts are traditional rather than polished, and the country is unvarnished in a way that rewards arriving on foot. Triglav National Park covers most of the ground you'll cross. The walk threads through alpine pasture, fir forest, the seven lakes of the Triglav Lakes valley, and several high passes. Days three to five are the serious ones; the bookends at Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj are softer.

Bled to Bohinj over the high passes

Day one is for getting your bearings at Lake Bled — the glacial lake beneath the rocky outcrop of Bled Castle, with the island church of the Assumption of Mary at its centre. Ljubljana sits 55km away, an hour by public transport. There's an optional warm-up hike through the Vintgar Gorge (6.5 km, 167m up, 271m down). Day two starts with a short transfer to the Pokljuka Plateau at 1,280m, then a hike through alpine meadow and forest to the Lipanska Hut for lunch, before dropping down to Rudno Polje for the night at Hotel Center Pokljuka. Ascent 750m, descent 674m.

Day three is the climbing day: 1,285m of ascent up to Planika, with a lunch stop at Vodnikov Dom and views across to Triglav's summit at 2,864m, Slovenia's highest. Your main luggage is collected at Pokljuka that morning and held in Bled until you reach Bohinj on day six, so everything for the next four nights goes in your pack. Day four crosses the Hribarice Pass at 2,358m and drops past Zeleno Jezero — the Green Lake, named for the algae that colours it — into the Valley of the Triglav Lakes, with the night at the hut set between the Dvojno jezero (Double Lake) and the artificial Mocivec lake. Day five heads west to Black Lake, the lowest and warmest of the seven, before climbing onto the Komna Plateau to the Komna Hut, where the terrace looks down on Lake Bohinj.

Bookings and logistics

Macs Adventure runs this as a self-guided walk: route notes, maps and pre-booked accommodation, but no guide on the trail. Accommodation on the lake nights is hotel-standard — Hotel Park in central Bled, or the former Tito summer residence on the lakeshore; Hotel Center Pokljuka in the foothills. The three nights at altitude (Planika, Koca Pri Triglavskih Jezerih, Komna) are working mountain huts with dormitories or multi-bed rooms, communal meals and basic facilities. This is the trade for sleeping where you do. The walking suits anyone with good general fitness who's comfortable on rocky alpine terrain for several days running; it's not technically difficult but the days are long and the altitude is real. Pack light, pack layers.