Julian Alps.

The Julian Alps are the tail of the Alpine chain — the last upthrust of limestone before the range disappears into the Pannonian basin. They cover most of Triglav National Park, Slovenia's only national park, and stretch to the Italian and Austrian borders. The walking here sits at the quieter end of the Alps in every sense: fewer cable cars, fewer hut booking systems, prices that look generous next to the Dolomites or the Bernese Oberland.

Most weeks are built around two lakes. Lake Bled is the postcard one — small island with a church on it, clifftop castle, perimeter path you can walk in under an hour. Lake Bohinj, ten miles to the west, is wilder: bigger, longer, ringed by the high peaks of the Triglav range, with a single quiet village at its east end and forest closing in around the rest. Ribčev Laz or Bohinj Bistrica make a sensible single base; Inntravel's hotel-to-hotel itinerary works west-to-east from Kranjska Gora through the Sava Dolinka Valley.

At the gentler end, Headwater and Inntravel grade their Bled-Bohinj weeks as 1+ or moderate — three to five hours a day on forest paths and farm tracks, the high peaks as backdrop rather than destination. At the harder end, the Via Alpina runs through here, and Macs Adventure's two Julian Alps weeks follow stages of it — moderate-to-strenuous on the Mountains & Lakes route, properly strenuous on High Trails which uses mountain huts above 1,500m. Exodus sits between, with a leader, minibus trailhead transfers and a base in Kranjska Gora.

Late June to mid-September is the window for high routes. Earlier and the snow lingers on the passes; later and afternoon weather closes in. For lakeshore and valley walks, May and October work too — quieter trails, Bled in autumn light. July and August are peak tourist months for Lake Bled itself; the rest of the park stays manageable.