Welcome to SP!  -   
 
 MbPost.com -- It's SP for Mountain Biking!
Areas & Ranges·Mountains & Rocks·Routes·Images·Articles·Trip Reports·Gear·Other·People·Plans & Partners·What's New·Forum

Vintgar Gorge
Canyon
Contribute 
 
Children 
Geography
Parents 
Canyons
 
Vintgar Gorge Featured on the Front Page

Page Type: Canyon

Location: Julian Alps, Slovenia, Europe

Lat/Lon: 46.39360°N / 14.08533°E

Activities: Hiking, Canyoneering

Season: Spring, Summer, Fall

 

Page By: Lodewijk

Created/Edited: Jan 18, 2008 / Jan 18, 2008

Object ID: 373714

Hits: 3056 

Page Score: 90.6% - 37 Votes 

Vote: Log in to vote

 

Overview

 
Vintgar in all it's glory... ( by Wuedesau)


It is hard to explain the beauty of Vintgar in words, I would recommend to everyone to just go there and enjoy the views, the sounds of the river carving it's way through and the birds and other animals....Well, just enjoy all of natures beauty that Vintgar has to offer!!

The Radovna River has carved it's way through the rocks over the last millions of years and created a wonderful gorge which makes up for a great day-hike. Because of the Radovna river, which is surrounded by steep walls, the gorge seems inaccessible. But a great amount of bridges and paths have been created to walk through this amazing gorge.

The result is fabulous. You walk over wooden bridges which cross the Radovna river multiple times and you walk along the steep cliffs carved out by the river.

The Radovna River is filled with fish which you can spot beautifully because of the amazing clean water. You can look right through.
Finally all this together will give you a great day! Vintgar has all of nature's best features and is a must see when visiting Slovenia. In my point of view, it definetely is one of the best spots to be found here!

History

 
Beautiful coloured water
 
Radovna Waterfall

The Radovna River cuts a deep gorge between the hills of Hom and Borst. The gorge created is called Vintgar.
It was discovered in 1891 by Jakob Žumer, the Major of Gorje and Benedikt Lergetporer, a cartographer and photographer from Bled.(nearby village)

The discovery took place by accident somewhere in summer when the water level of the Radovna river was very low. The two men started their exploration in Spodnje Gorje and headed towards Blejska Dobrava. They made it through the ravine (which was thought to be impassable) with great difficulty and discovered the natural beauty of vintgar.

They thought it was so beautiful that they decided to establish a construction committee. The gorge was arranged for visits, mainly for visitors to Bled. A 1700 meters long trail was opened to the public on 26th August 1893 and is still used to this day.

Getting to Vintgar

 
Map of Bled and Vintgar Gorge
 
Wooden Bridges, Radovna River and steep Cliffs

Vintgar is located near the village of Bled, at the map you can see that Vintgar is situated just north of Bled and therefore is easy accessible from Bled. From the village of Bled just follow the road signs with 'Vintgar' and you will be there in no time!

Note: the roads are quite small!!

You can also take this route by foot--> Nice walk!!
Here is the starting point, Podham, to access Vintgar.
At the end of the trail, Zasip, it is best to take a taxi back to Bled or walk along the beautiful small roads back to Bled.

Bled is loaced along the highway between the capital Ljubljana and Austria and therefore easy to find (see the Map)

The trail


 
Stol/Hochstuhl can be seen from Vintgar
 
Inside Vintgar: Radovna river

 
View from Zasip
 
St Catherine's Church


The trail starts at Podham where you can pay the entrance fee of 2/3 euro's. There is only one trail leading trough the gorge and it cannot be missed!

The first part of the trail leads trough amazing cliffs and a pretty wild Radovna river with multiple waterfalls to come across.
In the second part the river gets more quiet and at the end the gorge gets wider. At the end a beautiful Dam is visible.

From here you will leave the gorge and the trail leads to the small village of Zasip. Here is a little restaurant where you can drink a nice cold beer or eat pizza and other food. (Very good and very,very cheap!)

While relaxing from the hike through the gorge you can enjoy the great views into the valleys and the view towards St Catherine's Church.


Practical Information

 
Waterfall
 
Radovna Scenery...


-The costs for Vintgar are somewhere between 2 and 3 euro's.

-Vintgar is closed during winter

-The trail is about 1700 meters long (about 1 mile)

-Easy hike! Accessible for almost everyone

-Almost no elevation difference




Camping

 
Sava River along camping Sobec
 
Lake Bled

There are two very nice campings in/near Bled:

The first is camping Bled

The is a vary famous camping. You have to sererve a place otherwise you can be quite certain it is full! Situated along Lake Bled!

The second is Camping Sobec

This camping is less popular but really beautiful as well! It is situated just outside Bled along the Sava river (great swimming!)

Weather

To access the local weather: Click!

Images

[ View Gallery - 26 More Images ]



"Efficiency is intelligent laziness."

© 2006 SummitPost.org. All Rights Reserved.