Slovenia Good value for money
Beautiful scenery
Good beginners’ slopes and tuition
Good off-slope diversions and excursions
Limited, easy slopes on the whole
Antiquated lifts
Boring food
Slovenia offers good value for money ‘on the sunny side of the Alps’. A handful of UK tour operators run packages to some of the better-known resorts. An alternative would be to arrange an independent trip to the mountains combined with a break in the vibrant city of Ljubljana.
Kranjska Gora and Bohinj are the best-known resorts, popular with the economy-minded British and Dutch, and with visitors from neighbouring Italy and Austria, giving a cosmopolitan feel to the resorts.
Slovenia was the first state to break away from Yugoslavia and has managed to escape the turmoil which engulfed the Balkans. The economy is improving steadily, and there is a positive feel to the resorts along with a warm and hospitable welcome.
Slovenia is a small country bordering Italy to the west and Austria to the north. The main resorts are within two and a half hours by bus of the capital, Ljubljana.
The ski areas are generally small with fairly antiquated lifts, but few queues. The mountain restaurants are mainly unappealing, while the ski schools are of a high standard and cheap, with good English encountered by our reporter. Hotel star ratings tend to be a trifle generous, but high standards of service and hygiene are observed. Snow reliability is not particularly good, but some resorts have artificial cover.
Kranjska Gora (810m), a few kilometres from the Austrian and Italian borders, is the best-known resort on the British market. The pretty village is dominated by the majestic Julian Alps. The Lek, Kompass and Larix hotels with pools are the best placed for slope-side convenience.
There are 30km of mainly intermediate slopes, rising up to 1625m. The only challenging slopes are a couple of short, demanding runs in the Podkiron area and the World Cup slalom run. There’s a weekly trip to Arnoldstein in Austria for those wanting a change of resort. Snow reliability is not good, despite artificial backup and a northerly exposure. The lift system is rather antiquated (three-quarters of the 20 lifts are T-bars), but at least queues are rare. Mountain restaurants are poor and most people choose to lunch in the village. There are 40km of cross-country trails. There is a good selection of bars and discos for Austrian-style apres-ski Brincelj, No.1 and Prisank’s are recommended.
Bled, with its beautiful lake and reasonably lively nightlife (the Kilkenny Pub and Dioneiz are recommended), is an ideal base for visiting the surrounding resorts three small local areas of mainly undemanding slopes. The Grand Hotel Toplice and the Planiza are the best hotels.
Vogel (570m), 40 minutes’ bus ride from Bled, in the beautiful Bohinj basin, has the best slopes and conditions in the area there are 36km of slopes, with a collection of small hotels and restaurants at the base. Pistes of varying standards run from the high point at 1800m back into a central bowl with a small beginners’ area. The school is good and the Wild Boar is the best mountain restaurant.
Kanin (2200m), near the village of Bovec, 17km from the Italian border, offers the country’s only high Alpine skiing 14km of pistes between 1600m and 2300m.
The second city of Maribor (325m), in the north-east, is 6km from its local slopes the biggest resort in the country, with 40km of mainly advanced and intermediate runs. Accommodation is cheap and there are several atmospheric old inns serving good, Hungarian-influenced food.
Posted in Slovenia Ski Resort
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