Anyone who knows anything about Slovenia will know about Lake Bled. It’s one of the most photogenic places I’ve ever seen and I’m clearly not alone in thinking this because Lake Bled is absolutely all over Instagram. Ljubljana has obviously taken note of the popularity by scheduling hourly buses to Bled, which is in stark contrast to the infrequency of buses going to other tourist destinations. It may even be more often than hourly in the busy season!
All the details: Biking around Lake Bled
Cost: Head towards the Mamut office (with the large Tourist Information sign) and hire mountain bikes for 7€ for the day.
Getting there: Buses leave hourly from Ljubljana to Bled, costing just 11€ for a return trip. Buy your tickets on the day at the bus station in town. The ride takes just over an hour, which is longer than the train, but the bus station is conveniently located right on the lake’s shore.
Top tips: Tie in your visit to Lake Bled with a trip to nearby Vintgar Gorge!
Vintgar Gorge
Our first destination is 3.5km away from the lake, Vintgar Gorge. We don’t have a map, but the area is incredibly well-signed and we easily navigate our way to the gorge following arrows for “Vintgar”. It costs us 3€ each with student cards to enter and explore along the 3kms of walkways following the river. It’s a beautiful spot and we only seen a couple of other visitors during our whole time there, another perk of traveling in November.
Lake Bled
After more than an hour of walking around the gorge, we hop back on our bikes and cruise downhill back to the lake, where we bike about 4km around the perimeter of the lake (on beautifully maintained pedestrian/bike paths, I might add) to reach the opposite side. Immediately after the campsite, we lock up our bikes and hike 10 minutes up the steep hillside to reach the viewpoint at signpost 6, Ojstrica, on a 611m hill. We are completely alone and it feels like the most peaceful place in the world.
After hiking (slipping) back down to our bikes, we pedal the other 3km around the lake back to the start to return our bikes and enjoy a delicious kebab before boarding a bus back to Ljubljana. We had a positively gorgeous day on the lake and were fortunate to enjoy clear skies, although the alps were still mostly covered by clouds. The forecast for the next few days is snow, so that’s to be expected and we are just lucky to have had a dry day to bike around.
Read more about our Slovenia adventures
BIKING AROUND LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
