Vintgar Gorge - it Really is that Gorgeous
Although seasoned world travelers may rate Vintgar below some Swiss canyons, the enchanting scenery definitely exceeded my expectations. With the light mist rising above the morning water, I half-expected Galadriel to walk from behind one of the trees. No wonder Vintgar appears on any list of Slovenian attractions.
The gorge is about four kilometers from Bled, and easily reachable by car, taxi or shuttle (or even bike). And even a walk…as we found out. While the Bled shuttle is the cheapest mode of transport (other than bike or on foot), it is best to come before the first shuttle disgorges its loads of visitors, especially in peak season. Therefore, we called the taxi driver we met the day before and booked her for the ride. It’s also safer to buy the cheap but timed entry tickets beforehand, though they may be available on the spot.
The walk through the gorge itself is 1.6km and is one-way along a wooden path that crosses back and forth across the stream. After you exit, you have several paths available back to the entrance — short and steep or slow and easy. But even the easy one only takes about 30 minutes.
This is one of the spots where it really pays to have a DSLR to get the classic smooth rapids shot, which you can’t really do with a fixed aperture phone camera without overexposure 😞
The stunning green and turquoise water (probably due to the high prevalence of limestone in Western Slovenia) is one of the main attractions of the gorge.
Sadly, even though we arrived before the first shuttle, we could not beat the crowds, and so just like in Postojna caves, we walked through the gorge as part of a continuous stream of equally astounded and snap-happy people
About halfway through we encountered the sun, which created some amazing contrasts. The soft, refracted, light was also great for portraits
Naturally, we took the longer, less steep, path back, which brings you out to near St. Katarina church — as well as a playground and refreshment stand!
Since we took a taxi to the gorge to beat the shuttles (and so didn’t have a return shuttle ride ticket), we thought we might just walk home. After all, from the top of the forest hill where the “easy trail” ended, you could essentially see our house. Unfortunately, almost the entire path turned out to be without shade, and on the blistering day on which we found ourselves there, the sun was withering. Those forty minutes on flat land will forever live in infamy. But, we made it, and it gave us the best views yet of pastoral Slovenia
