Hey! We are two (M, 21yo, in good shape) planning a 3 day travel (Thursday-Sunday) to the Julijske Alpe. We would like to avoid renting a car and simply spend the 3 days fully immersed in the mountains – hiking, relaxing, enjoying beautiful scenery while getting amazing exercise.

So far we have sketched out a rough plan to start from Krma Valley and end in Ukanc.

The plan looks like this:

  1. Land at airport early morning, then take a bus to Mojstrana. Then somehow get to Krma (This looks like the farthest a car/bus can go?) and then hike 6 hours to Triglavski dom na Kredarici and sleep the night.
  2. Wake up early, get to the top of Triglav, and then hike as far as we can towards The Seven Lakes Valley and sleep the night in another mountain hut.
  3. This day we visit the Seven Lakes area (I only see 2 lakes on the map??) and then go to the Bohinj Ukanc bus station to catch the 18:40 bus back to Ljubljana.
  4. My friend will likely take an early flight Sunday morning back home (so we should be in Ljubljana the night of day 3) while I will stay for another 2-4 days to visit Ljubljana and Lake Bled.

Some questions we have, if you would be so kind to answer:

  1. Is this a crazy plan? It is lots of hiking, but to us seems doable.
  2. How can we get from Mojstrana-> start of trail in Krma valley (It will be around 12:00 on a Thursday). Do you recommend we hitchhike or take a taxi? If taxi, how much should we budget?
  3. We are thinking about how to get a harness & helmet to summit Triglav on day 2. How can we rent these … without returning them to the same spot? Is it possible to return to a different location… rent near the top, or maybe rent in Ljubljana?
  4. Can we rely on the Arriva bus? We plan to travel from Ukanc -> Ljubljana on the second to last bus of the day (18:40, final bus is 19:40) and would like to book in advance. But this can cause trouble if it is canceled since we might miss the flight the next day.
  5. Also… we are thinking about flying home on Tuesday instead of Sunday… and this way we would have extra time in the mountains and make our hike 4 days instead of 3. Based on our current path, is there anything nearby we can add on to our path to make it 4 days? Or an alternative route you suggest?
  6. If I stay 2-4 days longer, where do you recommend I visit? I will likely be working in the evenings for a few hours so ideally it is not TOO intense. Also nice to go to the sauna/relax after so much hiking haha.
  7. Extra – What weight for backpack do you recommend? Obviously lighter = better… but what is a good range?

Thanks so much, we are very excited to visit your beautiful country!

by Bequathed

3 comments

  1. There could be still a lot of snow in the mountains in may.

  2. May is still considered a winter month in Julian Alps. If you are experienced with crampons and axe, all good, otherwise postpone. Usually Karavanke (Stol, Begunjscica, Vrtaca) are snow free or lower Julian Alps (2000-2200), but again it depends!

  3. > I only see 2 lakes on the map

    There are more, but they are not all right next to each other and they are not very large. Some of them are also not named on Google Maps. On your way from Triglav to Ukanc, you’re likely pass at least these ones: Zeleno jezero, Veliko jezero (Ledvica), Dvojno jezero (meaning double lake, there are two of those) and Črno jezero.

    > Is this a crazy plan? It is lots of hiking, but to us seems doable.

    It is doable as long as you postpone it to avoid snow (preferably to July). But you should expect your legs to get quite sore. If you don’t do this kind of hiking regularly, walking uphill, and especially downhill for that long in alpine terrain will put a great strain on your muscles and joints, even if you are in good shape. It would be good if you could try a day hike with a 1000m elevation difference before you go.

    Also, Alpine trails in Slovenia often include exposed sections without ferrata cables (so you have nowhere to clip in). Those can be a problem for people with fear of heights, so if any of you fear heights, this trail might not be the best choice.

    > or maybe rent in Ljubljana

    Yes, you can rent that in Ljubljana, for example in [Annapurna store](https://annapurna.si/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/29-05-24_Annapurna_Dizajn_Cenik.pdf) or alpine club [Ljubljana-Matica](https://www.pd-ljmatica.si/izposoja-opreme/).

    > Based on our current path, is there anything nearby we can add on to our path to make it 4 days?

    There are lots of mountains close to your route. Kanjavec is one popular destination. You could sleep in the Dolič hut after descending from Triglav. If you feel up to it the next day, you could then go to the next hut via Kanjavec. You could also go via Malo Špičje and Veliko Špičje.

    Never use Google Maps for planing hiking trips, at least in Slovenian Alps. The trails shown on them are completely unreliable, a lot of trails (and other useful information) are missing, the contour lines are imprecise and sometimes even completely wrong. I recommend using [this](https://mapzs.pzs.si/home/trails?lang=en) for planning (and be sure to read the map legend) and [this](https://en.mapy.cz/turisticka?x=14.8809093&y=46.0872079&z=9) for navigation.

Comments are closed.