Today we visit Slovenia. The country almost everyone confuses with Slovakia. Or is it the other way round? Unlike landlocked Slovakia, Slovenia has Europe’s third shortest coastline. This consists of a tiny stretch of coast between Italy and Croatia of around 47 km dubbed as the “Slovene Riviera”.

Joe and I visited Slovenia back in 2013 and getting there was certainly an adventure.

Entering Slovenia at the Nova Gorica border

We were staying in Venice and wanted to cross into Slovenia and explore Lake Bled and Ljubljana. The plan was to take the train from Venice to Slovenia, except there were absolutely no trains going from Italy to Slovenia. This is despite the fact there is clearly a rail line crossing the border, and I’d already crossed the border the other way on a night train back in 2008.

It just turns out that Slovenia and Italy don’t want to be connected by train. What followed was taking a train to the Italian border town of Gorizia and sprinting across the border to the Slovenian town of Nova Goricia. Is this the only land border I’ve ever crossed by foot before, other than perhaps the Vatican City?

It was worth it though, the train journey on the other side of the border was spectacular. The all-but-abandoned Bohinj railway heads north over Europe’s second-largest stone bridge into the mountains. We were practically the only people on the ancient rattling train for the entire journey. For lunch we snacked on Italian cheeses and salami we picked up from a deli before crossing the border. The scenery became increasingly wintery and snowy until we were up in the mountains in deep snow cover. The Bohinj Railway is probably one of the most scenic rail journeys I’ve ever taken.

After an afternoon exploring the snowy Lake Bled, we took the train to Ljubljana, a tiny, but wonderful capital city crowned with a picture perfect castle.

I’d certainly love to return to Slovenia one day.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

One of the most unexpectedly fascinating journeys I’ve taken was travelling by train from Venice to Ljubljana.

Despite being connected by direct rail lines, the only way to travel from Italy to Slovenia by rail is on foot. Our train took us as far as the Italian border town of Gorizia, where we had to walk two miles, cross the border, and finally catch another train at Nova Goricia. We knew the second leg of the journey was going completely different from the first from the moment the ancient graffiti covered train pulled into the station. The empty train creaked and groaned as it hauled itself up into the mountains. This photo was taken moments after clearing a particularly long tunnel, when we were greeted by our first sight of snow on this cold Spring day.

I’m planning to write more about how to travel between Venice and Ljubljana (and also cram in a visit to Lake Bled) in a future post.

Latest posts

Follow me on Instagram