PRIRODNE ZNAMENITOSTI
The high summits of the Julian Alps, the Karavanken chain and the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, open up amazing panoramas of the surrounding territory. On walks through blooming meadows, alpine pastures and forests, magnificent sights and features you could hardly experience elsewhere will be within easy reach.
Protected natural heritage
Boasting a number of peculiarities, the Triglav National Park is the largest and the earliest protected natural heritage site in the country. Pokljuka, for example, is the southernmost highland marsh (moor) in Europe and a natural habitat of sphagnum moss. With its forest reserve and special botanical features, the Udin Boršt reserve and memorial park near Kranj is also worth a visit. The Zelenci nature reserve near Kranjska Gora encompasses the springs and the small emerald lakes which provide the Sava Dolinka with its source. Nearby there is also Mala Pišenica, a protected forest reserve with karstic caves and abysses. Not far from Bled and Bohinj is the cave below Babji Zob, while Lubnik Cave and Mary’s Abyss, composed of several chasms and a depth of 275 metres, are both to be found above Škofja Loka.
Lakes
Lake Bled with its island, Bohinj the country’s
largest lake, and the famous
Seven Lakes Valley in the Triglav National Park, are the best known of Slovenia's alpine waters. Discover too the
Črnava Lake in
Preddvor,
Planšarsko Jezero at
Jezersko,
Trboje Lake between Kranj and Medvode, together with numerous other aqueous mirrors reflecting the images of mountains.
Waterfalls and rivers
The Savica Waterfall near Bohinj is the country’s most visited, and has inspired a great many poems; the upper and lower Peričnik waterfalls in the Vrata Valley, the three-stage Martuljek Waterfalls not far from Kranjska Gora, the powerful Šum Waterfall at the Vintgar Gorge near Bled, are just some of the gems of this region. Discover picturesque springs and wild torrential ravines such as Ukanška Suha and Mostnica near Bohinj, together with the attractive gorge of the Grmečica stream and its waterfall; Radovna in Gorje, Stegovnik in Tržič, Javornik near Jesenice, the Čedca Waterfall above Jezersko, which is one of the highest waterfalls in Slovenia, and indeed many others. The Kokra stream, which has carved a near 30-metre deep canyon in the very centre of Kranj, is also undoubtedly worth seeing.
Ravines and gorges
The mysterious Vintgar Gorge near Bled has been accessible by wooden bridges and walkways since 1893; there is also the Pokljuka Gorge with its natural bridges, pools and rapids, as well as the Dovžan Gorge with its Palaeozoic fossils that excite the imagination and invite one into its shade on hot summer days.
Flora and fauna
Nearly half of the Gorenjska region falls within biodiversity conservation sites in the context of Europe’s Natura 2000 network. Such areas are habitats of endemic plants, many named after renowned botanists from these territories; they are also the home of chamois and ibex, while if you are lucky you might hear the capercaillie or observe more than one-hundred species of birds. Wandering through nature you might come across one of the most famous protected alpine plants – edelweiss. Enjoy it but please don’t pick it!
