Slovenia, Lake Bohinj - North side of the lake

The day after having visited the gorges, we decided that we would try if it was possible to walk along the other side of Lake Bohinj. Two days earlier from the road along the south side of the lake, we had seen people hiking on the other side, so thought it should be possible. Because we had no idea how long the hike along the north side was going to take us, we decided to drive to the west end of the lake, and then walk back along the north side to the village. Then we would find a way to pick up the car later.

The road along the south side is quite nice, and for some part there is a well maintained walking path. However, it doesn't follow the actual bank of the lake. We had been driving there several times now with stops to walk around.

We found a suitable parking place and started our walk. It is indeed possible but it is not an easy trail everywhere. There are several places where the trail is interrupted by creeks ending in the lake, often these are places where you have to step or climb from rock to rock to get to the other side. It is doable, but good hiking shoes are a must. We brought our picnic lunch and during our walk we made several stops to admire the view. This turned out to be a good idea, because on the north side there are no restaurants or shops.

Although it was not a warm day (it was only May) the sun was out and it turned out to be a beautiful walk. Lake Bohinj is located at 520 meters above sea level and is the largest lake of Slovenia. It is fed by a river coming straight from the Triglav mountain massif, called Sava Bohinjska. In the middle it is 45 meters deep.

From west to east it measures about 4.5 km. and from north to south about 1 km. However, given the irregular shape of the north bank of the lake, the route that we walked was probably more like 10-12 km. The many places where you have to find your way across the creeks stepping, jumping and crawling the rocks, make that a hiker's average speed will not be that high either. We spent all together some six hours doing this walk, but we made many stops. The views are stunning, and what we found very interesting along this path is the variety of wild flowers, so we took quite a few pictures along the way.

When we finally arrived back in Ribčev Laz we found out that the last bus to the west side (where the waterfall is) had just left, so we had to use a taxi to get there to pick up the car. All together it was a very nice day with our good share of physical exercise, so dinner was well deserved again.