A sunny morning at the Vintgar Gorge – Serene Slovenia, Part 4

This post is the continuation of a series documenting our travels to the beautiful country of Slovenia in the European spring of 2026. We were now in Bled after a couple of days in the capital city of Ljubljana (A Morning Walk Through Ljubljana City Centre – Serene Slovenia, Part 1 ) and had spent our first day in Bled (which was a rainy one!) doing a walk around the beautiful lake without any crowds around ( A Walk around Lake Bled in the rain – Serene Slovenia, Part 3 ).

We had tickets booked for the Vintgar Gorge a 1.6 km gorge carved by the Radonova river and located around 4km from Bled on our second day in Bled, as the weather was predicted to be good then (https://www.vintgar.si/ is the official website – booking in advance is advisable as there is limited entry slots per hour) . I woke up with fingers crossed, hoping that the weather predictions were accurate for once. There were indeed clear skies overhead and that put me in the mood for an early morning walk around the lake. I let the better half sleep some more time as I put on my 300 mm lens on the camera and went on a walk around the lake photographing the birds around. That would become a regular thing for me on my 3 days in Bled and I will post all the photos I managed to click on those walks in a later post. (Hopefully soon!).

I returned to find the better half up and ready in time for breakfast. At the Aparthotel Gaja they take your food preferences during check in and then get the breakfast to your apartment itself at your preferred time. We had asked for the breakfast at the earliest possible time as I had booked timed entry to the Vintgar Gorge which included a bus ride from the Bled main bus station. I didn’t want to miss the bus as I had heard that the timed entry to the gorge was very strictly enforced.

The Aparthotel staff was perfectly on time and got our huge breakfast spread including vegetarian grilled cheese sandwiches and boiled eggs that we had requested for the better half. We got so much food for breakfast that we kept what we couldn’t eat in our apartment refrigerator (I made sure by asking if that was ok before we did that!) as a part of our dinner.

Enjoying our huge breakfast spread at our Apartment in the Aparthotel Gaja

With our tummies filled to the brim we took our small day bag of essentials including a bottle of water , some whole fruits & rain gear (I’m paranoid about the weather!) and set off for the Bled Main Bus station to catch our bus to the main parking lot of the Vintgar Gorge. From there you have to take their special electric bus that takes you right till the entrance of the boardwalk.

As is our habit we had left well in advance of the bus time which gave us plenty of time to take some photos at the lake before the day tripping hordes arrived. With the blue skies overhead Lake Bled had a totally different vibe from the gull grey skies we had experienced the previous day.

The colours at Lake Bled pop with the sunny weather

A Bronze 3D map of the lake filled by the rain water from the previous day

We were taking selfies at the “Heart” photo point by supporting our phone on a bench when a kindly jogger stopped and offered to take our photos, obviously we said yes!

Taking selfies at the Photo point

A kind jogger helps us out by taking much better photos

We reached the Bus Station where a Vintgar Gorge representative told us to wait for a Red Bus after checking our online tickets. Soon the bus arrived and we climbed aboard along with the other people visiting the gorge. There we changed to the smaller electric bus which took us to the entry gate of the Vintgar Gorge.

There we found out that the timed entry was so strictly enforced that they wouldn’t let us in early too! Entry was only possible at 10 minutes prior to the time of entry we had booked for. We were there 40 minutes early so that gave us time to kill. Luckily for me I spotted a White Throated Dipper, a small bird that lives near swiftly running rivers & streams on the rocks near the entry gates. As usual I had carried my 300mm lens just for such eventualities & I enjoyed my time observing and taking photos of this excellent swimmer of a bird.

The strict entry gates which only allow you to enter 10 minutes before your allotted entry time

Waiting for our time to enter by the river

A White Throated Dipper on the banks of the Radovna

Soon it was time for us to enter the boardwalk and we scanned our tickets and collected our helmets ( which are supposed to protect us from falling rocks if any when we are on the boardwalk) and entered the Vintgar Gorge. The Vintgar Gorge is a natural gorge cut by the Radovna river in the soft limestone of the region. A series of boardwalks and cliffhugging trails have been built and maintained here since 1893 after this part was explored by Jakob Žumer and is named the Žumer Galleries in his honour.

Safety helmets on at the Vintgar Gorge boardwalk

The boardwalk is a one way path so that the pedestrian traffic is going only one direction on the narrow trails and boardwalks. We entered and even though there was a steady stream of people through the turnstiles, the sound of flowing river amidst the densely forested slopes of the Vintgar gorge was uniquely calming environment.

The calming effect of the Vintgar Gorge puts a smile on our faces

The Radovna flows through noisily through the Vintgar gorge

The Radovna flows on carving its way through the Vintgar Gorge

The trails gave way to literal gorge hugging boardwalks which occasionally crossed over the river to the other side. I wondered what the fuss was about when I had read that the Vintgar Gorge was a big tourist attraction in Bled, I understood why that was now that I was there!

Boardwalks literally attached to the sides of the gorge

The Boardwalk crosses over the river at some places to the opposite wall of the gorge

The steady mix of boardwalk and trail continued as we walked at a snail’s pace taking in the beautiful scenery all around. The boardwalk then continued to a part of the gorge where the river had carved the deepest leading to a series of small waterfalls and pools. Of course there were the White Throated dippers showing their skills at these most rapid of spots and we found a couple of other birdwatchers to enjoy watching them display their impeccable swimming skills in the pools under the waterfalls. I was too scared to try changing lenses on the narrow boardwalks so I just enjoyed watching those elegant birds go about catching their lunch.

The trail reaches a part of the river which had the most number of small waterfalls

The Radovna gushes down the steepest part of the gorge

Watching the dippers swim with a smile on my face

Waterfalls of all sizes in series at the middle part of the Vintgar Gorge boardwalk

Us at the prettiest part of the Vintgar Gorge boardwalk

A waterfall in the middle part of the trail in the Vintgar Gorge

Even though the boardwalk may seem precarious in the photos I can assure you that it was impeccably maintained with not a rotten or loose section in sight. We never felt unsafe on the entirety of our walk through the gorge. In fact the better half felt so safe that she insisted on removing her safety helmet for photos only to be glowered at by yours truly!

Another river crossing at the Vintgar Gorge boardwalk

Taking a photo of the better half on the boardwalk over the river

The final third of the trail was where the gorge was the steepest and the river the most tranquil. The walls of the gorge went almost vertically on both sides so high that the sunshine didn’t reach the river. We were impressed with both the natural beauty and how well built and maintained this trail was. We clicked photos and got our photos clicked by fellow tourists at every possible opportunity knowing that our time at this natural wonder and engineering marvel was coming to an end.

The last part of the trail with near vertical walls and slowly flowing river

Getting our photos clicked more frequently as we realised the trail was coming to an end

The 1.6 km trail ends with the river and the Gorge both at its widest. We passed this section relatively quickly only to slow down at a waterfall near the exit  which has a stone arched railway bridge overhead which is the largest of such bridges still existing in Slovenia.

The last part of the trail and the boardwalk with the Gorge at its widest

The waterfall near the exit with the largest stone arched railway bridge in Slovenia overhead

With the waterfall and the stone bridge overhead

A beautiful end of the trail through the Vintgar Gorge

We then gave back our safety helmets and exited the one way turnstiles and said goodbye to the Vintgar Gorge. There was still one more thing to see there – The Šum Falls which literally means Noisy Falls. This 43 foot water fall where the river exited the Vintgar Gorge was the largest in Slovenia. Having seen much larger & more impressive waterfalls back home this didn’t seem very impressive. But we were right there & leaving without going down the short trail to see them would be criminal. So we went down the trail & saw the falls and clicked a few photos before we continued on our way back to the parking lot via the picturesque green route.

At the Šum Falls – the largest (really!) waterfall in Slovenia

The Julian Alps in the background as we exit the Vintgar Gorge trail

The green path first goes steeply up a forested hill and exited on top of a hill which had a small church dedicated to St Katarina and with sweeping views over the valley below. We visited the small church and did our usual church routine before finding a seat on one of the benches overlooking the valley and eat the fruits that we had packed.

The first part of the Green trail up a forested hill

St Katarina Church at the top of the hill

Visiting St Katarina and doing our church routine

Clicking a few photos with the Julian Alps in the background

Fellow tourists enjoying the valley view near St Katarina

Enjoying a post trail walk fruit with a view

The view from our bench near St Katarina

We then started on our way back to the bus station and promptly took the wrong turn at some point. After half an hour of walking we realised we were headed in the wrong direction! So we checked Google maps and realised that we had just added 3.5 km to our walk back to the bus station. At least it was a beautiful day to walk and the surroundings were pretty so we did the needful and walked the extra 3.5 km back to the parking lot.

Some photos on our unintentional detour back to the parking lot from St Katarina

We took the next Red bus back to Bled bus station and reached at our usual lunch time. The extra detour had stimulated our appetites and I asked the better half if she wanted to go to Mega Burger again since it was right there close to the bus station. She readily agreed and we went to Mega Burger again for lunch, this time sitting at the outdoor section making use of the beautiful weather. The burgers were predictably good ( We have a tendency to repeat restaurant once both of us find it good!) and we were hungry. So we devoured our huge burgers in no time!

Enjoying our second meal at Mega Burger, Bled

I asked the better half if she was too tired for a walk up to the Castle at Bled. I knew she would be up for it and that was where we would be headed next. We had enjoyed our time at the Vintgar Gorge to the fullest and were glad that the weather gods had smiled on us and given us such a beautiful sunny day for our visit there.

Whether the Bled Castle was worth the time and the effort of hiking up is the topic for another post, some other time, some other day!

Till then,

Čau!