Lake Bohinj & A Cable Car ride up to Vogel, A Day trip from Bled – Serene Slovenia, Part 6

This post is a continuation of a series documenting our travels to the beautiful country of Slovenia in the European Spring of 2026. We were now in Bled where we had spent 2 days walking around the lake ( A Walk around Lake Bled in the rain – Serene Slovenia, Part 3 ), walking the unique Vintgar gorge boardwalk ( A sunny morning at the Vintgar Gorge – Serene Slovenia, Part 4 ) and visiting the Castle perched up on the cliffside of Lake Bled ( Bled Castle, St Martin’s Church & Birding around Lake Bled – Serene Slovenia, Part 5 ).

We woke up on our third morning in Bled and opened the curtains of our apartment with our fingers crossed. The weather gods had been kind once again and it was a clear spring morning. It was Labour Day (May 1st) and we have been surprised by dead and deserted towns on this holiday previously in Europe. So I did my due diligence and checked if public transport would be running and if facilities around Lake Bohinj, which we intended to go that day would be open.

Luckily for us, everything in Lake Bohinj was running as normal for the Labour Day weekend. Even buses from Bled to Bohinj were running although on a holiday schedule ( Which is better than not running at all!). That cheered us up and we quickly got ready and went for a pre breakfast walk around Lake Bled as it would have been idiotic to let such a beautiful spring morning be wasted inside an apartment!

We didn’t do the full loop as it would have taken us too long but we made sure we reached the beautiful boardwalk part of the walk. We had previously been to that part only in the pouring rain and this was the perfect opportunity to take some photos in the bright sunshine. I have previously described the walk around the lake ( A Walk around Lake Bled in the rain – Serene Slovenia, Part 3 ) so will just let the photos do the work here.

With the Pletna boats on Lake Bled on a clear Spring Morning

Bled Castle high up on the cliffs overlooks Lake Bled

With the pretty little central island at Lake Bled

The perfect photo spot at Lake Bled with the perfect model

The Bled Castle from another angle

The Closest view of the Centre Island from the far side of the lake

The beautiful boardwalk at the far end of the lake in beautiful sunshine

We finished the boardwalk and turned back and rushed back to the Aparthotel Gaja as we had requested an early breakfast that day. We reached just in time for that amazing breakfast to be brought to our apartment by the ever smiling staff. We enjoyed the most of the breakfast and kept the rest to make sandwiches for dinner.

Enjoying our delicious breakfast at the Aparthotel Gaja

We then enjoyed a few minutes on our beautiful garden patio of the apartment in the pleasant morning sunshine. After enjoying our brief rest we packed our day bag and set off for Bled Union Bus station where we took the bus to Lake Bohinj.

Enjoying the patio garden at the Aparthotel Gaja

Lake Bohinj is the largest natural lake in Slovenia and is located inside the Triglav National Park. It is much larger and much more secluded than the more popular Lake Bled. We were glad we had gotten the perfect day for this day trip. We got the front seats in the bus and the better half had a great time taking videos all the way of the beautiful scenic route from Bled to Bohinj.

A photo from our bus to Bohinj of the route day

We got down at the near end of the 4.5 km long lake and first went to the park opposite the bus station. It had a beautiful background of the Julian Alps and the town church in the background. We enjoyed that beautiful green space for a while before moving to the shore of the lake near the town.

The beautiful park opposite the bus station in Bohinj

Had to take a photo with the “Bohinj” sign

With the Julian Alps and the Church tower in the background at Bohinj

The beautiful park at the near end of the lake at Bohinj

We immediately realised that Bohinj had much more than we could see on a day trip. I had been sceptical about being based in Bohinj because of the remote location but in hindsight it was well connected enough to be based in ( Hindsight is always 20/20! ). Sadly we only had a few hours to spend in Bohinj and so we had to prioritise what we wanted to do in our limited time.

The near end of Crystal clear Lake Bohinj

Clear lake with the typical alpine church spire in the background

Our first selfie with pretty Lake Bohinj

Lake Bohinj is much larger than Lake Bled and even though there is a trail going all around the lake it would have taken up most of our time here, so we decided against doing it. We wanted to go up to the cable car station at Vogel on the far side of the lake. Vogel is a ski resort in the winter but I was sure that it would have some snow left on the slopes high up at this time of the year. We were going to go back to the bus station and take the next bus there, when on a whim we went to the pier at the lake side and checked the time for the electric boats that go from one end of the lake to the other.

We saw that the next boat was just a few minutes later and what was even better was that you could buy combo tickets for the cable car and the boat and save a few Euros. That was a lucky break and we bought our combo tickets and took some more photos of the beautiful lake as we waited for the boat to arrive.

The Pier at the near end of the Lake where the Electric boat stops at Lake Bohinj

The absolutely clear waters of Lake Bohinj always make for great photos

Waiting at the pier for our boat to arrive

The Electric boat that runs from one end of the lake to the other

One last photo of this end of the lake before we board the boat

We boarded the boat and took our seats at the rear of the boat so as to enjoy the view on both sides from the big clear windows of the boat. Electric boats are the only boats allowed to run on lake Bohinj and they run absolutely silently across the clear waters. We enjoyed the 30 minutes of the boat gliding across lake Bohinj with the National Park staff telling us about the Lake and the National Park around. It was a fun and informative way of getting from one end of the lake to the other and much better than a bus ride.

A photo from our boat ride across Lake Bohinj

Photos from the boat ride across Lake Bohinj

We reached the Ukanc boat stop and quickly made our way to the lower cable car station at Vogel. I made the better half stand in the line for the cable car as I exchanged the vouchers for the actual tickets for the cable car. I managed to get through the 2 huge groups that had gathered there by the time I got the tickets, luckily I managed to get to her before the next cable car arrived. Soon we were on our way up in the comparatively huge cable car that holds 80 people on 1 ride. We managed to get space on the downward facing window so as to get a panoramic view of the lake and valley as the cable car made its steep ascent up. That was the perfect decision as we got great photos on the way up.

The Vogel Cable Car starts on its way up from the Ukanc lakeside station

The perfect spot to enjoy the cable car ride up to Vogel in Bohinj

The Lake Bohinj gets further and further smaller as the cable car makes it’s way up

We got upto the metal platform on the upper end of the cable car and alighted from the cable car. We lingered on the metal platform as it had the best view of the lake below. Luckily for us most of the people  went right in except for 1 family and we took turns clicking photos for each other at this beautiful view.

Lake Bohinj and the snow covered peaks around

The Cable Car goes back down to the valley

Getting our photos clicked at the upper Cable Car station at Vogel

We still had to get a selfie with Lake Bohinj below

The beautiful view from the metal platform of Vogel Cable Car station of Lake Bohinj

When we had our fill of the view  we then proceeded to go inside and saw that our guess of having some snow up on the slopes was correct. To people like us living in Mumbai who don’t see snow ever back home, snow covered mountain sides hold a fascination that may be considered strange by people who have to shovel it off their drive way every winter! We had to get to those snowy slopes but our tummies were rumbling and we decided to have lunch at the restaurant Viharnik in the upper cable car station.

Happy to see snowy slopes at Vogel 

Usually the Cable car station restaurant food is more about the view while eating than the quality of the food itself. We ordered a local brewery beer ( Man of the Lake by Lintvern- highly recommended!) for myself and a hot chocolate for the better half. The better half was happy to see a vegetarian burger available for her and I ordered a platter of the local cheeses, minced lard ( sounds odd but delicious!) and cold cuts. We were expecting it to be just ok but were ecstatic though when the food and especially the drinks at the Restaurant Viharnik turned out to be top notch. Now we had good food with a great view & we enjoyed our lunch at great leisure.

Hot Chocolate and ” Man of the Lake” Beer by Lintvern at Vogel

The better half enjoying her favourite hot chocolate

Man of the Lake by Lintvern – The best beer I had in all of Slovenia

My platter of Local Cheese, Cold cuts, Minced Lard – Those small berry like things were tart & amazing

The better half’s huge veggie burger with fries

Enjoying a great meal at the Restaurant Viharnik up in Vogel

After that unexpectedly good lunch I asked the better half if we should go walk the distance to the snow covered slopes knowing well enough what her answer would be – A resounding yes!. We took some photos from outside the restaurant before we made our way up and down the path leading to the snow covered slopes.

A photo from outside the restaurant Viharnik before we make our way to the snow in the background

We trudged our way to the snow being very careful where the snow on the path seemed treacherous. on the way down I didn’t expect loose melty snow & sank one boot into the snow on the path at one point, thankfully I was wearing waterproof hiking shoes and didn’t have to walk around with a wet foot for the rest of the day. That taught us to test the snow tightness before putting our weight on it ( Doesn’t come naturally to us coast dwellers!) We eventually reached the white slopes without incident and clicked away to glory.

Reaching the snow covered slopes at Vogel in Spring

The better half poses at the snow covered slopes with the restaurant Viharnik high above in the background

Using the minitripcd to get a photo of both of us in the snow at Vogel Ski Center

More photos from the snowy slopes at Vogel in April

This is a must have photo for us whenever we are up in the mountains

After having our time in the snow we carefully went back up to the main Cable car station this time knowing which parts had the loose deep snow and avoiding it. We made it up to the station faster than the way down and took some more photos before going to the valley viewpoint.

On our way up from the snow covered slopes at Vogel

We reached the valley viewpoint and were glad that we had lingered at the metal platform on alighting the cable car. Even though the viewpoint had amazing views over the Triglav peak and the mountains around, we couldn’t see lake Bohinj at all from here. We clicked photos of the upper station and the Triglav peak before getting our photos clicked at the photo point placed perfectly framing the Triglav.

The upper Cable Car station at Vogel with the restaurant Viharnik on the right

The great view of the peaks including the Triglav from Vogel Ski Center

At the valley viewpoint in Vogel

Getting photos clicked by kind fellow tourists at the photo point at Vogel Ski Center

With that our time up at Vogel was at an end and we went back into the Cable Car station after taking one last photo outside the Viharnik Restaurant for our memory of the great time there.

One last photo outside the Viharnik Restaurant at Vogel

We then took the cable car down this time standing at the opposite end appreciating how steep the cable car line actually was. We got down to the pier at Ukanc and saw that the next boat back was after 2 hours – we had spent more time than we had expected up in Vogel ( Happily so!) and had missed the boat we had planned to take back to Bohinj comfortably. The bus back to Bled had just left a few minutes ago and the next bus was an hour later.

That gave us the chance to enjoy a coffee and some crepes with Nutella and Cream ( The better half’s favourite) at the Restaurant Camp Bohinj since we hadn’t had dessert up at the restaurant. We enjoyed our coffee and crepes with a beautiful view of the lake.

Restaurant Camp Bohinj near the Ukanc boat stop

Crepes with Nutella and Cream – Simple but delicious

Enjoying our coffee & crepes at the Restaurant Camp Bohinj

We still had some time left for the bus and decided to spend it by the lake and click more photos of this idyllic lake – Much calmer and with a totally different vibe from Lake Bled. That was the last we would be seeing of Lake Bohinj as we would return to the bus stop at Ukanc well in advance and wait there before taking the bus directly back to Bled. Buses were running on Holiday schedule and I didn’t want to risk getting stranded at Bohinj. If we had to do it all over again, we would have spent at least a night at Bohinj but we were glad we had at least gotten at least one glorious sunny spring day there.

Enjoying the beautiful Lake Bohinj at Ukanc

My favourite photo of the better half at Lake Bohinj

One last selfie with Lake Bohinj

We returned to Bled in the evening having spent almost the full day at Lake Bohinj and up at Vogel. We returned to our Apartment at Aparthotel Gaja where we used the supplies bought at the supermarket the previous day and leftovers from breakfast to make ourselves some tasty grilled sandwiches.

We would go to bed early that night which was our last night in Bled. We would be finally taking the Pletna Boats to the Centre island the next morning before checking out and returning to Ljubljana. We hoped that the weather would stay pleasant & sunny the next day to do that.

That however is topic for another post, some other time, some other day,

Till then,

Čau!