Cycling in Slovenia, Europe’s most sustainable country

This post is also available in: Português

We will begin this post with a confession: Until a year ago, we didn’t know where Slovenia was on the map, let alone anything related to cycling in Slovenia.

*You may also like to read:

How we heard of Slovenia

Our relationship with the country started in March 2017, when we attended ITB Berlin (International Travel Bureau), the largest tourism event in the world. The fair was incredibly big, with many floors, different stalls with many topics and countries, regional products, artistic shows and everything which was related to culture and/or tourism in general. The ITB is practically a tour around the world, but without leaving the German capital.

In the midst of such an event, one destination stood out: Slovenia. This one, which is one of the most recent European republics (it gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1997), was the main sponsor of ITB 2017 and, for this reason, the Wi-Fi password was “ifeelslovenia”. In addition, all the souvenirs carried their name and logo, the speeches mentioned the country and so forth. In short, everything reminded us (better still, introduced us) to Slovenia.

It was also in this event where we found out Slovenia was awarded the Europe’s most sustainable country and that they promote adventure tourism extensively, particularly the cycle tourism. We found all of that really interesting, though our real focus at that time was somewhere else, the African countries, thus having no plans of visiting them.

I Feel Slovenia

Months after, when we were already living in Parma, Italy, we decided to organise an audacious adventure: a long distance bike trip. We wanted to do a month of travel and had numerous possibilities of routes. That’s when we remembered Slovenia, the little country we had met during the Berlin event and was just about 600 km away from Parma.

Before going, we got in touch with the Slovenian Ministry of Tourism, aka I Feel Slovenia. We told them about our plan and they put us in contact with the Hiking and Biking Slovenia, an association which promotes cycle tourism in the country. They were extremely respectful and dutiful, drawing a whole itinerary for us based on the sort of bikes we had as well as our interests.

Our itinerary in Slovenia

Day 1: Arrive in Koper (we crossed the border with Italy from Trieste)
Day 2: Go to Skocjan Cave (35KM)
Day 3: Go to Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle (30KM)
Day 4: Transfer to Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia (180KM). As it was a quite long distance, the Hiking and Biking offered us a transfer.
Day 5: Maribor
Day 6: Maribor
Day 7: Go to Ptuj (26KM)
Day 8: Transfer to Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital (130KM). Once again, the Hiking and Biking arranged a transfer for us.
Day 9: Ljubljana
Day 10: Ljubljana
Day 11: Go to Kranj (30KM)
Day 12: Go to Bled (26KM)
Day 13: Go to Bohinj (30KM)
Day 14: Bohinj
Day 15: Go to Kobarid
Day 16: Kobarid
Day 17: Kobarid
Day 18: Go to Brda (50KM)
Day 19: Brda
Day 20: Brda
Day 21: Go back to Italy going through Palmanova (26KM), from where we took our train back to Parma!

Slovenia infrastructure for cyclotourism

We entered Slovenia after two weeks cycling through Italy. Up to there, our experience was being amazing, as Italy has a great infrastructure for cyclists, such as many cycle routes, all very well signalled and well educated drivers towards cyclists. However, Slovenia surprised us so much that it made Italy looked like they were not prepared for this type of activity.

*Don’t miss the videos from this bike trip from Italy to Slovenia. Watch it below and subscribe to our Youtube Channel:

Why do we say that?

Not only well signalled and cycle routes scattered around the country, but almost every car in Slovenia gave priority to bicycles. Much more than in Italy. We felt really secure cycling through even the motorways, amongst cars.

Nevertheless, it is important to say that we wouldn’t have been able to follow the route if wasn’t for an offline map app we had. We used the maps.me app and it really saved us every now and again – fair to say not the first time though. That means, not all the ways are well signpost. Therefore, if you are doing a long distance bike travel around Slovenia, keep paying attention and if not sure about the way, ask the locals. The Slovenians are really kind and everyone seemed to know all the routes suitable for bikes.

Nature in Slovenia

More than half Slovenia is covered by forest and its nature is breathtaking. A bike trip is normally slower, thus allowing you to observe and absorb more of the environment around you, let alone exploring places out of the route too. We went into every corner we could with the bikes and discovered wonderful hidden places!

Is is easy to travel by bike in Slovenia?

The negative side of cycle tourism in Slovenia, at least for newbies such as we are, is that the country is very hilly and the way, most of the times, can be hectic. Slovenia has so many “ups and downs” that in the end, we were not enjoying any downhill anymore as the first thought was always “dawn, it’s coming an uphill”!

The way and the views were incredible though, and it really made up for all the efforts. But there were moments in which Fe thought she wouldn’t make as the way was quite exhausting.

Slovenian hospitality

Another highlight of a bike trip is that it allows you to interact with locals. Many people saw us coming with our bikes full of stuff and out of curiosity came to talk to us, asking where we were going or coming from. It always ended up with a nice conversation.

We found the Slovenians really friendly and hospitable. During our trip through the country, we met many people and were given many things, such as fruits from a lady when we had a break in one of the villages; a couple of coffee from the coffee shop owner; a family invited us to put our tent in their garden and even a hotel didn’t allow us to pay for our one night staying one time. The gestures of affection from the Slovenians were such that we left completely holding high regard of them and the local hospitality.

Do you have to be an expert to make a long distance bike trip through Slovenia?

Very short answer: Nope! As we said, it was the first time for Fe in a travel of this kind. In addition, our bikes were not professional, were heavily loaded and we still managed to make the whole itinerary.

We travelled on our own pace, not going on a rush. But we were also testing our limits whenever possible, obviously always respecting our limitations too. It was a formidable experience and we liked so much that we are already planning our next for next year! The cycle tourism is a beautiful, enjoyable and fun way to know more about your destination. We should definitely talk more about it.

How about you? Have you ever thought of making a long distance bike trip? Better still, have you ever done one? Share your story with us in the comments below. We would love to hear it.