🇸🇮 Vipava Valley

Two roads lead from Sanabor (a hamlet on the western slopes of Nanos plateau) to Abram (one of the few still-active homesteads): a pleasantly cool gravel road along the Bela stream and a sunny asphalt road going straight from Sanabor to Abram.

If you’ve explored all the footpaths to the Čaven mountain hut, it’s time to bike there. We’ll start in Predmeja; if you’re looking for a much longer ride, choose Lokavec as your starting point.

Čaven is a Karst plateau (as well as one of the peaks in that plateau) high above Vipava valley north-west of Ajdovščina.

Its steep slopes presented a formidable challenge to local farmers, who created a web of footpaths, dirt trails, and narrow dirt roads to reach high-lying meadows and forests. You can walk along those paths to get to Koča na Čavnu (Čaven mountain hut) from Predmeja, Vrtovin, Stomaž, Kamnje, or Lokavec.

Farmers from Kamnje, a tiny village high above Vipava valley, had to walk two hours to reach the meadows where they were preparing hay for the winter.

The local mountaineering team decided to preserve that tradition and created a theme path leading from Kamnje to Mala Gora.

The edge of Gora (plateau high above Vipava Valley) is full of fantastic vista points. A few of them are reachable with a road bike; we’ll visit the westernmost one and explore an ancient dirt trail laid out by Josef Ressel on the way back of the ship propeller fame.

Kovk is a scenic hilltop at the edge of the Gora plateau high above Vipava valley with fantastic vistas of the valley, Trnovski Gozd, Julian Alps, and the Italian Dolomites.

Getting from Col (a village along an old Roman road) to Kovk (a scenic hilltop high above Vipava valley) is a comfortable hour-long hike with a few steeper sections – ideal for an afternoon family stroll.

The steep footpath to Kovk from the hunting hut in Budanje is an excellent choice for the days when you’re looking for a quick strenuous hike with a fantastic view.

Mala Lazna is a lovely clearing deep in the Trnovo Forest. A chance geological accident resulted in an unusual soil composition welcoming plants you would not find anywhere else in western Slovenia. You can reach Mala Lazna via an asphalt road from Predmeja to Lokve, making it a perfect destination for a short road biking trip.

I love spending sunny autumn and winter days in the rocks above Vipava; the crags around Gradiška Tura were one of my first sports climbing adventures. Years later, I started tasting the long trad climbing routes, resulting in a discovery of a recently-created masterpiece: an almost-vertical slab with fantastic compact rock and almost a dozen bolted multi-pitch routes.

The hike across sunny Nanos meadows from Abram (a 500-year old farm situated 800m above the Vipava valley) is my favorite way to reach Pleša, the most prominent Nanos peak.

We love taking the hike in May and June, enjoying the wildflowers, or doing it in late autumn or early spring when the soil is still frozen.

Orlovca (Eagle Rock) is a large overhanging cliff at the edge of Gora plateau high above Vipava Valley. It’s one of the highlights of the Angel Mountain Trail (Pot po Angelski Gori); we’ll use a tiny bit of that trail to get there.

Otliško okno (Otlica Window) is a large natural window at the edge of the Gora plateau high above Vipava valley. It’s just a short walk from Otlica, a village on Gora, but it’s more fun to hike there from the valley.

Plaz is a scenic viewpoint above Vipava. Pleasant footpaths lead to it from Vipava and Gradišče, making it a perfect destination of an afternoon family hike.

As you’re traveling on the highway from Postojna toward Vipava, you might notice a tiny church high on the slopes of Nanos plateau (look right just before the gas station) – the Saint Nicholas church, a perfect destination for a short family hike.

High above Vipava Valley, on a limestone terrace jutting out of the slopes of Čaven ridge, is a tiny church dedicated to Saint Paul – a fantastic hiking destination on dry autumn or spring days.

Škavnica is a giant limestone slab in the middle of a pine forest on the west slopes of Nanos plateau. I usually hike there to admire its limestone pavement crisscrossed with deep fissures; the view of Vipava valley, Adriatic sea, and the Italian Alps is just the icing on the cake.

Smrečje is a giant hollow and a cold-air pool in Trnovo Forest – even though it’s barely above 1000m, the local information tables claim you could get below-freezing temperatures in July – making it a perfect summer destination when you’re tired of heat waves and summer crowds.

The steep hike from Budanje to Sončnica (a prominent overhanging rocky outcrop at the edge of the Gora plateau) is an ideal opportunity to burn the few extra fat cells you were so carefully nurturing during the winter months.

Two asphalt roads lead to Nanos, a mountainous plateau high above Vipava valley. While I like biking on the northwestern road in summer, the one on the sunny southern slopes of Nanos is an ideal choice for spring and autumn days.

When it’s too cold to climb in Vipavska Bela, try the sunny southwest-facing crags above Vipava. Regardless of whether you’re a total beginner or a slab master, you’ll find tons of well-protected climbs to enjoy.

Stara Baba is a fluvial terrace with a nice view of nearby Ajdovščina. It must be a popular destination for afternoon strolls as it’s crisscrossed with unmarked footpaths – an ideal easy hike if your kids love exploring the countryside or if dad needs to show off his latest GPS gadget.

Veliki Rob is one of the most prominent peaks on the edge of the Čaven plateau. Most hikers focus on nearby Kucelj, making it an exciting destination a bit off the beaten track. Marked paths to Veliki Rob are pretty circuitous if you want to start in Vipava valley, so we’ll take an extra-steep unmarked approach.

Every self-respecting European city has a castle (or, at the very least, the castle ruins) on a nearby hill, and Vipava is no exception. Ascending to Vipava’s Old Castle is a lovely family hike worth combining with phenomenal ice cream at Bar Marjanca.

Vipavska Bela is my favorite climbing spot. Compact rock, short and sweet climbs, lovely family-friendly surroundings, no-hassle parking, a two-minute walk to reach the crag… what else should one hope for?

I’ve been watching the tiny church of Sv. Socerb (Saint Servulus) high above Vipava Valley for over a decade as I was climbing in Gradiška Tura. I’ve heard of a dirt track leading from it back to the valley years ago, but it took me a long while to go and find it. You might want to do it sooner than that and enjoy the spectacular views of the Vipava Valley and Nanos on the way.