Bled Bus station (way too early for most people/tourists it seems)
After a long day getting to Europe I was up and on the move super early for my day trip to Vintgar Gorge and Lake Bled. I had decided to do this on the 1st day due to the weather, it was looking like the only really nice and sunny day for the week so figured it was the best day. I would have liked to have just done Ljubljana town stuff on that day but you can't change the weather.
I had made my lunch for the day the night before and at 5:22am (yes, really, that early) I was on my way to the bus station. My plan of action was to take the 6am bus to Bled, which would take about 1h 20min then get a bike and cycle to Vintgar Gorge, do that as it opened then afterwards do Pokljuka Gorge then back to Bled and around the lake activities.
Things didn't pan out quite as I had planned. The bikes there didn't have locks which I knew (from email to the company before the trip), by mistake I forgot to take my bike lock with from Ljubljana, that I had taken overseas with me, kinda for this specific bike trip. So the bike option was out, and also Pokljuka Gorge, which wasn't a biggie as it was only an added bonus if I could go there as well. Looking back it would have made the day a bit tighter but then other things would have changed kinda like butterfly effect so, who knows.
Bled Bus station (way too early for most people/tourists it seems)
As I mentioned elsewhere (I think) all the buses in Croatia use cash for payment. I bought a return ticket for €11.80 which you can use it on any bus on the route that day, you are not limited to a specific time, so that made it easier planning wise.
The next plan was then to just kill a little time in Bled and take the 8am free shuttle from the bus station to Vintgar Gorge. Well ... this also didn't happen (shuttle). The shuttle from the bus station only runs in peak/summer season, which their site doesn't say (later at the ticket office I asked to find out why it never came). So I sat waiting for it at 8am, at 8:25am I gave up on that and decided to walk. I didn't have to walk all the way to the gorge as there was a Park & Ride from the one main parking area, so got my ticket when I got there and got to the gorge. Killed 20min or so as my ticket entry time was only at 9:23am
The map shows the locations I'll refer to in this post
Walking to Vingar Gorge (P&R)
Vintgar Gorge Sign
Photo board at entrance
Photo board at entrance zoomed in to not show the board
The Photolandia system had a machine there that you could pay and then it would email the pic to someone directly I think, or maybe it prints it - dunno, wasn't going to do either anyway.
Entry ticket
Vintgar Gorge was very much the same as Rosengarten Gorge in Imst, that I had been up in 2024. So was good to experience another. You walk along pathways and wooden walkways along side the Radovna River. You can only go in 1 direction through the gorge, you can go back and forth a little for photos and the like, but not all the way. In the past it was bi-directional which must've been a pain for (people) traffic flow etc. so that changed.
Triglav National Park
From the Vintgar Gorge web site it is described as :
The Vintgar Gorge is a 1600-meter-long and up to 250-meter-deep canyon located on the eastern edge of the Triglav National Park, 4 kilometers northwest of the center of Bled. It was only 130 years ago that three adventurers first entered the mysterious Vintgar Gorge. The local community of Gorje has been protective of Vintgar from its very beginning. They simply knew it had to be preserved.
After the entry, before you can proceed you are given a compulsory safety helmet which had to be worn at all times.
Me with my fetching safety helmet
There probably isn't much more to say about the gorge itself, I'll put the photos and video next, as they show it in all its glory (well as good as photos can), and then write about the gorge exit and way back after those.
Playing with motion blur
Digitally removed the other people from this pic
The end, took about an hour to go through the gorge
Šum Falls
After going through the Gorge you have 2 options to choose from to get back to the start.
Visual of the trail options back to the start
I took the King of Triglav Trail, this was slightly longer, but more scenic. This was the one that was most recommended from my online reading and also speaking to a staff member at the helmet return area at the end.
St Catherine's Church
Trail
Trail
Bled Castle in the distance
"Bee Hotel"
I got back to the start of the gorge at about 12:15 and caught the shuttle back to the P&R. then reversed the walk I did earlier in the day. Near the end of the walk back I did a bit of a right turn and headed up to Bled Castle and then did the lake bits. That will be in the next post.