Top 10 Nature & Wildlife Areas in Upper Carniola Region, Slovenia

It is a fantastic location for short hike and perfect for photographers. You can enrich the trip by extending it to Rudnica. It takes about fifteen minutes on foot to reach the view point (from Lev's concrete bridge in Stara Fužina), which adds up to an altitude difference of about 200 metres. On the way, we can also enjoy the view of Stara Fužina.

At an altitude of 1611 metres, the mountain pass at Vrsic is the highest in the eastern Julian Alps and provides a natural link between the Savska and the Soska valleys. You may wish to have a relaxing cup of coffee or even stay the night at the Ticarjev mountain hut, which is located at the top of the pass. There are five mountain huts on Vrsic offering you rest and refreshment. Just off the main road winding up Vrsic, at an altitude of around 1200 metres rests the Russian chapel. Whilst ascending Vrsic, you can admire the natural rock-carved face of the lovely maiden Ajdovska deklica and a natural rock-window created in the face of the Prisank mountain.

Straza is a smaller hill most suitable for a relaxing walk and summer or winter sport activities. It is considered to be the most beautiful viewpoint in the area that offers incredible view of the city of Bled, lake Bled, castle and surrounding mountains. In summer you can enjoy in adrenaline-drenched sledding (summer tobogganing), visiting Adventure Park or taking a ride with the tube, tuba jump or free fall simulator. You can take a relaxing walk through meadows and woods on the Rikli Fitness Trail. In winter you can ski on a small, but settled ski slope that is lit for night skiing and offers organized ski school, equipment rental and Sporty's Children Snow Park. Straza ski slope is accessible by car or by foot as it is only a few minutes' walk from the center of Bled. The resort is closed in a heavy rain.

Although the Dovžan gorge is older than the dinosaurs, no dinosaur had ever set foot in it. But they probably swam in it. For the last 300 million years the gorge was covered by tropic sea. Marine animals swarmed in it, this is why the gorge's rocks are full of their fossils. Even fossils that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Today, this is where lies a narrow gorge with steep walls of a multitude of colours. The recently renewed path starts at the parking lot behind the Čadovlje village near Tržič. The village is also home to the Jamenšnik homestead, a unique example of rustic architecture, typical of the Karawanks. And the nearby "paštba", the only renovated brick kiln for flax and fruit, hosts the information point. The path then passes by the information signs between steep walls, over a bridge and through a gallery, by the longest stream with waterfalls in Slovenia and geological column, where rocks, between 300 and 260 million years old, can be seen. The views around the gorge are astonishing. The bravest explorers can tackle a steep path with steel stairs, secured with steel wire ropes, which anyone can take on without feeling dizzy. True climbers, however, can test their abilities in climbing areas on the mysterious Kušpergar's towers, five vertical stone columns - remnants of the prehistoric coral reef. There are as many secrets in the Dovžan gorge, as there are stones on the path. And even though there are countless fossils on every step, the Plesiosaurus has not been found yet. It is buried somewhere deep, waiting for someone to discover it.