Overview
Vintgar Gorge (by Wuedesau)
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Beautiful Vintgar
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It is hard to explain
the beauty of Vintgar in words, I would recommend to everyone to
just go there and enjoy the views, the sounds of the river carving it's way through and the birds and other animals....Well, just enjoy all of natures beauty that Vintgar has to offer!!
The
Radovna River has carved it's way through the rocks over the last millions of years and created a wonderful gorge which makes up for a great day-hike. Because of the Radovna river, which is surrounded by steep walls, the gorge seems inaccessible. But a great amount of bridges and paths have been created to walk through this
amazing gorge.
The result is fabulous. You walk over wooden bridges which cross the Radovna river multiple times and you walk along the
steep cliffs carved out by the river.
The Radovna River is
filled with fish which you can spot beautifully because of the
amazing clean water. You can look right through.
Finally all this together will give you a great day! Vintgar has all of nature's best features and is a
must see when visiting Slovenia. In my point of view, it definetely is one of the best spots to be found here!
History
Vintgar (by Cookin)
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Beautiful coloured water
Radovna Waterfall
The Radovna River cuts a deep gorge between the
hills of Hom and Borst. The gorge created is called Vintgar.
It was discovered in 1891 by
Jakob Žumer, the Major of Gorje and Benedikt Lergetporer, a cartographer and photographer from Bled.(nearby village)
The discovery took place by accident somewhere in summer when the water level of the Radovna river was very low. The two men started their exploration in Spodnje Gorje and headed towards Blejska Dobrava. They made it through the ravine (which was thought to be impassable) with great difficulty and discovered the
natural beauty of vintgar.
They thought it was so beautiful that they decided to establish a construction committee. The gorge was arranged for visits, mainly for visitors to Bled. A
1700 meters long trail was opened to the public on 26th August 1893 and is still used to this day.
Getting to Vintgar
Map of Bled and Vintgar Gorge
Wooden Bridges, Radovna River and steep Cliffs
Vintgar is located near the
village of Bled, at the map you can see that Vintgar is situated just north of Bled and therefore is easy accessible from Bled. From the village of Bled just follow the road signs with 'Vintgar' and you will be there in no time!
Note: the roads are quite small!!
You can also take this route by foot--> Nice walk!!
Here is the starting point,
Podham, to access Vintgar.
At the end of the trail,
Zasip, it is best to take a taxi back to Bled or walk along the beautiful small roads back to Bled.
Bled is located along the highway between the capital
Ljubljana and Austria and therefore easy to find (see the Map)
The trail
Hills....
Stol/Hochstuhl can be seen from Vintgar
Inside Vintgar: Radovna river
The trail starts at
Podham where you can pay the entrance fee of 2/3 euro's. There is only one trail leading trough the gorge and it cannot be missed!
The first part of the trail leads trough amazing cliffs and a pretty wild Radovna river with
multiple waterfalls to come across.
In the second part the river gets more quiet and at the end the gorge gets wider. At the end a beautiful Dam is visible.
From here you will leave the gorge and the trail leads to the
small village of Zasip. Here is a little restaurant where you can drink a nice cold beer or eat pizza and other food. (Very good and very,very cheap!)
St Catherine's Church
While relaxing from the hike through the gorge you can enjoy the great views into the valleys and the view towards
St Catherine's Church.
Practical Information
Waterfall
Radovna Scenery...
-The costs for Vintgar are somewhere between 2 and 3 euro's.
-Vintgar is closed during winter
-The trail is about 1700 meters long (about 1 mile)
-Easy hike! Accessible for almost everyone
-Almost no elevation difference
Camping
Sava River along camping Sobec
Lake Bled
There are two very nice campings in/near Bled:
The first is
camping Bled
The is a vary famous camping. You have to sererve a place otherwise you can be quite certain it is full! Situated along
Lake Bled!
The second is
Camping Sobec
This camping is less popular but really beautiful as well! It is situated just outside Bled along the Sava river (great swimming!)
Weather
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