Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut

Our popular 5-stage trip allows a complete circular hike of the Julian Alps without unduly long days and with plenty of time to explore to the side. Please ask if you would like more details of any adaptation of our trip. Thank you.

Make the trip shorter
Due to the short length of some of the stages, walking the trail over 4 days is a great option and we would suggest combining stages 3 and 4. Thus you walk the full route but merge the days between the Koca na Dolicu and the Dom na Komni. Please ask us for details if you’d like to follow this shorter schedule.

Climb Triglav
Triglav (2,864m) is the highest peak in Slovenia and an element of Slovenian national culture. Slovenes aspire to climb Triglav at least once in their lifetime. The summit is reached by the easiest route from Dom Planika (on our route) by a steep scramble, aided by steps and chains, to the summit ridge and then an airy traverse with drops on both sides. It could not be part of our main trip as it’s at a higher level of difficulty than any of our other hikes, and we don’t include a detailed route description, but it is within the realm of experienced walkers able to consider the equipment needed. We discuss the difficulties and considerations in our info pack.

It’s possible to climb Triglav as a detour on your otherwise short day from Vodnikov Dom to Koca na Dolicu; this is the reason for this short stage. Or, you might prefer us to book an extra night, at Dom Planika, so that you can climb Triglav and return only as far as Planika, then continue to Dolicu the next day. (This would be a short day. Equally you could take the short day first, to Planika, then climb Triglav the next morning and walk on to Dolicu.) Please ask us about Triglav and about adding a hut night. Thank you.

Make the trip longer
Whether for Triglav or for general ease of pace and relaxation, please let us know if you’d like us to book an additional hut night along the trail. Similarly, if you would like an additional night in Bohinj before or after your trek, please let us know. We can also book our hotel in Bled, along the valley by bus and on the way to Ljubljana. (Generally we feel that Bled is overrated and that we would prefer to be either in Bohinj for proper mountains, or Ljubljana for a proper city. We like Ljubljana a lot.)

Hike with a leader
Hike with confidence in the company of our fully qualified International Mountain Leaders (IMLs), with the navigation, accommodation and arrangements taken care of. You’re welcome to walk on any date within our season and we can adjust your group’s schedule to suit your needs. Please ask for more details.

Where we stay
Our Julian Alps holiday stays in 4 mountain huts plus a lovely 4* hotel in Bohinj at the start and end of your trip. Due to the hut-to-hut nature of this trip, we only offer our classic mix of accommodation on this trek; it is not feasible to book smarter or more basic accommodation.

The mountain huts offer basic facilities and are located in remote and beautiful places, giving this trip its unique character. We recommend them as an integral part of Slovenian mountain walking and culture. The huts have a mix of room types, including larger dormitories, small shared rooms (around 4 to 6 people in a room) and, at 3 of the 4 huts, 2-person rooms. We’ll always book the places in the smallest rooms available at the time of booking.

Single Room Supplement
If you would like to stay in single rooms rather than sharing a double, twin or triple room at the hotel in Bohinj, we add our single room supplement. This covers the additional cost of booking single occupancy rooms on a per person basis. The single supplement is only applied to the 2 hotel nights where single rooms are available and is not applied to nights spent in huts, which do not offer single rooms.

Solo Travel
We do not take bookings for solo walkers on self-guided trips. If you are still interested in this trip, we do have availability on our guided trips.

Our approach to the Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut route
The Julian Alps was the location of Alpine Exploratory’s first ever trip back in 2005, and is one of our favourite Alpine hiking locations. Since our first explorations, we have continued to enjoy walking new sections of path, linking up new huts and improving the route. Our detailed routecards take you on a fantastic 5-day trip with some of the best walking in the Julian Alps. Our trip departs from Lake Bohinj and climbs gradually in forests to above the treeline before skirting around the base of Triglav and descending through the Triglav Lakes Valley. A last day takes you under the mountain Vogel and back to Lake Bohinj.

Latest research on the Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut route by Alpine Exploratory’s Mikaela.

The Terrain
The topography of the Julian Alps is one of high limestone peaks, and is a fine example of a karst landscape. Karst is the name given to an upland limestone area and is characterised by large holes, gorges and caves. Water is consequently often hard to find in these mountains.

A lot of time is spent on steep zig-zagging paths which are rocky, loose and exposed in places. This trail requires surefootedness, but this lends itself to an exhilarating Alpine trekking experience. Some sections have metal handrails, pegs or short ladders to make things easier. This trip has no via ferrata or climbing sections and is a walking trip throughout, albeit at a challenging level.

Is it for me?
The Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut trip is perfect for those who have completed other Alpine hikes and are looking for an exciting hut-to-hut trip with a remote, high mountain feel. The days are relatively short, allowing for a relaxed and enjoyable pace (with plenty of coffee stops). It is achievable for normal, fit mountain walkers who are happy to walk for up to 6 hours a day over rocky and exposed ground.

The huts offer a bed for the night with some great food; however, they are quite basic, and in the case of the Dolicu hut very basic without much running water. Other huts, such as the Komni, are more like hostels in the mountains. If you’d like to know more, please just ask!

Due to the remoteness of the huts we are unable to transport your bags for you. As a result, you’ll need to carry with you everything you need for the hike. The huts offer a reasonable selection of food and drink so you’ll just need to pack your sleeping bag liner and overnight kit. We recommend taking some favourite snacks for the trail, to save you buying everything from the huts throughout.

Difficulty
The Julian Alps is first and foremost a walk. There are no glacier crossings, via ferrata or rock climbing but, due to the steep limestone karst landscape, the trail is trickier underfoot than most of our other Alpine hikes, with a significant amount of time spent on loose, narrow and exposed mountain paths. A head for heights and good balance are needed. These aspects make the Julian Alps harder to recommended as a first Alpine hike, but we’ll be glad to advise.

We explain the relative difficulties of the route and the variants in your routecards. Please ask us if you’d like more information on the difficulty of the trail.

 Julian Alps Walking Guide – more about the trail

How to get there

Your holiday starts and ends in Bohinj, the collection of villages including Ribcev Laz and Stara Fuzina to the East of Lake Bohinj. Ljubljana is the most convenient airport with several transfer options available; the easiest way is a minibus transfer, but the public bus is quite easy too (changing in Ljubljana or Bled). The airport is sited by Kranj, which is on the Bohinj side of Ljubljana.

In the course of our visits to the Julian Alps, since 2005, we have traveled in from Austria and Italy as well as the usual route from Ljubljana. From Austria, trains from Villach near Klagenfurt (airport) take the tunnel to Jesenice which has a branch line to Bohinjska Bistrica and then bus to Bled. From Italy, it’s a train to Gorizia and bus into Nova Gorica, the town on the Slovenian side of the border, to join this railway to Bohinjska Bistrica in the other direction. There can be a feeling of crossing the lines in these journeys, especially from Italy.

For those with a day or two to spare, the train route from Vienna would be fabulous and we’d suggest visiting Graz (Austria) and Maribor (Slovenia) on the way to Ljubljana.

Travel to and from the trip is not included in the holiday price. We take care to give the most useful notes possible about all the travel options. We supply these both on booking and in your info pack, and we offer personalised tips at any point. The aim is that our trekkers arrange their travel by the simplest and most scenic means as suits their plan.