This weeks blog sees us finally pass over the Vrsic Pass and drop down into the stunning Slovenian Soca River valley for a few days before escaping over the border to the rugged Italian Dolomites.
After dropping over the Vrsic pass on a very damp and foggy Sunday morning, our first stop off was at the tiny hamlet of Trenta. The Soca River is just stunning in this upper section of the river; the waters were emerald green yet crystal clear as they burbled their way over the rocky river bed. You can clearly see where the river had carved its way as it meanders down the valley, getting wider, deeper and more powerful.
Waterfalls are plentiful in this section and the vistas are stunning in every direction. We had an hours walk along the rivers edge to a rickety wooden bridge that swayed quite spectacularly as you walk over it.
Our destination for the night was the small town of Bovec, renowned as a mecca for kayakers and river rafters. We stayed at Camping Polovnik using our ASCI card (€29 with tourist tax) – it was a basic site with pretty tight for space pitches – but from past experience they are all like that in this area.
The weather was pretty torrential for most of the afternoon and we hunkered down drinking tea and editing videos. But the rain never lasts all day and after a couple of hours, the skies lightened and the ground steamed as the puddles evaporated. We sauntered into Bovec which was very quiet due to a combination of the days weather and it being a Sunday. If you enjoy water sports then this is the destination for you, there are a whole host of outlets to arrange a variety of river based activities for you.
Encouraged by the now dry weather, we walked down to where the river widens and the rafts are launched. Standing high above the river, it is quite unbelievable how blue the water looks framed by the green forests and rocky mountains that surround it. Sunset that night over the valley was quite spectacular and sunrise even more so.
From Bovec, we headed south to the historic town of Kobarid. But first we stopped off to do a hiking trail up to the viewpoint for the very impressive Boka waterfall. There are 2 options – about 500m walk to the viewing platform that is pretty easy to reach and well sign posted or a 1.25km hike through the forest on a VERY steep path gaining about 250m of elevation. Obviously we chose option 2! It was a really tough hike but so worth seeing the view that opened up in front of us and we had the path pretty much to ourselves.
We based ourselves at Kamp Koren which was within walking distance of the town over the historic and absolutely stunning Napolean’s Bridge. I will let the pictures do the talking as I have never seen such a beautiful sight.
Kobarid is famous for it’s WW1 history and we hiked along the river trail taking in some of the sites such as the Italian trenches and the museum. A very interesting place to explore.
After 10 nights in Slovenia we decided it was time to head over the border back into Italy. We put the Tre Cime area of the Dolomites into google maps and followed its non-toll route. Wow – it was a real google special!! It took us over a high mountain pass to a very obscure but very picturesque Italian border. From here it was another 3 hours of hairpin bends, gladed forest roads and stunning vistas.
Lake Misurina and the Tre Cime area is a honey pot for climbers, hikers and tourists of all nationalities and it was like we had dropped into a different world. We had no campsite booking and luckily got the last spot at camping Alla Baita – an even better thing was the cost - €16 as they were refurbishing the showers so they were charging half price – the showers opened that evening so we had the best of both worlds!
The campsite is an excellent base for loads of hikes of varying distances. We chose a 10km circular hike to the refuge Fonda Savio at an elevation of 2367m using the Cicerone ‘Shorter walks in the Dolomites’ as a guide.
It was the most spectacular walk with some beautiful scenery along the way. As we got nearer to the refuge, we hit some huge patches of deep snow that we navigated carefully – wary of what was underneath. I am not sure why neither of us had thought this would be an issue hiking at such a high elevation in June but when we got to the top we chatted with the refuge owner about our options for the rest of the route back to the campsite. He was great and suggested that our original route was still quite precarious in one point but gave us another path to follow that soon took us back out of the snow fields. He also served the most delicious and much needed apple strudel and strong Italian coffee.
One of the main reasons we had headed to this area was to stay at one of our bucket list destinations – the camping aire at the foothills of the Tre Cime at an elevation of 2340m. The toll road to the Aire and mountain refuge had only opened to the public about 2 weeks previously due to a late spring snow dump.
From our research – in 2023 it cost €45 for motorhomes to stay overnight. However – a new pricing structure has been introduced this year which is strictly adhered to - €45 for a 12 hour period which meant unless you literally drove up at sunset and left first thing in the morning the cost would be €90!!
We very nearly abandoned our plans – as it felt like a huge amount of money for basically a night in a carpark – we had to reframe our way of thinking. It was not just about the staying in the carpark, it was an experience, a life time moment and the weather conditions were great for a superb sunset and a high elevation hike the next day. So we went for it. A cheeky bonus – they count a small van as a car so it was only €60 to park up in Nelson – we were delighted as we felt like we had got another bargain!
And what an experience we had! It was one of those surreal life moments where you have to pinch yourself to check you are not dreaming. We sat out until sunset and had a lovely meal and an Aperol Spritz and we woke up to the most stunning vitas from the van tailgate. I woke up in the middle of the night and just stood under the starlit sky with the moon shining down on Nelson.
Staying at altitude meant that we were ahead of the morning crowds for next Dolomite hike around the Tre Cime. Even so – there were dozens of people about from the various vans and the three mountain refuges that are located within a short hiking distance. Again, the scenery was lovely, much more rugged than yesterdays hike as we were above the tree line for its entirety. Tre Cime means three peaks and we got to see the huge rocky towers from every angle. We finally spotted some marmots playing in the rocky meadows – sadly they were too far away to capture any photos but we spent a good few minutes observing them from afar.
It was the most amazing 24 hours and an experience we would highly recommend. We were lucky as for some reason there were only about 30 vans parked up for the night and we had plenty of space – we have seen footage of times when it is pretty rammed and the vans are literally a metre or two apart. We also watched the weather forecast as we had a 4 day window to choose from – my biggest fear was getting up there to no visibility having paid the toll fees!
After 3 days of hiking around the Tre Cime, we decided to go west for a night at the very instagram famous Lago di Braies. We have actually visited the lake on our previous trip to the Dolomites when we stumbled across it on a hike. On that occassion in the middle of August it was absolutely heaving with tourists and although the views were spectatcular it was quite unpleasant trying to navigate the path around the lake.
We had a different tactic this time, we set off for our walk at about 8pm and just before sunset. There were a few people around that were staying in the hotel or campervans but once we got to the far side of the lake we were the only people.
It was a lovely evening, the wind was stirring up a little and there were gentle waves lapping up onto the pebbles on the beach.
We didn't realise that this was the prelude to an almighty thunder and lightening storm in the night which lit up the sky for over an hour! I think we must have been a little sheltered in our carpark because when we got up in the morning and did a walk around the lake, the destruction from the storm was quite evident. We passed at least 6 trees that had been felled by the high winds, snapped like twiglets! One part of the path was blocked where a tree had tumbled down the steep cliffs above and created a bit of a rock fall around it. I think we might have been one of the last people to be able to walk around the lake for a couple of days while they cleared it all up.
We chose to stay at one of the lake carparks so we could be up early and perhaps catch the sunrise. When we woke up - it was really foggy and there was a little bit of drizzle in the air. Disappointed, we decided to go up to the lake anyway, Lago di Braies is famous for it's still waters with reflections of the steep sided mountains but it seemed we were not going to get that instagram photo today.
What greeted us instead was probably even more perfect! We arrived at the lake at 7.30am and the lake was absolutely still with a heavy mist drifting over the waters. There was a wedding shoot taking place - the bride and groom were drifting out on the lake in a wooden rowing boat and their reflections on the water were like a mirror. You could hardly see the lake shore through the mist and the mountains had all but disappeared. We spent a good 15 minutes taking photographs of the boat house from all angles before walking around the lake.
As we reached the far shores, the mist started to rise and the mountains came back into view. The sun burnt through the mist and the colours of the water in the lake just popped. I finally managed to get a couple of the reflection photos I had desired - but looking at my photo reel - I prefer the more atmospheric ones from the morning gloom!
I took a photo back by the boat house just to show the difference an hour can make.
We found the parking spot on the P4N App. There are 4 carparks and we chose carpark 3 that was 500m walk to the lake, it had a 2.50m height barrier so only small vans could stay and it was only €12 for the night. It also has a toilet that stays open all night, a bonus for us.
After our misty morning hike around the Lago Di Braies we packed up the van and headed west towards the Ski village of Plose. The drive over the Erbe pass was very scenic, very narrow, very steep and twisty and VERY busy! We have vowed never to do a mountain pass in the Alps again on a weekend – there were dozens of motor cyclists and car rallies out enjoying the roads as well as dozens of cyclists challenging them selves on the hills. Nerve wracking was how I would describe it – the road was barely wide enough for passing vehicles and had many blind corners.
The park up we were aiming for was absolutely rammed with vehicles so we carried on back down towards the next valley. There we found a great spot to hunker down for the night – a gravel parking area on a hairpin bend. By this point I was refusing to go any further – my nerves couldn’t take it! Although the mountain pass was busy through out the day, we knew the traffic would calm down by early evening and probably only a dozen cars went past after 9pm.
However, the day continued to be eventful. First we could hear a jangling getting louder and louder until a small herd of cows with calves trotted down the road and proceeded to munch on the wildflowers around the van. A very irate farmer came running down the road 10 minutes later to shepherd them back to the field they had escaped from. Then the storm arrived! The valley echoed with the sound of thunder and the sky turned black. Within the minutes the roads were white over with hail and the sound of the ice balls hitting the van was quite phenomenal.
Our last stop in the mountains of the Dolomites was at a park up near Plose – it was at 2000m elevation and completely free to stay after 4pm – not a place I would recommend for bigger motorhomes to get to up the narrow lanes but fine in a smaller van. We did another 10km hike which started out ok but the mist came in as we neared our summit and there was not much view to be had. It cleared again as we dropped down to the other side of the valley and we had a pleasant walk back through the pastures.
In need of a campsite to do some washing and to have a much needed shower after 2 nights in the wilds – we headed for a new aire I had spotted on P4N with great reviews. It was superb!
We were greeted with a glass of wine each from a local vineyard and the facilities were better than any campsite we have stayed at. Best of all the washing machine and tumble dryer were free so I got all our washing done. At €31 it is not a cheap aire but we definitely got value for money.
Our drive to get there though was not with out incident! We were looking for an Aldi supermarket to stock up on groceries after several days in the mountains and found one in the ‘town’ of Balzona. We blindly followed the directions on google maps through a very busy city only to find it was a city centre ALDI with no parking. It was only as we drove out of the town that we noticed the Emission zone signs – I am pretty certain we will get home to a fine.
We have had two very different stays in Italy on our European road trip having spent 7 nights on the Italian Lakes and in Venice way back in May. We have enjoyed both stays in equal measures and far more than we had anticipated. It is another country that we cannot wait to return to and spend more time exploring. As ever, our bucket list just keeps growing with so much history and a stunning coastline still to discover.
You can find more information on our Dolomites and Slovenian adventures in the Links below to our YouTube channel.
In next weeks Blog we enter into Austria and explore the summer Alps of some of the high mountain ski villages.
Hope all your summer plans are going well, have a great week.
Jackie and Richard