Bled
Solitary hills jutting from the plain and surrounding Lake Bled are typical of the Bled area. The glacial lake fills a basin in the middle of the glacial rubble and has a reputation for being extremely beautiful. It is adorned by the medieval castle perched on top of a high natural cliff-face and by an islet with a church.
The shore has been turned into a magnificent park with villages, hotels, and villas. In the background of this paradise, we can see forest-covered slopes of Jelovica with its rocky edge and the cliff Babji zob, and the Pokljuka plateau. On a bright sunny day, you can make out the white peaks of the Julian Alps, behind it.
Beginnings of tourism in Bled were modest. There was a wooden shed with thermal water used for bathing on the spot where today stands hotel the Toplice Hotel. In 1855, the Swiss doctor Arnold Rikli started treating its patients with the sun, air, and water. It was only after the construction of the railway that Bled developed into a mundane summer resort.
Today, Bled is a modern holiday resort with many hotels, private accommodation facilities, a campsite, and a very rich culinary offer. It is also renowned as a rowing and regatta center, and as a starting point for numerous walks and tours. Almost in the center of Bled is Straža with ski slopes, and only 8 kilometers from Bled, on the slopes of the Pokljuka, lies Zatrnik with 19 km of skiing tracks. Only a bit further, on the Rudno polje clearing, there are skiing grounds for cross-country skiing and biathlon.
At the edge of the plain, in the triangle between the confluence of the two Savas, lie several villages: touristically developed Ribno, Bodešče, Koritno, and Selo. On the north side lies Podhom, the starting point for one of the greatest natural sights near Bled, the picturesque Vintgar gorge, out carved by the Radovna River.
Bohinjska Bela lies at the mouth of the Sava Bohinjka valley under the steep slope of Pokljuka.
Bohinj
Bohinj is called the pearl of the Julian Alps. The whole of the Bohinj Basin and the lake especially is encompassed by steep precipitous cliffs of the Julian Alps.
The largest settlement, Bohinjska Bistrica, has developed at the beginning of the basin. It is the administrative center of the Bohinj Basin. The tourist center of Bohinj, Ribčev Laz, is only a few kilometers away.
The 15th century Church of St. John makes part of the picturesque scenery around the lake. Its simple Gothic architecture and wall paintings make it a prominent cultural and historical monument.
In the upper part of the valley, there are several important villages like Stara Fužina with its old Alpine-style houses, and Studor retaining its typical domestic atmosphere with famous double hay-racks toplars, scattered on the meadows near the village. There is also a Museum of Alpine dairy farming.
From Stara, Fužina leads a path to the magnificent Alpine valley Voje. Right from the beginning of the valley, from Devil’s bridge ( Hudičev most ) we can see the picturesque gorge with the ravines cut by the Mostnica brook.
The whole of Lake Bohinj lies within the Triglav National Park. The lake has been protected from the construction of buildings on the shore thus it preserved its natural look. The water in the lake is extremely clear. Ukanc, backed by the mighty wall of Komarča, shuts off the Bohinj basin behind the lake.
The 3.5 km long Savica River, which springs out in the midst of the Komarča rocky wall and falls as the mighty Savica waterfall into the pool 71 meters lower, flows into Lake Bohinj.
Vogel, rising 1000 m high above the lake, is reachable by a cable car leaving from Ukanc. There is a skiing resort on top of Vogel and other skiing grounds can be found almost in the center of Bohinj.
All that beautiful nature, peacefulness, and unspoiled nature offer superb conditions for the development of tourism and make Bohinj one of the most beautiful Alpine holiday resorts as well as an excellent starting point for shorter or longer walks around the Triglav National Park. Easier tours lead to Uskovica ( 1100 m ) from the Voje, and on the Blato Alp ( 1142 m ) above the Voje, there are picturesque pastoral homesteads.
Nearby is Vogar ( 1053 m ) with excellent views. The starting point for a climbing tour to Komna, a large plateau in the heart of the Julian Alps, is by the Savica waterfall. Between two mountain ridges above Komarča, slightly arched in the direction of Kanjavec ( 2568 m ) and Triglav ( 2864 m ) lies the green Triglav Lakes Valley.
The poet dr. France Prešeren wrote: “Nowhere in the world is there a more lovely place, than this paradise and its surroundings”. It would be hard to give a more accurate description of Bled in a simple sentence. The Church of St. John the Baptist in Bohinj stands above the affluence of the Sava Bohinjka River from Lake Bohinj.
The river flows out of the lake under a stone bridge.
On the right side of the bridge is the tourist center of Bohinj, Ribčev Laz.