Slovenia
Our actual route, tracked via GPS
Within days on the Slovenia Mountain Trail, our shoes had holes in them and we had downsized our packs twice. This was the first clue that we were, perhaps, a taddy-bit unprepared for the rigors of Alpine hiking.
The Slovene Mountain Trail — also known as the Slovenska Planinska Pot, SPP-1 and Transversala — is a nearly 350 mile continuous trail stretching east to west across northern Slovenia, through the Alps mountains, then southwards across the Dinaric Plateau, ending at the Adriatic Coast.
Although it is possible to through-hike the trail, we enjoyed 10 slow weeks (54 days) on the SPP-1 in the summer of 2019, hiking the trail in 12 stages as suggested in Cicerone’s popular trekking guide “The Slovene Mountain Trail”. With side hikes and additional peak summits, we trekked a total of 441 miles of Slovenia’s incredible trail system. Each stage has ample mountain huts providing accommodation and food, so we did not need to carry a tent, sleeping bag, or food. We spent an average of $42.16 a day per person.
Other than the slim Cicerone guide (which every foreigner had with them on the trail), we could not find much information about the SPP-1 experience before traveling to Slovenia. We had a lot of questions and blind spots going into this adventure and were admittedly a bit unprepared for the challenge of hiking in the Alps. In the following posts, we share what we learned about terrain, equipment, cost, accommodation, food, culture, side-trips and other tidbits within the various stages. We also include some corrections or observations pertaining to the published information in the Cicerone guide. We hope this is helpful to you when planning your trek across Slovenia.
If you hike the Slovenian Planinska Pot, tag us on social media to share your commentary. We'd love to hear about your experience!
Hiking the Slovenian Planinska Pot
