After spending 3 nights in Rakitna and a day at the Vintgar Gorge it was time to start exploring the area around Lake Bled. After all the thunderstorms the previous night the sun was shining for us.

Vogel Ski Centre

Our first stop was the Vogel Ski Resort on the west side of Lake Bohinj. We saw online that there were cable cars and some activities up in the Triglav mountains so thought Tom and Izzy would enjoy it. It was only 30 minutes away but the drive was lovely as it passed Lake Bled and Bohinj and also went through some beautiful mountain scenery. We bought a ticket package which meant along with the cable car we also got a traditional lunch in the café and free admission to some of the other attractions in the area.

The cable car took us to 1,535m above sea level and there were amazing views of Lake Bohinj.

^{Views of Lake Bohinj from the 4 minute cable car ride}

Once we reached the top cable car station there was a viewing platform – the floor of which was a metal grate so you could see all the way down. I refused to stand on it but made everyone else go to the end and pose for photos.

^{The viewing platform at the cable car station.}

^{I refused to walk to the end of the platform!}

As we left the station there was a little animal area with mountain cows, alpacas and goats. We promised Tom and Izzy they could feed them later as we wanted to take the chair lift further up the mountain.

^{Mountain cows and alpacas at the upper cable car station}

The chairlifts took us up to 1682 meters where it was possible to do some hiking. We didn’t stay long as the views were not as good and there was nothing else up there.

^{The chairlifts took us to 1682 above sea level}

We returned to the cable car station but Tom and Izzy wanted to ride the chair lifts again so Stu and I sat on the grass and waited for them to redo the trip.

^{Tom and Izzy re-riding the chair lifts – they would have done a third trip if I’d let them!}

We then went for lunch in the café which was a choice between a variety of traditional meat stews and fruit strudel for pudding. Tom and Izzy fed the goats before we took the cable car back to the bottom of the mountain.

Savica Waterfall

We then headed to Savica Waerfall which was a couple of kilometers up the road. The sign said that it was about 200 steps to get to the waterfall so we counted them as we walked and it was more like 400!

^{Tom and Izzy did not want to do photos here and there was a huge queue of people.}

Lake Bohinj

Before heading home we decided to stop at Lake Bohinj to have a look. The water was so blue and you could see the fish swimming about. Tom and Izzy both decided they were getting in for a paddle and spent a good 15 minutes with sticks trying to catch the fish – they were not successful.

^{Tom and Izzy looking for fish in Lake Bohinj}

Lake Bled

As our holiday home was only a couple of minutes from the Lake we thought it would be nice to spend the day in the area. It was a beautiful sunny day so we headed into the town quite early and rented a boat so we could row to the island in the middle of the lake.

^{Boat selfie!}

^{Stuart rowing us out to the island}

It was actually quite hard work getting to the island – probably took over 20 minutes. When we arrived we moored the boat and Tom and Izzy decided they didn’t want to go for a walk so Stu & I went exploring and they stayed with the boat. We were a little worried someone would take our boat by mistake and we’d be stranded so it probably wasn’t a bad idea.

Guarding our little rowing boat!

We followed the path round the outside of the island then walked through the middle to see the gift shop and church before heading back and Izzy rowed us part of the way back to shore.

Returning to shore

We bought an ice cream before returning to the house for lunch as Stu had some work he had to do.

Water Park

We had seen a water park on the lake and the kids really wanted to visit so as we had a free afternoon we decided to visit. There wasn’t really a car park near to the waterpark so it was easier to walk from the house. It was only about 20 minutes away and most of the walk was lakeside. There were some diving boards and pontoons the kids could swim to. There was also an inflatable area which we had to pay extra for and the kids had to wear life jackets but it was worth it. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the Lake before walking back up the hill home and having a BBQ.

^{Waterpark on Lake Bled}

Mostnica Gorge

It was our final day in Slovenia and our flight wasn’t until the evening so we needed something to do once we’d checked out of our property. We headed to Mostnica Gorge as the entrance fee was included with our Vogel cable car tickets.

Unfortunately when we arrived at about 11 am it started to rain and we didn’t want to get wet so we sat in the car for about half an hour and ate our lunch! Eventually the rain cleared and we headed in.

It was a short walk along a woodland path and then we followed the river. It was a nice gorge but no-where near as impressive as Vintgar.

By the time we left it was hot and sunny so we went for a final stroll around Lake Bohinj before heading to Bled for lunch and then the airport to catch our flight.

I was able to enter the airport lounge with 1 guest as I was a BA silver card holder. Luckily Stu could get in through his Amex card and bring another guest so we all chilled in the lounge and had some food and drinks. The lounge had a balcony over looking the runway so we could see some planes land.

^{Beautiful views from the airport lounge}