Things to do in Bled
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Emerald River Adventure
Agencies such as 3glav, Life Trek and OSA organise a wide range of outdoor activities in and around Bled. The 3glav agency's most popular trip is the Emerald River Adventure, an 11-hour hiking and swimming foray into Triglav National Park and along the Soča River. A two-day guided ascent of Triglav from Pokljuka, the Vrata Valley or Kot Valley costs around €150. More challenging mountaineering traverses lasting between three and five days cost between around €250 and around €500.
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Lake Bled
Lake Bled is not a very large body of water - it measures only 2km by 1380m - and the second-best way to see it is from the shore. A walk around the lake (6km) shouldn't take but a couple of hours at the most, including the short (but steep) climb to the brilliant Osojnica viewing point. Along the way, you'll pass linden, chestnut and willow trees hanging over the water, boat slips, wooden walkways, anglers, the start of several hikes and a couple of interesting sights.
On the south shore of Lake Bled you'll pass through the hamlet of Mlino, then leave the main road for a path that passes beneath the grand edifice of the Hotel Vila Bled. Around the far end of the lake, be…
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Bled Castle
Perched atop a steep cliff more than 100m above the lake, Bled Castle is how most people imagine a medieval fortress to be - with towers, ramparts, moats and a terrace offering magnificent views on a clear day. The castle, which is built on two levels, dates back to the 11th century (although most of what stands here now is from the 16th century) and for 800 years was the seat of the Bishops of Brixen.
The baroque southern wing houses a museum collection that traces the history of Lake Bled and its settlements from the Bronze Age to the mid-19th century. None of the furniture is original to the castle, but it helps give you an idea of how the leisured class lived in the M…
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outdoor activities
Agencies such as 3glav, Life Trek and OSA organise a wide range of outdoor activities in and around Bled, including trekking, mountaineering, rock climbing, ski touring, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, canyoning, caving, horse riding and paragliding.
A 2½-hour rafting trip down the Sava Bohinjka/Soča River costs around €23/around €30, and a three-hour canyoning descent is around €45. Kayak trips lasting three hours cost around €38. Paragliding is around €70. Horse riding starts at around €40 for a two-hour outing.
A half-day tour of the (easy) Bobji Zob cave near Bohinjska Bela is around €20, while the more challenging Simnovo Brezno…
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Okarina
This very upmarket restaurant has lost its parklike location just northwest of the Pri Planincu and is now in a modern dining room next to the post office. Still, the ethnic decorations and traditional musical instruments (an okarina is a small clay flute) remain, and along with well-prepared Slovenian and international favourites, the Okarina's tandoor oven produces decent Indian dishes like chicken tikka and rogan josh. There are a fair few vegetarians choices.
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Gostilna Pri Planincu
En situ since 1903, this is a homely pub-restaurant just down the hill from the Bledec Hostel near the castle. It offers simple Slovenian mains and grilled Balkan specialities like čevapčiči (spicy meatballs of beef or pork; around €6.65) and tasty pljeskavica z kajmakom (Serbian-style meat patties with mascarpone-like cream cheese).
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Castle Restaurant
The fabulous views are 'free' from the superbly situated terrace of the restaurant in the castle. It's run by the Bled's catering and tourism school and staffed by its charming students.
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gondola
Getting to Bled Island by a piloted gondola is the archetypal tourist experience; there are jetties below the tourist office, below Spa Park (Zdraviliški Park) to the north, in Mlino on the south shore and near Zaka Regatta Centre. You get about half an hour to explore the island. In all, the trip takes about 1½ hours. Alternatively, you can rent a rowing boat at the Castle Baths, at Mlino or at the large beach at the southwest end of the lake.
The boat sets you down on the island's south side at a monumental South Staircase (Južno Stopnišče) built in 1655. As you walk up you'll pass the Chaplain's House (Meznarija) and the Provost's House (Stavba Proštije) from the 17t…
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Old Timer Train
In summer the Old Timer Train offers excursions in vintage carriages hauled by a steam locomotive. Trains usually run between Jesenice, 13km to the northwest, and Most na Soči, stopping at Bled Jezero station and Bohinjska Bistrica. Ask the tourist office about departure times; there have been fewer trips scheduled for individuals in recent years, amounting to only about one a month in summer.
You can buy tickets from most travel agencies in Bled, including Kompas on on Ljubljanska cesta or through the organiser ABC Rent a Car (01-510 43 20; abc-tourism@europcar.si; Ulica Jožeta Jame 16) in Ljubljana.
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hikes
There are many easy signposted hikes around Bled (numbered signs correspond to numbered routes on the local hiking maps). One of the best is trail No 6 from the southwest corner of Lake Bled to the summit of Velika Osojnica (756m). The view from the top over the lake, island and castle, with the peaks of the Karavanke in the background is stunning, especially towards sunset. The climb to the first summit is steep, but the round trip, returning via Ojstrica, takes only three hours or so.
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Parish Church of St Martin
You can reach Bled Castle on foot via one of three trails signposted 'Grad'. The first trail starts from the car park behind the Bledec Hostel; the second is a tortuous path up from the Castle Baths; and the third starts just north of the neo-Gothic Parish Church of St Martin . This church was designed by Friedrich von Schmidt in 1905, who also did the city hall and Votive Church in Vienna. Outside there's a small shrine designed by Jože Plečnik.
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Church of the Assumption
The baroque Church of the Assumption on Bled Island, dating from the 17th century, contains some fresco fragments from the 14th century, a large gold altar and, under the floor of the nave, part of the apse of a pre-Romanesque chapel, the only one in Slovenia. Outside is a 15th-century belfry with a 'wishing bell' that visitors can ring if they want to ask a favour. Naturally everyone and their grandmother does it - again and again and again.
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Bled Golf & Country Club
The 18-hole, par-73 King's Course at the Bled Golf & Country Club , about 3km to the east of Lake Bled near Lesce, is Slovenia's best golf course and, with its dramatic mountain backdrop, one of the most beautiful in Europe. This club also has the nine-hole, par-36 Lake Course (Mon-Fri around €35, Sat & Sun around €44) open the same hours. You can rent a set of clubs for around €15, and there's a PGA pro who gives lessons from €18.
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Castle Baths
Bled's warm (23°C at source) crystal-clear water - it now rates a Blue Flag - makes it suitable for swimming well into the autumn, and there are decent beaches around Lake Bled, including a big gravel one near the camping ground and a grass one on the northern side. Just east of the latter is the large Castle Baths , with an indoor pool and protected enclosures in the lake itself with huge water slides.
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rowing boats
You can rent rowing boats for getting to the island or just pottering about (motor boats are banned on the lake) from the Castle Baths (Grajsko Kopališče; 578 05 28; Kidričeva cesta 1). Boats for up to four people are also available from the Pension Pletna in Mlino or further west near the entrance to the camping ground for around €11.50 per hour.
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Ǒstarija Peglez'n
A new favourite restaurant in Bled, the 'Iron Inn' is just opposite the landmark Grand Hotel Toplice. It has fascinating retro décor with lots of old household antiques and curios (including the eponymous iron) and wooden floors. It serves some of the best fish dishes in town. What's more, it is nonsmoking throughout.
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Straža-Bled ski centre
Beginners will be content with the tiny (6-hectare) Straža-Bled ski centre, southwest of the Grand Hotel Toplice. A chairlift takes you 634m up the hill in three minutes; you'll be down the short slope in no time. Rental skis and poles are available from ProMontana and Kompas, both on Ljubljanska cesta.
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Slaščičarna Šmon
Bled's culinary speciality is kremna rezina (cream cake; around €2.70), a layer of vanilla custard topped with whipped cream and sandwiched neatly between two layers of flaky pastry, and while Šmon may not be its place of birth, it remains the best place in which to try it.
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fishing permits
The tourist offices sells fishing permits valid for a day on the lake (around €23), the Radovna River (around €51) and the Sava Bohinjka River (around €46 to around €51, depending on location and catch). Fauna on Cesta Svobode sells equipment and has a guide service.
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Bled Island
The tiny, tear-shaped Bled Island, the only true island in Slovenia, has been the site of a Christian church since the 9th century. But excavations have shown that the early Slavs worshipped at a pagan temple here at least a century before that.
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horse-drawn carriages
Romantics will like one of the horse-drawn carriages from the stand near the Festival Hall (Festivalna Dvorana; Cesta Svobode 11). A spin around Lake Bled for five people costs around €25, and it's the same price for two people to the castle.
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Peking
This Chinese eatery opposite the Hotel Krim Bled has such favourites as hui guo rou (twice-cooked pork) and ma po doufu (spicy bean curd). They ain't exactly what you'd get in Chengdu, but this is Slovenia, after all.
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Kavarna Belvedere
This delightful café-bar just southwest from (and part of) the Vila Bled is perched atop a 30m concrete tower overlooking the lake and has a great period-piece socialist mosaic on the back wall of the front room.
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tourist train
The lazy or infirm can jump aboard the tourist train for the 45-minute twirl around Lake Bled. It departs from in front of the Sport Hall (Športna Dvorana; Ljubljanska cesta 5) up to 20 times a day in season.
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Lesce Alpine Flying Centre
The Lesce Alpine Flying Centre 4km to the southeast has panoramic flights in Cessna 172s over Bled (around €70 for three people), Bohinj (around €120) and even Triglav (around €170)
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