Lake Bled – visiting a gem on Slovenia’s crown with a toddler on board.

For years we have been talking about visiting Slovenia. It seemed to be such an easy destination – giving the fact, it’s our neighbor country – yet we had to wait until spring 2024. We spent all together 5 days in Slovenia, doing a mini road trip around Ljubljana & the Bled region - which rightfully a gem on Slovenia’s crown. There is a massive hype about Bled in the galaxy of social media. For a reason. Let’s hop on the JUSTdiariesTravel express & discover this place with a toddler on board for your next European road trip.

We started the journey in Ljubljana as a mini „Stop over”. There were 3 reasons to stop here:

1) to rest after hours of sitting in the car,

2) to have a late lunch other than sandwiches on the road &

3) to discover its super compact, yet beautiful city center.

Ljubljana is a genuine European metropolis, with

friendly Balkan influence in a good sense,
cheerful Italian buzz & a Mediterranean atmosphere &
a healthy combination of the precise, Austrian order.

Since we only spent here 3 hours, I show you what our itinerary covered with a toddler, along with some extra tips what to include if you have more time.

We walked in the city center on this path:

Car park next to Tivoli Park (starting & ending point)
Prešeren square (Prešernov trg)
Triple Bridge (Tromostovje)
Bridge of Butchers (Mesarski now)
Dragon Bridge (Zmajski now)
Market on Vodnikov square (Vodnikov trg)
Funicular
Ljubljana Castle (Ljubljanski grad)
Saint Nicholas Cathedral (Stolnica)

On our next visit, we would also like to see these:

Uršulinska church
Tivoli Park
Tivoli Castle (Tivolski grad)
National and University Library

To better imagine the mood, here is a video on Instagram I made.

Also, I posted a Carousel with all the stops I mentioned in the itinerary.

We spent 4 full days in the region with a toddler under 4, & we made the most out of it. We have fallen in love with this part of the Julian Alps at least as much as the millions of tourists through whose eyes we have been drooling for years. 🥰 BUT DON’T GO during summer (main season)! In May we have enjoyed this trip a lot, but I cannot even imagine how jam packed this place will become from June. And yes, to a certain extent crowds can destroy the ’Awe!’ feeling.

Tip: if you can do it, catch a long weekend here in May or April, probably combining with Easter or Pentecost.

For the mood video, click here. 🙂

Before our travel I have collected a handful of things we wanted to cross on that bucket list. For us it was not a problem at all, that this time we opted for more touristy things. We don’t necessarily chase the „off the beaten track” mindset all the time. Here we gave in to the crowd, and oh boy it didn’t disappoint.

🛶 Ride the Pletna boat

🛎️ Ring the bell in the Church of the Mother of God on the lake

🏞️ Walk or run around the lake (6 km)

🍰 Taste the famous Bled Cream Cake

🏰 Visit the Castle of Bled

🧗🏻‍♀️ Visit one of the viewpoints (Ojstrica, Mala Osojnica, Velika Osojnica)

🏞️ Stop by at lake Bohinj at the Gold horn statue

💦 Visit (hike to) the Savica waterfall

🏔️ Hike at the Vintgar Gorge

😌 Enjoy the vibe of Lake Bled

And for a great visualization, I have posted a Carousel as well with the bucket list items.

Authentic (but touristy) experience. Pletna boats are made by locals and are typical of Bled. Their origins date back to 1590. Its signature colourful awning protects passengers from the sun. It’s a wooden flat-bottom boat inspired by the Venetian gondola boat, with its own features. The boat is 7 m long, 2 m wide and it ensures safe navigation for 18 people. The boat is propelled with the special „stehrudder” technique where the oarsman is standing and rowing with two oars.

⚠️ Warning 1: They really don’t go unless the boat is full. Good news there are way too many people want to try out so it’s quickly ready to go.

⚠️ Warning 2: There was a slight chaos regarding the fee. Initially the guy at the 1st boat said it’s 54 EUR for 2 adults + 1 child. On another boat the guy said 45 EUR, then at the end we paid 36 EUR on the way back to the mainland. (I guess the normal price is 18 EUR/person and we weren’t charged for the child). As I saw, card was also accepted. We didn’t think we could pull the card through, so we had cash with ourselves.

😎 Tip: If by any chance the Pletna is not available, you can also ride a scheduled electric boat as well to the island between 10:00-18:00 on an hourly basis. On top of that if you are in good shape (and you have more to spend on activities) you can rent a boat to yourself.

I would totally recommend buying the ticket with which you can visit 3 sites on the small island: Church of Assumption of St. Mary, Lookout Bell Tower and Museum exhibition in Provost’s House. More info here.

Don’t forget to ring the wishing bell in the Church of the Mother of God on the lake. It’s popular among all people who visit the island. When we ring the bell, we can express our wishes and pray to the Mother of God to hear them. Plus, children love ringing the bell – just because it isn’t advertised as kid-friendly program, believe me, both the Pletna boat and the Wishing Bell were a huge success.

I’m a big romantic – not gonna even hide 😅 – but this castle is on another level. After 1,5 days bad weather we were super happy to finally see clear blue sky & it matches the clear blue water of the lake from above = magic! It’s one of the oldest castles of Slovenia. Dramatically perched on a sheer cliff 139 meters above the shore, it overlooks Lake Bled. We bought our ticket online prior to our trip on their website. The parking was super easy and super expensive (3 €/hour).

Adult fee was 17 €, while child (from age of 4) fee was: 7 €

I couldn’t really believe to my eyes. I recorded this video from the Castle & this was absolutely stunning!

The one and only original Bled cream cake. „Ištvan Lukačevič, the former manager of Park Hotel patisserie, tested the recipes and various combinations of ingredients for a long time, before finding the right one.” – Bled.si. Original cream cakes – made since 1953 – are made fresh every day and are offered at Kavarna Park, opposite the hotel.

Can you believe that 16 million cream cakes have been made and sold so far? 😳 Me niether. On their website they claim: „A golden crispy crust made from butter dough, mixed with butter, not margarine, a delicious vanilla cream of exactly the right consistency so that it does not collapse after cutting and to make the perfect taste, topped with whipped cream and a crispy layer of butter dough and finally, last but not least, a good dusting of icing sugar.”. The cafe at Kavarna Park Hotel has just as stunning view over the lake as delicious the cream cake. 6 € on its own, with a glass of winde it costs 8,5 €. For every sweet tooth it’s a mandatory culinary experience – children included!

📍Address: Cesta svobode 15, 4260 Bled / Opening hours: 11-21:00

On the west side of the lake there are 3 viewpoints: Ojstrica, Mala Osojnica és Velika Osojnica. Since we are rather on the ’unexperienced’ side of hiking, we chose the shortest one, Ojstrica. Yet we managed to miss the right path. 😅 Let me tell you what to look for:

Next to Zaka Camping there’s a parking lot - 4 €/hour). Luckily the starting point of the hiking trail is just about 20 m from the parking lot. Ojstrica supposed to be an easy 20 min hike for beginners. Still, I want to highlight that after 15 min upward, there is a side path on the right, what we totally missed. Serve as an excuse I firmly believe that the sign is camouflaged between the trees on the right, and the trail itself is a narrow, and seemingly insignificant one. Missing this we walked another 10 min (almost arrived to the 2nd viewpoint). After we realized we marched back 10 min and found the right path up the hill. The last 5 min is super steep and rocky. Nothing dramatic but be prepared.

The view? It compensated the bill!

If you are not missing the path, I think the hike is manageable within an hour.

Bonus tip: from the parking lot, you can see the beach. You can combine the hike with a splash in the cool water of the lake. 🙂

We didn’t stop at just Lake Bled – visiting a gem on Slovenia’s crown with a toddler on board. According to our plan, we wanted to combine the hike to the waterfall with a leisurely walk at Lake Bohinj. Well, the weather thought otherwise. Nonetheless, we stopped for a quick photo at the statue of Gold Horn at Lake Bohinj, and we enjoyed the hike to the waterfall at its fullest.

The Savica waterfall is the 3rd most visited sight in Slovenia, it plunges down from a 60-meter-high rock wall. We started with easy walking, followed by long stairs (about 550) to the top. 😅

👧🏼 Tip for small children: if you know that these many steps can be a challenge for your child(ren), then have a carrier with you.

😎 Useful tip: if you spend a lot of time up there, it’s worth to wear a thin raincoat. The vapor is real.

📸 Photo tip: in summer (sunny weather), come early in the morning, the sun will shine at the waterfall until about 10 o'clock, forming a fabulous rainbow. However, don’t worry if you missed the rainbow. We visited around 4-6 pm & the waterfall didn’t disappoint.

Practical information:

Length: 1700 m, round trip
Duration: 1 hour
Level difference: 130 m
Starting point: large parking lot next to the inn Koča pri Savici (in summer months app. 4€/3 hours - in May we didn't have to pay yet)
Admission in high season: 3 €, children (7-14): 1.5 €, students, elderly. (65+): 2.5 €

You can check out the carousel from this place.

The length of this beautiful gorge formed by the Radova river is approx. 1600 m and 250 m deep. A trail leads through the gorge on wooden path to the Šum waterfall, which is 13 m high and is the longest river waterfall in Slovenia.

The deep gorge can only be accessed by a one-way road, which takes about 45-60 minutes. You can choose between 2 paths leading back through the forest, in some places they are very steep, with lots of steps thus require caution. (We spent another 60 minutes going back). Even we, the "big" hikers were eagerly waiting for this hike with extra enthusiasm. Although I can't say that we weren't tired at the end, but it can be easily completed in 2.5-3 hours, even with small children. 🤩

The gorge can be visited from the beginning of April to the beginning of November, I recommend purchasing the tickets in advance online. Firstly, because you don’t have to queue in lines for hours in order to get in & 2) fixed number of people are allowed in a day. We went at 9:00 a.m. (opening time), and there were already quite a few people queuing for tickets.

I would say, count at least 3-4 hours for this adventure (including parking, getting to the entrance, the gorge itself and the hike back to the main entrance).

There are 3 official parking lots, the price is 5 EUR/day. There is a free shuttle e-bus from the central parking lot to the Visitor Center.

Entrance ticket

Adult ticket: 10 €
Child (3-15): 5 €

Restaurant recommendation: if you came from Bled, then you drive through Zasip: in Gostilna Kurej you can have a nice countryside-ish and very delicious lunch/dinner, at a slightly friendlier price than on the shores of Lake Bled.

How much does it cost to travel (& spend 5 days) in Slovenia? Being expensive or cheap is totally a subjective opinion, but I can help collecting the prices for 2024, so you can plan and don’t have any surprise along the way.

This is what you can expect:

⛽️ Fuel: 1,5-1,7 €/l

🛣 Highway toll: 20 €/week

🅿️ Parking:

Ljubljana: 1,6 €/hour
Bled Castle & lake: 3 €/hour
Ostrica viewpoint (Zaka Camping): 4€/hour
Vintgar gorge central parking lot: 5€
Savica waterfall: main season 4-5€ - in May it was still free

📸 Sights:

🚡 Ljubljana funicular:

adult 3,3€ or 6€ retour,
child (7-18): 2,3€ or 4,5€ retour

🌊 Vintgar gorge:

adult 10 €
child (3-15): 5€

🐍 Bled Mini Zoo:

adult 8,5€
child 6,5€

🌊 Savica waterfall:

adult 3€
child (7-14): 1,5€

🏰 Bled Castle:

adult 17€
child (4-14): 7€

🚤 Bled Pletna boat: adult 18€

🏝️Bled Island entry:

adult 12€
child 5€
3-4-5 family: 24€ pre-purchase 10% off

🎁 Souvenir:

Magnet: 4-5€
Small lavender soap: 3,5€
Pin: 3,9€
Small chocolate: 2,9€

🍽️ Food:

Bled Cream Cake + 1 glass of wine: 8,6€
Bled dinner (2 adults+1 child): 4 lemonade, 2 apple juice, 3 main course, 1 dessert: 90€
Zasip dinner (2 adults+1 child): 2 lemonade, 3 main course: 60€
Icecream: 2,5€

In our opinion, beside the parking, all the prices were totally okay, not ripping tourists off. But to encourage you to plan ahead and to give you some insane money saving tip for your next family travel, I share my Money saving tips & budget friendly ideas for travelers - Family Traveling: How to do it smart? eBook from my web shop. On 50+ pages you’ll get 70+ tips and trick to save more. 😎

Family Traveling - How to do it smart? - Money saving tips & budget friendly ideas for travelers

We never followed the slogan of „kid-friendliness” when we are travelling. Still we think that from time to time it’s worth to check out places/activities which were meant to be catering children. This is especially true of you encounter any hiccup and need plan B, C, D after we threw plan A tot he bin.

We always use PlaygroundBuddy app on our phone to track down playgrounds. We used it in South Korea, Italy, France, Hungary. And it never disappoints. We found one basic one on the Eastern side of the lake which was a huge success.

On another day we started with pouring rain. Of course, we needed plan B asap. I found the Mini Zoo Bled. A small and compact zoo on the second floor of a house. Yet big enough to spend an hour inside waiting for the rain to stop. Bonus tip that it’s 5 min walk from the Kavarna Park Restaurant, and if the bad weather continues, you can go directly to the cafe for a Bled Cream Cake.

Although this option is outside, for bigger children the DinoPark Bled can be a great outdoor activity.

For restaurant our favorite is Spica Bar & Restaurant. It’s situated on the Eastern side of the lake. Parking is also possible. The food is great, the guys are friendly, and the ambiance is just super nice.

The only negative thing we can come up with is the parking. It’s super hard to find sometimes, and when you do, it’s expensive. Most of the hotels/restaurants have private parking, the rest of the public ones are filling up quickly. And the worse is that there are spots around the lake where there is simply no parking lots. At all.

Our tip: is to plan, what activities you want to do and arrange them in blocks.

the Hiking trails to the viewpoints, the beach, and the camping along with some Pletna stops are close to each other on the Western side of the Lake.
The Kavarna Park Hotel restaurant, the scenic promenade, the Mini Zoo, and the playground with the Spica Bar & Restaurant are on the Eastern side of the Lake.

Otherwise, plan a lot of walking. 🙂