Podgorje lies where three worlds meet: the Karst plateau, Istria and the coast. Here are trails that lead to the sky and trails that lead to the sea. They all start at our door.
Visit Koper archive / Jaka Ivančič
One thousand and twenty-eight metres. Locals call it the Triglav of the Littoral. The trail starts at our house: easy (1 h 40 min) or steep (1 h).
From the top: the sea on one side, the Alps on the other, and on a clear day all the way to Venice. In spring the plateau blooms with crocuses and daffodils. At the top is the Tumova koča hut, open at weekends.
Mount Slavnik above Podgorje: the plateau, the ridge and the view from the top.
The ridge that separates Istria from the Karst and Čičarija, from Duino near Trieste to Učka near Rijeka. Grassy ridges above the drop, irises in spring, smoke trees ablaze in autumn.
The only surface river on the Trieste Karst. In the canyon: a former railway from 1887 with viaducts and tunnels, the 40-metre Supot waterfall and the remains of a Roman aqueduct. Krpan's salt smuggling path.
Mighty overhangs at the southern end of the Karst Edge near Sočerga, shaped like elephant ears. Home to endangered nesting birds. In autumn, when the smoke trees turn red, one of the most photogenic places in Istria.
Castle ruins on the edge of the Karst plateau with a view of the Gulf of Trieste. Right next to the castle is Sveta jama, the only underground church in Slovenia, 44 m deep, already described by Valvasor.
In spring: crocuses, daffodils, irises and pasque flowers. In autumn: smoke trees that turn the ridges into a red ocean. That is why guests come back twice a year, each time for a different range of colours.
The Venetian coast, Habsburg Trieste, Karst caves, medieval frescoes and Lipizzaner horses. Everything is 20 to 40 minutes' drive from us, close enough for several trips in one day.
Habsburg architecture, Piazza Unità d’Italia by the sea, historic cafés (San Marco, degli Specchi), markets and Miramare. Twenty minutes on the motorway and a completely different world. Many of our Italian guests come to Podgorje precisely to escape Trieste from Trieste.
UNESCO World Natural Heritage. The 200-metre-high underground gorge is one of the largest underground spaces on Earth. You stand above the abyss and hear the river flowing hundreds of metres below you. An experience you will not forget.
The paved Tito Square, the Praetorian Palace, Venetian architecture. The most important town of the Slovenian Littoral.
Narrow streets, Tartini Square, the smell of salt. In the salt pans, salt is still made the same way as 500 years ago.
The cradle of the Lipizzaner since 1580. UNESCO heritage. Performances of the Lipica Riding School, carriage rides.
A Romanesque church with Gothic frescoes from 1490. The Dance of Death is a cultural gem that many people do not know.
Refošk, Teran, Malvazija. Award-winning olive oils. Truffles are an hour's drive away, in Croatian Istria.
From the Ljubljana–Koper motorway, exit at Kastelec or Kozina. Follow the signs for Podgorje. Parking next to the inn.
The shortest land link between the Gulf of Trieste and the Kvarner Gulf runs right here, through Podgorje. This is where West meets East, Brkini meets Istria, the Karst meets the sea.
This is not the edge. It is a threshold. For centuries shepherds, smugglers and pilgrims passed through here; today cyclists, long-distance hikers and world travellers choose the same route. The ridge above our house (Slavnik, Golič, Žbevnica) is the edge where Slovenian Istria turns into Croatian Istria and where the Dinaric Alps begin. Anyone crossing this border on foot or by bike often crosses it right here.
West ↔ East · a natural corridor through Podgorje
The former narrow-gauge railway from Trieste to Poreč, today one of the most popular cycling and walking routes of the northern Adriatic. It starts right next to us and leads through the vineyards of Istria.
A European cycling artery from Cádiz to Athens. Through our area it links Trieste, Koper and Piran and continues to Croatia. Every year thousands of cyclists from across the continent ride it.
The oldest connecting mountain trail in Europe (1953), from Maribor to Ankaran. Mount Slavnik right above us is one of the checkpoints with a stamp and the last big peak before the sea.
The Trieste writer Paolo Rumiz walked through Čičarija, the Podgorje Karst and Istria and wrote about it for Il Piccolo. His books A Piedi and La Via della Bora take readers straight through our area, so guests often arrive with his book in hand.
A long-distance trail across the entire Dinaric Alps, linking seven countries from Slovenia to Albania. Its coastal line crosses from Slovenia into Croatia right over the Slavnik–Žbevnica ridge, on the little-known Sakoman trail. Here, above Podgorje, the Dinaric Alps begin.
“For people like that, Podgorje is not a stop but a reason to pause.”
