Lake Bled is one of our favorite places to visit in one of our favorite countries, Slovenia. As a result, we have visited the area multiple times and put together several travel guides on Lake Bled. We have a guide on the Best Hikes and Walks around Lake Bled, a guide on the Best Photo Spots and Viewpoints Around Lake Bled, and a guide on the Best Things to See and Do in Lake Bled. Beyond all the great things one can see and do in Lake Bled, its position still makes it an ideal base from which you can explore several fantastic destinations located within about an hour’s drive. To help you plan excursions and get the most out of your time in the area, we put together this guide on the Best Day Trips from Lake Bled, with a focus on destinations that can be reached in less than 1h30.
Disclosure: This page (Best Day Trips from Lake Bled) may contain product affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. More details can be found on our disclosure and policies page.
You might also be interested in these pages (coming soon):
Best Things to See and Do in Bled (Slovenia)
Best Day Trips from Bled (Slovenia)
5-Day Slovenia Road Trip Itinerary
Best Hiking and Walking Trails Near Bled (Slovenia)
Most of the destinations described below are more easily reached by car and therefore, unless stated otherwise, we will present the travel time required to drive to each place from Bled.
If you need to book a rental vehicle for your travels, we highly recommend using Discover Cars to get the best rates on your rental in Slovenia.
We also highly recommend Airalo (eSIM card) for your connectivity needs when travelling abroad. Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide.
Important: All Slovenian freeways and expressways are subject to tolls. All cars, motorbikes, and camper vans must have purchased a digital vignette online when they plan to drive onto a motorway or expressway. Digital Vignettes with periods of validity of 7 days, 1 month, 6 months or 12 months are available and can be purchased from the Slowenien Vignette website. They are not prohibitively expensive — for instance, the 7-day vignette for cars costs €13.90 (2024).
1) Vintgar Gorge
Distance From Lake Bled: 4.5 km // Travel time (walking*): 1h // Travel time (shuttle*): 10 min
Vintgar Gorge is so close to Bled it barely qualifies as a day trip from the town, which is why we suggest walking there (we will discuss other options to get there below). It is a must-visit in our opinion for anyone who is spending more than a day in Lake Bled. The gorge itself is stunning and wooden boardwalks follow the gorge’s walls and run for approximately 1.6 km.
The boardwalks also crosse the river on several occasions giving you spectacular vantage points to capture some of the river’s various features, including small pools, falls, and rapids.
We have typically walked to Vintgar Gorge, but another fun way to get there is via a self-guided e-bike tour:
Unfortunately, you can’t drive directly to reach the gorge – there’s a park and shuttle service for those coming from out of town. From Bled, your best options our walking (which we highly recommend as it is a scenic walk), renting an e-bike, or taking the free shuttle between the gorge and the Bled bus station. For more information on visiting the gorge, including opening hours, access fees and the walking route to get there, check out our Vintgar Gorge Hiking and Visiting Guide.
2) Škofja Loka
Distance From Lake Bled: 40 km // Travel time (driving): 35 minutes
Škofja Loka is a charming countryside town nestled in the foothills of the Julian Alps with a well-preserved medieval historic town center. Located a short distance from Ljubljana, the town is small enough that it can be visited in an hour or two but with enough things to see and do (including visiting a hilltop castle and several scenic bridges) to keep you busy for a good part of the day. Despite its obvious beauty, this gem of a town is definitely underrated as few tourists make their way here.
For more information on this lovely town, check out our guide on the Best Things to See and Do in Škofja Loka.
3) Radovljica
Distance From Lake Bled: 6 km // Travel time (driving): 10 minutes
If you like the idea of small and charming medieval towns such as Škofja Loka, then you’ll love Radovljica. While Radovljica is even smaller than Škofja Loka and does not have an imposing hilltop castle, it more than makes up for it with its fun local shops, unique and quirky museums, and lively town square atmosphere. It’s also really close to Bled, meaning that you can easily stop here on the way to or on the way back from somewhere else.
For more information on this lovely town, check out our guide on the Best Things to See and Do in Radovljica.
3) Lake Bohinj
Distance From Lake Bled: 27 km // Travel time (driving): 30 minutes
Lake Bohinj is Slovenia’s largest lake and is mostly located within Triglav National Park. While the lake doesn’t have an imposing clifftop castle or idyllic island, it more than makes up for it with its size and beauty, with the Julian Alps towering above.
There are many things to do in the Lake Bohinj area, including:
1) Take a panoramic boat ride across the lake (available from early April until early November).
2) Hike to short trail to Savica Waterfall near the western end of the lake
3) Ride the Vogel Cable Car for incredible views from the summit of Mont Vogel.
4) Visit the 700-year-old St John the Baptist Church, one of the finest examples of Slovenian medieval architecture
4) Ljubljana
Distance From Lake Bled: 55 km // Travel time (driving): 45 minutes
Although Ljubljana is deserving of more than a day trip, you can still definitely see most of the city’s sites and attractions within a day. Highlights include its imposing hilltop castle, the pastel-coloured buildings of the historic center, the leafy banks of the emerald-green Ljubljanica River, the works of renowned architect Jože Plecnik (which has contributed to Ljubljana receiving a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in Human Centred Urban Design), large sprawling parks, and so much more.
For more information on Slovenia’s capital, check out our guide on the Best Things to See and Do in Ljubljana (coming soon).
5) Velika Planina
Distance From Lake Bled: 60 km // Travel time (driving): 1 hour
Velika Planina is a stunning alpine pasture in northern Slovenia where you can find one of Europe’s few surviving high mountain herdsmen’s villages and enjoy easy hiking trails among free-roaming cattle during the summer months. It’s a fantastic place to enjoy some time outdoors while learning about the unique traditions of the local herdsmen and sampling some of their delicious dairy products. Although you can undertake a challenging hike to reach Velika Planina from the valley below, it’s definitely more fun to ride the cable car and chairlifts up to the summit, and there’s still plenty of hiking to do once you reach the alpine plateau.
For more information on visiting this beautiful alpine plateau, check out our Velika Planina Guide.
6) Postojna Cave
Distance From Lake Bled: 100 km // Travel time (driving): 1h
The Postojna Cave (Postojna Jama) is Europe’s most visited cave system, featuring an underground train ride that traverses several chambers that are filled with stalagmites and stalactites of all shapes and sizes. The entire karst cave system is 24 km long, making it the second longest cave system in the country – though it remains the easiest to explore for tourists. The caves can only be visited via a guided tour, which lasts 90 minutes and covers 5km worth of caves (though 3.5 of those km are covered via the train ride).
The site also offers more activities beyond the tour, including an interactive exhibition detailing how the caves were formed and the Vivarium, which showcases more than 150 species inhabiting the Postojna Cave system including the famous “baby dragons”.
For more information on these awesome caves, check out our guide on the Postojna and Skojcan Caves.
7) Predjama Castle
Distance From Lake Bled: 110 km // Travel time (driving): 1h15
Predjama Castle is a unique and visually stunning Renaissance castle built within a cave, roughly 9 km from the Postojna Cave site. It has stood in the middle of a 123-meter-high cliff for more than 800 years (but most of what you see today is from the 16th century) and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest cave castle in the world. The select and peculiar location of the castle made it quite the impregnable fortress. The cave below the castle is part of the 14 km Predjama cave system. It’s open to visitors from May to September (but closed in winter so as not to disturb its colony of bats during their hibernation).
For more information, check out our guide on the Postojna and Skojcan Caves, which includes further details on visiting the castle.
8) Skojcan Caves
Distance From Lake Bled: 130 km // Travel time (driving): 1h15
Škocjan Caves are a significant underground phenomenon in the Slovenian Karst Plateau carved out by the Reka River. They are home to the largest subterranean canyon in Europe at 146 m deep and were included on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural World Heritage Sites in 1986. The underground canyon is just so vast and is somewhat reminiscent of the Mines of Moria scenes in The Lord of the Rings movies.
Unlike the Postojna Cave, however, which is easy to visit by most, touring the Škocjan Caves requires a lot more walking and climbing or descending at least 400 stairs. The tour is also divided into two parts: the caves are visited via a guided tour, whereas once you exit the caves, you can just choose one of three self-guided routes to return to the starting point. The shortest one takes 15 minutes and makes use of an escalator, whereas the longest takes over an hour and requires you to climb another 700 stairs. Note that photography and videography are not permitted in the Škocjan Caves, so the following pictures are not ours and are from the official Škocjan Caves website:
For more information on these awesome caves, check out our guide on the Postojna and Skojcan Caves.
9) Visit Wine Country
Distance From Lake Bled: 100-150 km // Travel time (driving): 1h-1h30
Although Slovenia isn’t necessarily the first name that comes to mind when thinking about wine countries, it is nonetheless home to nine distinct wine-making regions that are increasingly gaining international recognition with each passing year.
Wine-making in Slovenia existed long before the Romans introduced winemaking to France, Germany and Spain, and today Slovenia has over 28,000 wineries, producing upward of 80 million litres of wine annually (75% of which is white wine). For an authentic experience when visiting, choose from various native Slovenian grape varieties like Zelen, Rebula, and Pinela.
Fun fact: The oldest grapevine in the world is the Žametovka vine, also known as the Old Vine or Modra Kavcina, and is located in Maribor, Slovenia. The vine is over 400 years old and has been producing wine grapes since the 17th century. Today it only produces on average 100 lbs of grapes, which are fermented and put into about 100 miniature bottles.
The area around the caves (Primorska Wine Region) is one of the most well-known Slovenian wine regions, and one with strong Italian influence, which is expressed not only in viticulture and winemaking but also in its language, cultural traditions, architecture, and gastronomy. There are many great vineyards to choose from in the area, and we particularly enjoyed our time at Petric Winery, which is roughly a 25-minute drive from both the Škocjan and Postojna Caves.
There is also a great organized group Vipava Valley vineyard tour. However, to our knowledge, it only departs from Ljubljana:
10) Other Day Trip Excursion Ideas
Triglav National Park Tour from Bled
Journey into the heart of the Julian Alps on a scenic drive with stops to see points of interest (such as Savica waterfall, the Pokljuka plateau, Jasna lake and Pericnik waterfall), and take part in 3 nature hikes.
A Full Day of Canyonining and Rafting Just Outside of Bled
The Sava Dolinka River near Bled offers a perfect rafting trip and is very close to Bled and it offers beautiful nature scenery, and a lovely fun and exciting rafting descent. The other half of the day will be spent canyoning in upper Carnolia:
Suggested Day Trip Combinations
We covered a lot of different day-trip options and, fortunately, many of them can be combined together to minimize the amount of day trips you need to take if you want to see the majority of the destinations listed above.
Given its location and size, it makes a lot of sense to visit Škofja Loka on your way to or from Ljubljana, but you might not want to take away time from Ljubljana. Another option is to include Škofja Loka (1-3 hours) with Velika Planina (2-4 hours) – even if they aren’t necessarily close to one another, heading to Škofja Loka in between Bled and Velika Planina isn’t too much of a detour.
Given how close Radovljica is to Bled and how little time you need to visit it (1-2 hours), it can easily be combined with any other destination on your way to or from Bled.
Lake Bohinj has so many things to do that it can keep you busy for several days, much like the area around Lake Bled.
Finally, you can combine any of the Skojcan Caves (2-4 hours), Postojna Cave (2-3 hours) and Predjama (1- 2 hours) Castle together since they are all located in the same geographical region. These attractions are also close to the Primorska Wine Region.
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
Travel Insurance
SafetyWing is a travel insurance company that offers comprehensive coverage for travellers. Includes Medical Insurance and Travel Insurance. Primarily geared towards long-term travellers, digital nomads, and expats.
e-Sim cards
Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide. With Airalo eSIMs, travellers can get connected the moment they land at their destination and avoid nasty data roaming charges
eSIMS are a sustainable alternative to single-use SIM cards – they are 100% digital, require less energy to produce and be re-used rather than disposed of.
Car Rentals
Discover Cars is our go-to website for car rentals. We almost always find our preferred rate there.
Transfer from Airport
Welcome Pickups is our favourite private transfer service, which you can pre-book at a fixed price. Currently available in 220 cities all over the world (mostly in Europe, but with several major cities in Asia, the Middle East and the US).
Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our guide on the Best Day Trips from Lake Bled and that it will prove useful for planning your trip.
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