Mount Krn rises above me, its 2,244m summit silhouetted by the midday sun. It has been in my sights all morning, as I hiked through wildflower-carpeted valleys and open-air war museums. But this final push to the top – the highest point in this south-west corner of Triglav National Park – feels monumental.
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My pulse quickens. The slopes fall away like a magic trick to reveal the Krn Range, its corrugated sweep of peaks and dips reaching all the way to the Adriatic. And far below – toy-sized and glittering like a sapphire – is Lake Krn.
I have hiked solo many times. But for my first multi-day trek in Slovenia’s Julian Alps, I did something different – I hired a private guide. At €990 (£860) for three days, it turned out to be worth every cent.
Local outfit Exploring Slovenia organised everything: hut bookings, meals, transfers, even a route tuned to my pace and interests. I wasn’t buying convenience. I was buying a different kind of luxury – one measured in testing my limits.
There would be only one goal each day: to reach our mountain hut by nightfall. Accommodation and meals were basic. Everything I needed for three days, I’d carry on my back.
I’d underestimated the relief of having a guide who could navigate the tough bits, highlight the beautiful spots, and be a coach, historian and hiking companion all at once.
Belinda was relieved to have a guide with her for the trickier bits (Photo: Provided)Neja Fidler Pompe, owner and guide at Exploring Slovenia, met me at Lake Bled for the short drive into Triglav National Park. Tall, ultra-fit and quietly assured, she told me she runs the park’s trails – including Mount Krn – for fun.
When Triglav was first protected in 1924, it was little more than a pocket of green. Today, the park stretches across 880km sq of peaks, meadows and lakes, crowned by Mt Triglav – Slovenia’s national symbol. Hiking here is every bit as spectacular as Switzerland, without the hefty price tag. Cows graze by alpine lakes, shepherds sell raw cheese from huts, and lodges mark the routes. The park’s history runs deep, carved into the limestone bedrock and the Battles of the Isonzo, fought by Italy and Austria-Hungary in the First World War.
Our first day in the Triglav Lakes Valley was a dazzling prelude awash with mirror-bright lakes framed by pines, craggy mountain tops and an ibex on the ridgeline. I snacked on wild berries. By dusk, we reached the double lake, Dvojno Jezero, and a hut, where steaming stew and a simple bunk bed awaited.
Belinda navigated the Walk of Peace (Photo: Provided)The next two days drew us deeper into history along the Walk of Peace, a 230km Alps-to-Adriatic trail that traces some of Europe’s bloodiest frontlines. The Unesco-listed trail can be tackled in bite-sized chunks, but the views are impossible to downplay. In June, the air was warm but never hot, and for hours, we saw almost no one.
At Vršic Pass, with its 50 switchbacks carved by Russian prisoners of war, we crossed into what was once Italy. Neja paused to tell the story of how hundreds perished beneath avalanches; their lives are remembered at the Russian Chapel.
Walking trails, once bloody from war, now softened by meadows and silence, made each step deeply moving. Days fell into an easy rhythm of conversation, laughter and stretches of quiet, punctuated by the whistle of an ibex or the comforting clang of a cowbell. When I slowed, Neja became my cheerleader and pointed out flowers in bloom or mountaintops once scarred by bombs.
The landscape around Dzernica Village (Photo: zm_photo/Getty/iStockphoto/Zdeněk Matyáš)In the Soca Valley, the river runs impossibly aquamarine. We picnicked beside a waterfall, taking dips in the cold water, the waterfall’s roar its own meditation.
In Kobarid, a village with an unexpected number of Michelin stars, we shared a farewell dinner at Hiša Polonka, a traditional restaurant run by the team behind three Michelin-starred Hiša Franko. Here we swapped stories and jokes that only three days off-grid can create.
It was the reset I hadn’t realised I needed – one that no five-star hotel or spa treatment could deliver. Three days of fresh air, boots on the ground and no social media had reignited a sense of joy. The kind of luxury that lasts.
How to do it
Exploring Slovenia offers private and small-group guided hikes, climbs and ski tours. The three-day Bohinj to Soca Valley hike, including hut accommodation, meals and guiding costs from €690pp (£600) for small groups or €990 (£860) solo, exploringslovenia.com
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