Alps to Adriatic
Ljubljana to the sea, the long way round.
- Days
- 8
- Kilometres
- 550–600
- Vertical
- 9,000–10,000 m
- Mountain ranges
- 3
Eight riders. Best in June and September.
Most operators say "moderate" and leave you to guess.
Seven riding days. Two of 95 km back to back in the middle, then 111 km to the coast.
9,000–10,000 m across the week; 1,600–2,000 m on the biggest days.
Wide forest roads and compacted white macadam. No singletrack, no hike-a-bike.
Roughly 60% unpaved — mostly smooth white macadam and forest road.
Long stretches on Jelovica with no villages and little phone signal.
The difficulty is in the repetition rather than in any single climb.
Every day of this route rides well on an e-gravel bike.
The idea
Ljubljana to Piran. Seven days, three mountain ranges and around 600 kilometres between the capital and the Adriatic. I have ridden every part of this route over the last ten years. I know which forest roads work after rain, where it is worth stopping for lunch, and which climb looks finished long before it actually is.
You start in Ljubljana and finish with your feet in the Adriatic. In between: a shepherds’ settlement at 1,500 metres, a border pass into Austria, empty forest above the Soča, and one last climb into wine country before the road tips down to the coast.
Slovenia produced Pogačar, Roglič and Mohorič, and the whole country rides. These are the roads, backroads and trails they grew up on. In one week you cross all three of Slovenia’s mountain ranges — the Kamnik–Savinja Alps, the Karavanke and the Julian Alps — then finish in the Mediterranean.
It is a lot of riding: 550 to 600 kilometres and close to ten thousand metres of climbing. The evenings, the food and the coffee stops are as much a part of it.
The idea is simple: you ride, I take care of everything around it. I want you still talking about it ten years from now.
Who it’s for
Riders comfortable with 80 to 120 kilometres and 1,500 to 2,000 metres in a day, several days running. Speed matters less than being able to do it again the next morning.
It suits mixed groups — friends, couples, a club committee — where the pace varies through the day. It is probably not the right week for a first cycling holiday.
My part of the deal
- You bring your bike and your legs. I take care of the route, the hotels, the food and all the small things that can otherwise make a cycling week complicated.
- Routes I have ridden in every season and in both directions.
- Hotels with secure bike storage, somewhere to wash, and a kitchen I trust.
- Dinner booked ahead every night, in places I eat in myself. A support vehicle and a full toolkit every day.
How flexible the week is
- A longer option on most days for whoever wants more.
- A shorter line on a few of the days, and on any day the vehicle can take you to the top of the climb.
- If the weather closes a pass, I will find a plan B.
- Extra nights at either end, a rest day, or a different finish.
The bikes, and who fixes them
A bad bike can ruin an otherwise great week, so bike setup is something I take seriously.
- Premium gravel bikes arranged for anyone who needs one, sized and set up before you arrive.
- Your own pedals and saddle fitted if you prefer to bring them.
If something breaks on the road, the support vehicle carries spares and a full toolkit, and I ride with the group rather than following in a car. If it cannot be fixed at the roadside, the vehicle takes you and the bike on to the next hotel and I will help you find someone locally who can look at it.
Where you sleep, and what you eat
A boutique hotel in Ljubljana’s old town. A herdsman’s hut on Velika planina. Hotel Plesnik in Logar Valley, whose restaurant is in the Michelin guide. Trivrh, a new outdoor hotel at the foot of the Karavanke. Hotel Hvala in Kobarid. A wine-country hotel in Brda. And a last night by the sea in Piran.
Every one of them takes bikes seriously: secure storage, somewhere to wash, and breakfast early enough to matter. Dinner is booked ahead every night — mountain dairy on the plateau, farm cooking in Logar Valley, trout in Kobarid, and wine in Brda poured by the family that made it.
Who you’re with
You will be riding with seven other people who picked the same week for the same reasons. Some will be quicker than you and some slower. By the third evening that stops mattering — you have shared a climb, a wrong turn and a long lunch, and dinner gets loud.
Seven days is long enough that the group stops being eight separate people somewhere around the Soča.
Day by day.
Ljubljana
Arrive, get your bike set up, and spin out along the river on the city's gravel paths to shake off the flight. Dinner in the old town — the one evening with no early start behind it.
Ljubljana → Velika planina
You climb all afternoon into the Kamnik–Savinja Alps and finish at 1,500 metres on a high plateau where herdsmen have grazed cattle since the Middle Ages. Wooden huts with oval roofs, no roads, no cars, cowbells and weather moving fast across open pasture. You sleep in one of the huts. Dinner is what the dairy made that week. Bring a warm layer — it is cold up there, even in June.
Velika planina → Logar Valley
Off the plateau on high pasture tracks, then a long forest descent into one of the most striking glacial valleys in Europe. seven kilometres long, flat as a floor, closed at the far end by a wall of limestone over two thousand metres high. The Rinka waterfall drops over a hundred metres at the head of it. A handful of farms, one hotel, and a lot of silence. Dinner comes from the farms you rode past.
Logar Valley → Jezersko → Žirovnica
The big crossing. Out of the valley over a high border pass into Austria on smooth switchbacks, a fast descent on the far side, then back into Slovenia at Jezersko — a quiet alpine bowl most Slovenians have never visited. Remote forestry gravel drops you into the Sava valley at the foot of the Karavanke. Two countries, two passes, the longest day yet.
Žirovnica → Jelovica → Kobarid
The wildest day, and the one people talk about afterwards. Jelovica is a vast forested plateau — hours of empty gravel under spruce, no villages, no traffic, almost no signal. You cross the alpine divide and drop into the Soča valley, where the river runs a green that makes photographs look edited. Kobarid for the night, on the water.
Kobarid → Kanal → Šmartno
Riverside gravel south along the Soča and through limestone gorges. Then the ground changes — the air warms, forest gives way to vines, and a sharp final climb lifts you into Goriška Brda. Stone villages on ridgelines, cellars beneath the houses, and a winery before dinner.
Šmartno → Karst → Piran
Through the Vipava vineyards and up onto the Karst — bare limestone, prosciutto cellars, bora wind. Then the descent where the Adriatic appears below you, and the last kilometres along the coast into Piran. Dinner on the water, and the swim you have been thinking about for six days.
Departure
Breakfast in Piran. Transfers to Ljubljana airport if you need them.
What's included
- — Seven nights in hand-picked hotels and one mountain hut, twin share
- — Full board — breakfasts, a welcome snack on arrival, a restaurant lunch every riding day, dinner booked ahead
- — Café stops along the way
- — Cheese tasting on Velika planina and a winery visit in Goriška Brda
- — A UIAA licensed local guide riding with you every day
- — Luggage moved hotel to hotel — you ride with only what you want on the bike
- — Mechanical support on the road
- — Tourist tax
- — Fully supported option adds: a support vehicle and driver with you every day, food, drink and electrolytes on the road, and a lift over a climb on the day your legs disagree with you
What's not
- — Flights — I can arrange them through the agency I work with, so the whole group arrives in time to start together
- — Airport transfers — available as an add-on
- — Bike hire — available as an add-on
- — Single room supplement
- — Travel and medical insurance that covers cycling — mandatory
- — Drinks beyond those in the set menus
- — Anything personal
Two ways to ride it.
A guide riding with you and a support vehicle with a driver every day. Spares, tools, food and water on the road, and a lift over a climb whenever you want one.
The same route, the same hotels, the same guide riding with you, and your luggage still moved every day. No vehicle on the road — you carry what you need.
Six riders is the minimum. The prices above are based on a group of eight. With six or seven, add €200 per person. Everything on the included list is covered, from the welcome dinner in Ljubljana to breakfast in Piran.
How booking works
A 20% deposit confirms your booking, with the balance due 60 days before departure. Refunds scale down the closer you get to departure.
Read the full Terms & Conditions →Add-ons
- Single room, whole week
- €700
- Premium gravel bike hire, whole week
- €480
- E-gravel bike hire, whole week
- €640
- Airport transfer on arrival, per person
- €20
- Transfer Piran → Ljubljana airport, per person
- €40