Five From The Door
Five rides. One hotel, at the point where the Julian Alps, the Karavanke and the Kamnik–Savinja Alps meet.
- Days
- 6
- Kilometres
- 445
- Vertical
- 7,800 m
- Mountain ranges
- 3
Eight riders. Best from late May to early October.
Most operators say "moderate" and leave you to guess.
Five riding days — an easy 45 km to start, then four days of 85–110 km.
7,800 m across the week, and 2,500 m of that on the last day alone.
Wide forest roads and compacted white macadam. No singletrack, no hike-a-bike.
Roughly 50% unpaved. Mostly forest road, with some rougher sections.
Every ride is a loop from the hotel, not a one-way stage.
Four full days back to back, with the hardest one last.
Every ride here works on an e-gravel bike.
The idea
I have been riding from here for ten years. These are the rides I keep coming back to.
Žirovnica sits between the Julian Alps, the Karavanke and the Kamnik–Savinja Alps. From one hotel we can reach Pokljuka, Bohinj, Jelovica, Kranjska Gora, Tržič and Bled. These five days are not a line drawn on a map to link two towns — they are the rides I actually choose.
You unpack once. Each morning we choose the best direction for the weather, the legs and the group. Six days. Five rides. Every one of them from the same front door.
A point-to-point week has its own pull — the sense of a journey, a new valley every night, the sea at the end. This is the other way of doing it, and for a lot of riders it is the better one. You keep the same room, and what changes is the mountains. If the weather turns on Pokljuka we ride Tržič instead, and the day is just as good.
It is a lot of riding: 445 kilometres and 7,800 metres across five days. The evenings, the food and the coffee stops are as much a part of it.
Who it’s for
Riders comfortable with 85 to 110 kilometres and 1,500 to 2,000 metres in a day, four days running, with one route that climbs 2,500 m. Speed matters less than being able to do it again the next morning.
It suits mixed groups — friends, couples, a club committee. Every ride is a loop from the hotel, so anybody who wants a shorter day simply turns for home while the rest carry on.
My part of the deal
- You bring your bike and your legs. I take care of the route, the hotel, the food and the logistics.
- Routes I have ridden in every season, from my own front door.
- One hotel with secure storage, a wash-down and breakfast early enough to matter.
- Dinner booked ahead every night, and a car on call from the hotel.
How flexible the week is
- On several of the rides there is a shorter way home, though not on every one.
- A longer option on the days that suit it.
- If the weather closes one plateau, we ride another. Nothing about the week depends on one road.
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 a long way out, you are still only a loop from the hotel — and there is a car on call. If it cannot be fixed that evening I will help you find someone locally who can look at it.
Where you sleep, and what you eat
Trivrh is a new outdoor hotel in Žirovnica, at the foot of the Karavanke and twenty minutes from Bled. Twenty rooms, a sauna and a gym, and secure bike storage. It is the first hotel the village has ever had, and it was built for people who come here to be outside.
We eat out most evenings, in places I eat in myself rather than whatever is nearest. The last night is a tasting at the hotel: wine, prosciutto and cheese, and nobody in a hurry to leave the table.
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. The same eight people, the same table, five nights running.
Day by day.
Žirovnica — Bled and Radovljica loop
You arrive, we set the bikes up, and spin an easy loop past Lake Bled and through Radovljica to shake off the flight. On the way back, a stop at the Anton Janša apiary in Breznica — he was born ten minutes from the hotel in 1734, and the UN made his birthday World Bee Day. Dinner at the hotel with an Alpe-Adria tasting.
Over the Karavanke to Kranjska Gora
Straight into it. You climb out of the valley over the Karavanke with the whole Julian Alps range opening up across the plain, cross the border for an espresso on the Italian side, then run back down the Sava valley to Kranjska Gora and home. Two countries and the best introduction to where you are.
Pokljuka, Bohinj and the lake path
The signature day. A long climb onto the Pokljuka plateau — dark spruce forest, and the biathlon range at Rudno polje where the World Cup is raced. You will shoot on it, with your heart rate still somewhere near 150. Then down to Lake Bohinj, mohant cheese where it is actually made, and the lake path home past Bled.
Jelovica, Soriška planina and the train home
Hours of empty forest gravel across the Jelovica plateau with no villages and almost no traffic, then up and over Soriška planina and down the far side to Podbrdo. From there you load the bikes onto the old Bohinj railway and let the train carry you back through the mountain — the best twenty minutes of sitting down you will do all week.
Dovžan Gorge and the Tržič loop
The queen stage. Two and a half thousand metres, the red rock walls of Dovžanova soteska, and the Karavanke seen from the side almost nobody rides. Closing dinner at the hotel — wine, cheese and prosciutto, and everybody too tired to leave the table.
Departure
Breakfast, and a transfer to Ljubljana airport if you want one — thirty-five minutes away.
What's included
- — Five nights at Trivrh Outdoor Hotel, Žirovnica, twin share
- — Full board — breakfasts, a welcome snack on arrival, a restaurant lunch every riding day, dinner booked ahead
- — Café stops along the way
- — Anton Janša apiary and honey tasting, mohant cheese tasting in Bohinj, biathlon shooting at Rudno polje
- — The Bohinj railway crossing on Day 3, bikes included
- — Route pack with GPX for every ride
- — Tourist tax
- — Guided departures also include: a UIAA licensed local guide riding with you every day, and a vehicle on call from the hotel
What's not
- — Flights (I can arrange them through the agency I work with)
- — 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 local guide riding with you every day, a car on call from the hotel, and everything on the included list arranged and booked.
The same hotel, the same meals, the same experiences and the same routes. I meet you on arrival, set your bike up and walk you through the week — then you ride it at your own pace, with me on the phone.
Six riders is the minimum. The prices above are based on a group of eight. With six or seven, add €190 per person. Everything on the included list is covered, from the welcome dinner to breakfast on departure day.
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
- €500
- Premium gravel bike hire, whole week
- €350
- E-gravel bike hire, whole week
- €480
- Airport transfers, both ways, per person
- €50
- Recovery massage at the hotel
- €70