It will come as no surprise to those versed with the nuances of Slovenian aviation that talks between the country's Ministry of Infrastructure and low-cost carriers Wizz Air and Ryanair have drawn a blank, facilitating a continued stasis in growth at both Ljubljana and Maribor airports. Despite the outcome being highly predictable it is nevertheless…
Why you should visit Saalbach Hinterglemm, the Wildschoenau, Kitzbuehel, and Bohinj
There isn't enough time left in my life, nor available funds, to venture everywhere in the world where I would ideally like to visit. That isn't to say I presume that death is imminent, nor that I exist on the very brink of destitution, but it isn't unrealistic when reaching a certain age to accept…
Lake Bohinj: Dogs, pollution, and being a victim of its own popularity
The northern shores of Slovenia's Lake Bohinj are not only diametrically opposed to its southern flank dominated by an interminably busy road connecting Ribcev Laz with Ukanc and the Vogel cableway, but by contrast affords walkers a fairly rough path only suitable for pedestrians and not bicycles, or any other form of mechanised transportation. This…
Abandoned hotels in the Alps: Why, despite their location, they are just as vulnerable to universal human frailties
I am struggling to decide whether it is either extremely difficult to define why empty buildings are so fascinating to those with no prior knowledge of their interiors, or incredibly straightforward. Therein lies the issue: are we drawn to abandoned edifices through what might lie beneath, or because of what we expect to find? Is…
Bohinj: what I miss, and the things that I look forward to seeing
The last two years have been a serious reality check for globetrotters, frequent fliers, and those who usually got away as often as they could. Travellers now inhabit that rather uncertain no man's land between unrestricted movement and outright lockdown, with day to day pandemic-related uncertainty impacting upon decision-making of whether to venture forth, and…
Kobla ski resort must seek relevance and a realistic rebirth
It is several years, perhaps half a decade ago, since I last wrote about the proposed Bohinj 2864 ski centre, an ambitious project to not only reactivate the redundant Kobla 'resort' above Bohinjska Bistrica, but to develop it into a Tirol-type winter sports' destination that are ten-a-penny in neighbouring Austria. Slovenia has never sought to…
Third time’s a charm: Hotel Bohinj finally lives up to its name and location
My first memories of Bohinj's then Hotel Kompas stem from the late-1990's, a time when Slovenia was still in its infancy as an independent state. Although the era of Marshal Tito's rule over what by 1991 became the former Yugoslavia had concluded on his death in 1980, Slovenia's briefly fraught secession from the collective of…
Hotel Zlatorog: Decline, fall, and rebirth
The imminent demolition of Bohinj's iconic Hotel Zlatorog is now the best and realistically only course of action available to an ailing edifice left to wither on the vine by its previous owner. Once favoured by Marshal Tito as a bucolic setting in which to receive fellow Non-Aligned and Communist leaders when Slovenia formed the…
Lake Bohinj sets the agenda for responsible, sustainable tourism
The four sides of Lake Bohinj afford visitors diverse pleasures and limitations, but the body of water itself has become the subject of much debate along a common theme: limiting the impact on its ecosystem from outside influences, both human and otherwise. The road along the southern edge of Bohinjsko Jezero links Ribcev Laz, where…
Bohinj strives for greater balance between agriculture and sustainable tourism
One of my earliest memories of vacationing in Slovenia's Bohinj region was of a headscarf-wearing lady of indeterminate age, perhaps in her late fifties or early sixties, cutting pasture grass by hand; in other words, with a scythe - before placing the presumed silage in a back-mounted basket. Now, if I was to ask you…
The Maritime Alps of Slovenia and Italy may see more snow and glacier consolidation, but deny Climate Change at your peril
Standing up to your knees in snow at 1,800 metres above sea level whilst at a ski resort is not an unusual occurrence in itself but indicates one potential anomaly: assuming the scenario doesn't relate to off piste terrain then why hasn't the particular area been groomed for winter sports aficionados? The answer might surprise,…
Slovenia: Europe’s exemplar of alpine custodianship
To me, Slovenia has always punched above its weight as an alpine nation. It can of course be argued that the modern day border that wraps around a territory occupied by 2 million inhabits has within it quite by chance some of the most dramatic mountainscapes of Europe, but it isn't necessarily what you have…
History and its location demand much from a rebooted Hotel Zlatorog
To be at the very end, neglected, and alone through no fault of your own has to be the ultimate insult to injury when an inadvertent, but preventable, fall from grace has brought about such a sad demise. This though has been the fate of Bohinj's Hotel Zlatorog, once one of the most famous establishments…
Bohinj’s Hotel Bellevue seeks a happy ending that Agatha Christie would approve of
It is difficult to comprehend the reputational and financial implications that Bohinj must have suffered in the last decade from the simultaneous decay of many of its preeminent hotels, in particular the Zlatorog, Ski Hotel, and the Bellevue. Tourism has never been an industry which the area places its unswerving faith in and dependence on,…
Enforced pause in tourism enables Bohinj to reaffirm its commitment to soft, sustainable tourism
It is now over 20 years since I first visited Slovenia's Lake Bohinj, but until recent times changes to the area's preeminent hotel stock had been painfully, glacially slow, if that is to say that the inexorable decline of many of its most famous tourist accommodation has only in recent times started to be arrested.…
The dawn of a new era for Bohinj, which seeks to strike an appropriate balance between tourism and tradition
It has been a few years since I last visited the Bohinj region, having been until relatively recent times a frequent vacationer to Ribcev Laz. As the hotel stock dwindled, precipitating a sharp reduction in available rooms which to some extent drove up prices, I found it easier to get my alpine kicks in neighbouring…
What a refreshing change: Bohinj seeks symbiosis where tourism is secondary to local sensibilities
Making tourism work has at times been hard going for the Bohinj region of Slovenia during the last few years. If losing hundreds of guest bedrooms as the inexorable decline and eventual closure of historic hotels the Zlatorog and Bellevue wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow(along with deteriorating fortunes at the Ski Hotel Vogel…
Only when the well becomes dry will the Alps appreciate the worth of its water
The effects on the Alps of increasingly hot summers can be seen in the shrinking of many of its permanent ice fields. Evidence of retreating glaciers is hardly revelatory but hand in hand with greater amounts of meltwater entering upland rivers is the lack of natural precipitation in the mountains, often leaving farmers with an…
Bohinj: Green winters offer an opportunity to diversify away from traditional winter sports
Amid the now annual summer stampede to Lake Bohinj its potential as an all year-round destination is increasingly overlooked. It is though the very reason why winter visitor numbers have significantly declined that the local municipality and tourist association are pinning their hopes on rebalancing Bohinj's appeal as a holiday location for all seasons. The…
Bohinj: A desire for better, not more tourism conflicts with its bucket list reputation
It was June 1999, with the dying embers of the Kosovo conflict but several hundred miles away from my vacation in Slovenia's Bohinj region. What though to many without any knowledge of Yugoslavia and the relative geographic proximity of its former component parts was a risky location for my holiday, could not have proven to…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 
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