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…

Air Adriatic falls at the first hurdle in its quest to replace Adria Airways

Should a country the size of Slovenia expect to have a national airline? A nation of just over two million citizens is not an ideal market for an established flag carrier or one that is considering starting up, and had the former Yugoslav republic not previously been serviced by the now defunct Adria Airways, I…

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…

Slovenia’s Juliana Trail puts alpine sustainability at the very forefront of its purpose

Awarded the Best Europe Tourism Project by the British Guild of Travel Writers, Slovenia's innovative Juliana Trail has been recognized for providing a tourist-centric product designed to take the strain off traditionally popular, but at times overwhelmed areas of the Julian Alps. Without it sounding like a tired cliche, there is more to Slovenia's alpine…

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…

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,…

Contemporary Alpine architectural design: A necessary break from the past or opportunistic shock value amid an inappropriate setting?

When thinking of classic alpine architectural design it is easy to bring to mind picture postcard images of the likes of Alpbach in the Austrian Tirol, where geranium-laden window boxes are framed by immaculately kept wooden edifices very much in the style found throughout Europe's alpine regions. Such is the dominance in mountain villages and…

Maribor Airport: Sometimes the most obvious solutions are those that are overlooked

It has been a while since I have written anything about Maribor's Edvard Rusjan Airport, for the good reason that there has been little of note to report from Slovenia's secondary landing strip, which has all but ceased operations. Notwithstanding the obvious novel coronavirus-related pause to air travel Maribor's airport cannot actually point to Covid-19…

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’s Ski Hotel Vogel: An important example of Yugoslav Architecture to be preserved, or swept away?

Without the high-profile visitors of yesteryear Bohinj's Ski Hotel Vogel is rarely mentioned, other than to group it with other failing or derelict tourist accommodation,  in the same breath as its iconic counterparts the Zlatorog and Bellevue. I doubt President Tito and his peers from the Non-Aligned Movement and various otherwise ostracised Communist regimes would…

Has Covid-19 bought alpine tourism some much needed time to reflect on its future?

Reliant on perhaps up to 90% of visitors from outside its borders to sustain a tourism economy, Austria's Tirol region will be nervously anticipating a sharp drop in revenue during its forthcoming summer season. As though border restrictions with its neighbouring countries are slowly relaxed, will a 'make do and mend' hiatus to its usual…

Bohinj: Hotel Zlatorog takes its first steps into a new era

It has now been several years since I first wrote on the plight befalling many of the Bohinj region's foremost accommodation providers, and how their descent from icons of yesteryear to sweated assets by apathetic owners finally bottomed out into closed down dereliction and decay. One of the many articles I authored about this collective…

Obergurgl memories: Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be

Stepping back in time from my previous post, the turn of the millennium is when my relationship with alpine Austria firmly took root. For decades, my family had already established individual connections with the Alps but aside from a visit as a young child to Salzburgerland's St. Wolfgang these experiences were never shared together and…

The Austrian Tirol makes its money in the Winter but Summer is when it really blossoms

The 'white gold' provided by Mother Nature is in effect the Austrian Tirol's paydirt, oiling the wheels of the local and wider economy and enabling the vast majority living in this stunning region of Central Europe to enjoy higher than national and EU-wide living standards. Notwithstanding the ability of both natural and artificial snow to…

Are the European Alps a fitting location for architectural experimentation?

For anyone who has seen the Top Mountain Star restaurant above Obergurgl-Hochgurgl or the glass cuboid Gaislachkogl top station in nearby Soelden, the latter whose use in the James Bond SPECTRE film has been mercilessly exploited by the lift operator, will already be of the opinion that the boundaries of conventional alpine design are not…

Tirol: Will Austria stand up for its environment and against Climate Change by refusing the Oetztal & Pitztal ski area merger?

Whilst not yet amounting to a charm offensive those 'pro' the development of a link between the Pitz and Oetz valleys in the Austrian Tirol have begun to counter the many arguments against the scheme, whose proponents have up to this point had exclusive use of the floor. The Pitztal has long been seen as…

Slovenia: Can Maribor Airport be given the wings it needs?

The world has considerably moved on since Maribor Airport opened to commercial aircraft in 1976. For more than two decades the site, and its grassy airstrip, in the neighbouring Hoce-Slivnica municipality had been the preserve of an acclaimed air school. Only once the construction of a more conventional runway and terminal building had been completed…

Adria Airways and Sukhoi: Cancelled agreement mired in claim and counterclaim

The dramatic cancellation of a deal to supply Slovenian flag-carrier Adria Airways with a phased delivery of fifteen Sukhoi Superjets has provoked a divergence of reasons behind the now annulled agreement. Much is therefore unclear, although it is blatantly unequivocal that both parties will insist on pursuing their own face-saving narrative. The need for owners…

Adria Airways: No Sukhoi Superjets, and no obvious Plan B

Adria Airways' summer schedule was presumably released by the Brnik-based flag carrier on the proviso that it was to begin receiving, through a phased introduction, the first two of what was to be a deal for up to fifteen Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. The introduction of the Russian-made jets to the Star Alliance member's fleet…