Slovenia is known as a land of pristine nature that spoils its visitors with tranquillity, relaxation, natural beauty, the possibility to observe plants, animals and landscapes, and the chance to explore the landscape, culture and history of individual regions.
In Slovenia, about 13% of its entire territory is currently protected (one national park, three regional parks, 46 landscape parks, 56 natural reserves and about 1200 natural monuments), and 37% is protected by Natura 2000 which ranks Slovenia among the EU Member States with the best preserved nature.
The status of valuable natural feature was obtained by 6000 such features (waterfalls, natural bridges, spectacular trees, rivers, lakes, gorges, springs, etc.), and by about 12,000 underground caves. In addition, there are also two geoparks, several botanical gardens and 144 monuments of designed landscapes in Slovenia.
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The beautiful Soča river in the Triglav National Park. Photo: Tuul & Bruno Morandi-GettyImages/GulliverFilm&Foto
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Crossing the brigde over Soča river. Photo: Ciril Jazbec/www.slovenia.info
Slovenia ranks high on various international rankings. Yale University ranked Slovenia as the fifth greenest country in the world, while National Geographic ranked it as the greenest country in the world.
Nature science trails
If you want to take a short hike in nature and learn a lot of interesting things, choose one of the several hundred nature science or educational trails across Slovenia. Most of them are short, marked and designed in such a way that they are accessible to everyone. You can learn about interesting facts from the educational signs along the way that you might have overlooked yourself.
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Exploring the mountain lake Bled in Julian Alps. Photo: Anastasiia Shavshyna-GettyImages/GulliverFilm&Foto
Caves
Cavers have discovered more than 12,000 underground caves in Slovenia so far, some of them more than 1000 metres deep and several kilometres long.
You can visit: Dimnice, Divača Cave, Cave under Predjama Castle, Kostanjevica Cave, Križna Cave, Planina Cave, Postojna Cave, Pekel Cave, Snežna Cave, Škocjan Caves, Vilenica Cave, Županova jama Cave.
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Škocjan Caves. Photo: Jošt Gantar/www.slovenia.info
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Križna Cave. Photo: David Clapp-GettyImages/GulliverFilm&Foto
Guides will take you on the tour of the cave, and tour timetables are available on their websites. Do not forget to wear a jacket as the temperature in the caves is constantly between 8 and 12°C.
Botanical gardens and an arboretum
You are invited to visit the botanical gardens in the Soča Valley (Juliana), Sežana, Maribor, and Ljubljana. The arboretum is located in Volčji Potok.
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Arboretum Volčji Potok. Photo: Primož Hieng/www.slovenia.info
Respect nature. Do not forget that everyone who visits the parks is responsible for their behaviour there and for passing on this natural heritage to future generations.
Date: 3. July 2020
Time to read: 2 min
