| country: | Slovenia |
| location: | Julian Alps |
| departures: | 2008: 29 Aug, 12 Sep, 19 Sep |
| price: | From £330 – £355 (4 days) excluding flights. Price includes airport transfers, 3 nts hotel half-board, mini rafting, mountain bike trip, quad bikes, trip to Tolminka gorges, evening entertainment, all equipment and qualified instructors. |
| late availability: | Late availabillity on 29th August departure |
the amazing things you'll be doing
This is a short break to a western part of Slovenia, in the picturesque valley of the emerald river Soca with amazing views over the neighbouring Julian Alps. In these few days you will get to know the country by exploring it in many different ways. Cycling up the valley, paddling down the turquoise river and enjoying mountain tracks on quad bikes. A perfect mixture so don’t forget to bring swimming trunks and a big smile with you.
Tolmin is the town we are heading to. It’s a small destination just on the outskirts of the Julian Alps of no more than 4000 people, but still the centre of the valley with all the services you need including daily market with home made farm products.
Our accommodation is Hotel Krn, which is ideally situated just in the centre of Tolmin, with comfortable en suit twins, doubles, triples and quad bedrooms available. It has a variety of meals and home made products at the bar which you shouldn’t miss out on. It has a spacious terrace where you can enjoy the late afternoon view over the Alps.
Tolmin is the town we are heading to. It’s a small destination just on the outskirts of the Julian Alps of no more than 4000 people, but still the centre of the valley with all the services you need including daily market with home made farm products.
Our accommodation is Hotel Krn, which is ideally situated just in the centre of Tolmin, with comfortable en suit twins, doubles, triples and quad bedrooms available. It has a variety of meals and home made products at the bar which you shouldn’t miss out on. It has a spacious terrace where you can enjoy the late afternoon view over the Alps.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Transfer from airport to Tolmin, welcome drink and introductory meeting, followed by dinner. The evening is free – if you're not too tired, you'll be able to wander around the town, explore the old square and cosy night life in local pubs. |
| Day 2: | Cycling up the valley on a narrow and quiet road through old villages and just next to the Soca river with the Julian Alps on the right side and Kolovrat mountain range, which is on the border with Italy on the left. We’ll swap bikes for mini rafts and paddle down the river at leisure, but still reach an exciting descent with swimming, jumping and diving included. |
| Day 3: | We will hit the road on a quad bikes and throughout the day enjoy the view from the top of mountains and hills down to valley and Alps on one side and lowlands and Adriatic sea on the other. Don’t forget your camera! |
| Day 4: | After breakfast a short walk to nearby Tolminka Gorge is possible with fascinating Devils bridge 60 metres over narrow Tolminka river, hot spring and ‘Bear Head’. At midday we will say goodbye to Tolmin and head to the airport. |
how this holiday makes a difference
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We are a local agency, providing active holidays in the river Soca valley of Tomlin. This lovely and unspoilt part of Europe is not on the traveller's top list of places to visit yet and we are fully aware that respecting the environment, avoiding mass tourism and integrating local businesses and guides is the way to keep it as it is. In such a fragile and clean environment as this, regulated tourism has already been proven as the best solution.
As a local agency we work with local guides and qualified sports enthusiasts who are all well trained and above all friendly and helpful. Our philosophy has always been that, next to the destination, a genuine human touch is what makes a fantastic holiday. It has been proven to be so. Tolmin itself lies just next to Triglav National Park and it has happened in the past that tourists have disrespected the landscape near roads by parking their vehicles on the pastures and fields as well as using motorbikes and quad bikes on mountain tracks. There were issues regarding massive collecting of endangered mountain flora too. Our agency is a strong fighter against eco problems in the valley with constant organization of events such as the annual cleaning action and conferences about excessive extraction of gravel from Soca river, printing T-shirts with eco topics. Due to minimizing any negative impact on the landscape, we keep our groups small with a maximum of 12 clients. In this way we reduce our impact on the landscape. This close to nature, guests don't even think of any littering and become aware of a fragile balance in the nature. Even when driving quad bikes, we only use tracks, approved by local municipality and with permission of land owners and competent institutions. This is also an area where the landscape and people have been seriously affected by both World Wars. To make people aware of this fact, we show clients all 'must see' places in the valley, especially the award winning museum in Kobarid and Tolmin. Entrance fees also contribute to restoring and maintaining both war sites such as bunkers, front lines, charnel house and nations cultural and historic places of all kinds. On this holiday, only local accommodation providers are used who employ local staff in all areas. Recycling is essential wherever possible. All the private accommodations serve local delicacies such as well known Tolmin cheese and Bear blood spirit. In this way they help to contribute to the local economy. All transfer services are local too. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |











