Published on: 2 January 2017 | Last updated: 6 January 2020
Cyclists heading towards the Lago del Predil
At a glance
Distance
361 kilometres
Difficulty/terrain
Moderately challenging. There are three climbs with more than 500 metres altitude gain. There are options to make the route easier, or even harder.
Traffic
Mainly quiet roads and cycleways.
Surfaces
The route is entirely on surfaced roads and cycleways that are in good condition.
Finding your way
The cycleways are well signed.
Cyclists on a bridge on the D2 cycleway near Mojstrana
Overview
This route is a short tour in the Julian Alps. The Julian Alps are the range of mountains that straddle the border between north-east Italy and western Slovenija. The pale limestone mountains are every bit as beautiful as the nearby Dolomites.
I planned this tour as a short introduction to Slovenija as I was curious to see what it was like. I was impressed: it offers great scenery and quiet (OK mainly quiet) roads.
The route takes you to Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj in Slovenija as well as following the beautiful Soča river. The route includes two of Europe’s best cycleways: the FVG1 in Italy and the D2 in Slovenija.
The route starts at Tarvisio close to the border with Slovenija (and Austria) from here it follows the FVG1 and D2 cycleways to Kranjska Gora and Jesenice, and from there to the Blesko Jezero (Lake Bled) and Bohinjsko Jezero (Lake Bohinj). It climbs to the Bohinjsko Sedlo (altitude 1275m) cross from the lakes into the valleys of the Bača and Soča rivers.
The Soča river at Most Na Soči
The route then follows the Soča river to Bovec before climbing to the Passo del Predil (altitude 1156m) and the border with Italy. It passes the Lago del Predil on its way back to Tarvisio.
After Tarvisio there’s a long relaxed cruise along the FVG1 cycleway as it heads towards Chiusaforte. At Chiusaforte the route leaves the cycleway and follows the beautiful Val Racolana as it heads back to the Lago del Predil and the Passo del Predil. From the pass it’s downhill pretty much all the way to Bovec and Kobarid and then to Cividale del Friuli in Italy.
The road to Bovec near Čezsoča
Map and altitude profile
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Run your cursor over the graph to show the elevation, and distance from the start, for any given point on the route. (Note: the altitude graph is not shown where the route is flat).
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| Distances | |
|---|---|
| Tarvisio (Boscoverde station) - Radovljica | 58 kms |
| Radovljca - Bohinjska Bistrica | 28 kms |
| Bohinjska Bistrica - Tolmin | 56 kms |
| Tolmin - Kobarid | 16 kms |
| Kobarid - Bovec | 23 kms |
| Bovec - Tarvisio | 30 kms |
| Tarvisio - Chiusaforte | 36 kms |
| Chiusaforte - Bovec | 47 kms |
| Bovec - Cividale del Friuli | 52 kms |
| Total | 361 kms |
Cyclists on the road to Bovec near Strmec na Predelu
Options and connections
If you fancy something a little more challenging you could take the Ruska cesta (Russian road) which goes over the Vršič Pass in the heart of the Triglavski Narodni national park (sl/de/en). The climb from Kranjska Gora involves an altitude gain of just over 800 metres over 12.5 kilometres - so an average gradient of 6.5 percent.
You could also make a side-trip off the route climb from the Predil pass (1156m) to the Mangartsko sedlo (Mangart Saddle) which, with an altitude of 2072m at the top is Slovenia’s highest road.
View of the Julian Alps from the Mangart (Slovenija). Photo by Christian Mehlführer via Wikimedia Commons
Connections
You could avoid the climb between Bonhinjska Bistrica and Podbrdo by taking the train. The AdriaBike/BiMoBis cycle routes suggest taking the train Jesenice to Most Na Soči, but so far as I can see you could just catch the train at Bonhinjska Bistrica and then get off at Podbrdo.
This tour is based on the BiMoBis and AdriaBike routes. You can use these resources and maps to plan a longer tour - for example continuing from Cividale del Friuli to Gorizia and from there crossing back into Slovenija. Alternatively the AdriaBike route goes south to Trieste and the Slovenian coast.
At its northern end the route connects to the Ciclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg international cycle route between Salzburg and the coast at Grado. The Ciclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg in turn connects with the Drau cycle route at Villach.
If you don’t mind improvising a little you could also continue on from the Bohinjsko Sedlo pass to Škofja-Loka and from there into Ljubljana.
The Soča river near Kobarid - seen from the Napoleon bridge
Getting there and getting back
The closest airports are Trieste Monfalcone and Klagenfurt. Innsbruck, Treviso and Venezia are also options.
There are trains to Tarvisio Boscoverde from Trieste and Udine in Italy and from Villach in Austria.
There’s a bike-friendly train service from Cividale del Friuli to Udine. Note that this service is operated by the Ferrovia Udine Cividale and these services may not show in the search results on bahn.com and trenitalia.com.
New trains on the Trieste-Tarvisio line
Downloads
Maps to print out or view offline
GPS files
View of the mountains near Radovljica
More information
Places to stay
Transport and services
Resources
Pletna boat on Lake Bled (Bledjsko jezero)
Articles in this series
- The Julian Alps
- Julian Alps Part 1: Tarvisio to Bohinjska Bistrica
- Julian Alps Part 2: Bohinjska Bistrica to Bovec
- Julian Alps Part 3: Bovec to Chiusaforte to Bovec
- Julian Alps Part 4: Bovec to Cividale del Friuli
Get in touch
Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.
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