In October 2024 we visited Slovenia for a 10 day holiday. Slovenia occupies a small corner of Europe to the south of Austria, and was previously the most northern state in Yugoslavia. The most interesting area for photographers is the north-western corner bordering Austria to the north and Italy to the west, where the Julian Alps are located. Here the scenery and villages are very reminiscent of Austria rather than the other Balkan states to the south.

We flew to Venice airport and picked up a hire car, before driving the 300km to Lake Bled, which was our base for the holiday. Lake Bled is the most famous location in Slovenia and the only one which could be described as ‘touristy’,  with a lot of international visitors.  Other locations seemed to be visited more by local Slovenians, or by photography tours visiting a few of the photographic ‘hot-spot’s’ which Slovenia has to offer. 

We visited in October hoping for good autumn colour and some morning mists. We were certainly not disappointed in the colours, as Slovenia is heavily wooded with a mix of deciduous and conifer forests, which erupt in a blaze of colour in autumn. However the weather was something of a disappointment, with very low and heavy cloud cover for the first half of the holiday, and just three days of clear sunny weather. Of course, on any holiday the weather is never guaranteed, and sometimes low cloud can add a bit of atmosphere to a location.

The pages below give some information and pictures from the locations we visited during our holiday.