Bled, Slovenia 2019

At Ljubljana’s bus station, I bought a combo ticket for €40 that included a one-way ride to Bled, entrance to Bled Castle, a return boat ride to the island, entrance to the island church, a slice of cake and a drink at the island café.

Fearing that Bled would be crowded because the summer season had begun and, on top of that, it was a weekend, I booked a room while I was in Ljubljana. Indeed, Bled was packed with tourists, mostly Germans and Chinese. I stayed at the guesthouse Ivanka named after its owner. My room was basic; after the night in luxury at Urban Hotel, I was saving money.

Two main attractions in Bled are the castle and the famous lake with a small island and a church on it. I started with the castle. It was small and pretty but had nothing more to offer than views of the lake below and the Julian Alps mountains with snowy tops. The latter looked rather close to Bled.

The boat ride to the tiny island with the church took a few minutes. Inside the church, there was a wishing bell and people queued to ring it. As the result, the bell did not stop tolling. I ate my cake included into the ticket while looking at the lake, walked around the island and that was it. There were no interesting facts or history to learn about this place and nothing to do. Back on the shore, I went around the lake and climbed a couple of surrounding hills. The hikes were the best part of my stay in Bled.

My verdict was that Lake Bled was overrated. Its beauty was not as stunning as I heard. Hike to any lake in the Rocky Mountains and it will take your breath away, even though these lakes do not have churches in the middle.

After seeing Bled, I had one more day left in Slovenia. I decided to spend it in a small town called Kranj located between Bled and Ljubljana International Airport.