Lake Bled

A cutesy castle, a romantic boat ride and a picture perfect mountain backdrop round out the experience of visiting Lake Bled, Slovenia. Our trip to the Western Balkans started in tiny Slovenia. Just a short drive from Ljubljana, the country’s capital, we spent two night’s in Bled. In that short time we enjoyed a walk around the lake, took a pletna boat ride to visit Bled island and hiked up the steep hillside to reach Bled Castle.

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We started our Lake Bled adventure on the water. Pletna boats are the gondolas of Slovenia. The skill of oaring these flat bottomed boats is passed down from generation to generation. Each of the boats is crafted by hand, as it’s been done since the 17th century. We arrived at the pletna boast dock first thing in the morning and were on the first boat to the island.

Bled Island

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The 15 euro per person ride gets you to Bled Island where you’ll get to spend 45 minutes exploring before you board the pletna for the return trip. When we arrived at the island, we climbed the 99 steps to the Church of the Assumption. Here a ticket to the church got us the chance to climb more stairs to the church’s bell tower and ring the bell inside the chapel for good luck.

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Before meeting up with the pletna boat, we stopped at the island’s cafe for a slice of potica. Potica is a traditional Slovenian nut roll cake. It’s particularly popular at Christmas time. I thought it was tasty, our boys called is disgusting.

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After our mid-morning dessert break, we walked the 3.5 miles around Lake Bled taking dozens of photos of the island as well as people watching. Before we boarded the boat to the island, we’d stopped at the market in Mlino (the village we are staying in) and purchased picnic lunch supplies. We stopped along the lakeshore to enjoy our lunch before we made the steep trek up to cliff-dangling Bled Castle.

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Bled Castle

Bled Castle offers sweeping vistas of the lake below. Worth the admission price and the thigh burn climbing the hundreds of steps to get to the top. There wasn’t really much to see at the castle other than the views and a small museum. After our brief visit, we made our way back to our apartment for a quick nap. On our walk back to the apartment, we did some souvenir shopping in Bled town and stopped for a slice of kremma rezina-cream cake.

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We ended our full day in Lake Bled with an amazing dinner at Sova and a dip in the lake itself. The lake is deep and the water was cool. It was an awesome way to end our day in this beautiful location.

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Where to stay

• We loved staying in the village for Mlino. Easy access to the lake plus there were two great restaurants and a market to walk to. It’s also an easy 10 minute walk to Bled town.
• Mlino is less crowded-added bonus.
• We booked on AirBnB with Jakob.

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What and where to eat

• We had a delicious dinner at Restavracija Sova. We ordered the grilled meat plate of chicken wrapped in proscuitto, a beef fillet, spicy sausage and a pork medallion as well as the steak and balsamic sauce. Recommend. The wait staff here are very helpful and so kind.
• We arrived late on our first day in Bled but found great pizza at Pizzeria Briksen and after dinner gelato at Jodler.
• Slovenian cream cake is delicious. Eat all the cake.

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Tips and Tricks

• Lake Bled is easy and relaxed. Go slow and take your time enjoying the views and the comfortable atmosphere.

Our Western Balkan adventure took us to Split, Dubrovnik, Pltivice Lakes National Park, Mostar and Kotor. Click the links above for more details on those trips.

Happy Adventuring, Rochelle