Slovenia - Bears, Birds & Caves

Tour Code: SVN03

An exciting 6-day holiday to Slovenia, focusing on its Brown Bears, birdlife and other natural history highlights and including a visit to the fascinating Križna Jama cave system.

6 days from
£2,395

Land only price from
£1,995

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Highlights

Summary

Slovenia, squeezed between Italy and Croatia, is not a destination that many have visited, and this holiday offers naturalists and lovers of the outdoors some exciting and unusual highlights. For example, who would expect that you can cosy up in small hides in the forests here for spellbinding close encounters with Brown Bears? And who knew that one of the largest lakes, Lake Cerknica, sometimes disappears completely in the summer? In the south-west of the country, an extensive karst cave system abounds with underground rivers and amazing fossils of fearsome predators. And then there are the birds, abounding in the forests and meadows. Our comfortable lodge, nestled in a quiet and remote area, gives us superb opportunities to enjoy these at their best.

Get up close and personal with Brown Bears in small forest hides
Comfortable lodge in remote Notranjska area in south of the country
Impressive supporting cast of other mammals, potentially including Stone Marten, Badger and Golden Jackal
Birds in the area include most of the European woodpeckers
Other special birds are Corncrake, Black Stork and Ural Owl
Visit to “intermittent” Lake Cerknica, which in the summer occasionally dries out completely
See a second species of Bear – fossils of the extinct Cave Bear in the Križna Jama karst cave system
Limited to only eight participants

Grading

Grade A. Easy walks only.

Itinerary

Outline Itinerary

Day 1

Fly into Ljubljana or Venice; transfer Notranjska

Day 2/5

Excursions and hide visits from our base in Notranjska

Day 6

Fly to London

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What's Included

What's Included?

Flights
Accommodation:
A small, comfortable lodge with private facilities.
Food:
All included in the price.

Reviews

Whilst the primary objective of the holiday was to see brown bears in the wild, the tour offered so much more. In addition to bears, we saw over 100 species of birds, plus butterflies, damselflies, and a great number of plants. I have travelled with Naturetrek on a number of occasions and received consistently good service from the company and its tour leaders. Groups are small, and the leaders are highly knowledgeable in their chosen field. The great thing is that clients are all welcome regardless of whether they are beginners or dedicated naturalists. They choice of destinations is immense, meaning there really is something for everyone.
J.H. West Sussex, Aug 24
A varied and interesting trip exploring the varied wildlife of Slovenia with an expert guide and staying in a beautiful location amidst stunning scenery. A well planned trip that covered a great deal in a short space of time. We went underground into one of the amazing karst caves, spent time watching bears from wildlife hides, enjoyed the birds and other flora and fauna of this lovely location. Naturetrek have always shown a high level of professionalism, they communicate well with their clients and we always feel well looked after and valued. They are able to answer any questions put to them and I can not recommend them highly enough as a wildlife travel company. During Covid Naturetrek continued to offer zoom travel evenings, bird watching with guides from around the world, as well as day trips when things opened up. They kept up hope in hopeless times.
R.S Hampshire, May 22
It was very well organised with an excellent, informative and enthusiastic guide who had a wide range of knowledge about plants, mammals, reptiles, birds and butterflies. Our small group got on well and there was good adherence to Covid19 safety measures by all at our accommodation. The food was also excellent and as a vegetarian I was well catered for. I was impressed by the way [Naturetrek] kept in touch and updated me constantly in what was a very fluid situation. Despite having to rearrange travel and other trip details the tour went ahead which in the circumstances was a great achievement.
L.R. London, Sept 20

Our trip to see the Slovenian bears was wonderful, and having a flexible itinerary was wonderful, because it meant that every minute was used in the best way possible, and this made it enjoyable for us. Having three bear-watching trips was great, because it maximised the chances of seeing bears. I understand that watching wildlife takes patience, time and also luck. I think my daughter and I would have been delighted to have seen just one bear. In the event, we saw lots of bears on each of our three bear-watching trips, including a mother with her very small and wobbly cubs, whom we watched for a good few hours altogether, and they were absolutely adorable and engaging. We were able to see the differences between all the bears, because each one is physically very different to look at, so we learned a lot about bears. So each of our three bear watching trips was a great success. The valleys with meadows and flowers and butterflies and the Karst landscape was wonderfully peaceful and enjoyable and it was fantastic to be able to spend a lot of time wandering in the meadows, taking it slowly and really looking and enjoying the flora and fauna, and to be able to ask our very knowledgeable guide, Luca about everything... We were fascinated by the disappearing lake and disappearing river and cave system - they were incredible and very interesting - my daughter is about to start her geography degree, and she loved this as well, and our Cave Guide was very informative. There is a waiting list of several months to enter the cave, because it is protected, so we really appreciated the fact that Naturetrek had organised this for us.
S.A. Hampshire, June 19

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Dates & Prices

2025

Departures Availability Cost

Mon 18th Aug – Sat 23rd Aug 1 £2,395

Book Tour Show Details

Flights:

Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.

Flights are included in the tour cost

Regional Departures:

On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.

Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051

Land only cost:

The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.

£1,995

Single Room Supplement:

Single Room Supplement.

£255

2026

Departures Availability Cost

Thu 11th Jun – Tue 16th Jun SPACES £2,395

Book Tour Show Details

Flights:

Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.

Flights are included in the tour cost

Regional Departures:

On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.

Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051

Land only cost:

The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.

£2,195

Single Room Supplement:

Single Room Supplement.

£285

Prefer to Travel in a Private Group?

For any interested natural history club or society, we can arrange for a private departure of this tour.

Enquire

Tour Reports

Tour report - August 2022

Tour report - June 2022

Tour report - May 2022

Tour report - September 2020

Tour report - June 2019

Tour report - May 2019

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Why Naturetrek?

At Naturetrek we craft expertly-guided group and tailor-made wildlife holidays and cruises to all seven continents. On one of our holidays, you can be assured that our passionate team will enable you to experience and enjoy the best of the world's wildlife and natural spectacles in as comfortable and rewarding a manner as possible, caring as best we can for the environment in the process. We are proud to provide:

The widest choice of wildlife holidays worldwide
Tours managed and led by naturalists, for naturalists
Outstanding value and exceptional customer service

Furthermore, as a Naturetrek client, our office team are always to on hand to help you – so if you have any queries about your holiday, whether before or after you have booked, we will be delighted to answer them on the phone. Please just give our team a call!

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