Beautiful Bled (Lake Bled)

Member Name: jpjarratt

Product:	Lake Bled
Date:	03/08/02 (947 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beauty

Disadvantages: Busy in peak season

After having read about Bled in the Lonely Planet guide I was put off. It sounded as though it was heaving with tourists, expensive and over commercialised. Fate however meant that when me and my girlfriend crossed the Austrian border we could only get to Bled that night and not Bohinj where e wanted to go.

Arrived as the sun was coming down on a lovely summers evening - light reflecting off the lake. It looked fantastic. Lake Bled is surrounded by high Alpine mountains and is about a couple of miles long and maybe a mile wide. In the centre of the lake is a tiny island with a church. On the western side is a high cliff with a castle on the top.

We stayed at a campsite at the southern end of the lake out of the centre of Bled. I think this was probably a good move. Bled as a village/town is not that much to look at. It has a bit too much concrete.

The lake has a track all the way round it which you can either walk round or get on a land train a bit like those you get at the sea-side in Britain. If you are living it up you can also get a horse-drawn carriage - nice.

You can also travel across the lake by hiring a rowing boat or getting escorted round by a guide. You can also swim in the lake. It is clean water and for stronger swimmers you can swim to the island such as I did. However if you swim, you cannot enter the church on the island as you need dry respectable clothes!

Aside from the beauty of the lake, there are plenty of other things to do around. There are a lot of outdoor sports you can do - mountain biking, white water rafting, caving, gliding and Zorbing. Not badly priced either. There is also a very nice gorge that you can walk down on a special wooden walkway over the waterfalls. This is about half an hours walk from Bled at Vintnar.

How busy is it? I went in mid June and it was fine. Less busy than say the Lake District in Britain. I appreciate though that in school holidays it is probably heaving
and these times could maybe be best avoided.

Cost wise Lake Bled is expensive for Slovenia and not greatly different to prices in nearby Italy. It is cheaper though than its other neighbour Austria.

I highly recommend this place.

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