Inner Carniola

It is a long gravel road to the top, in a nice forest with enough shade during the hot Slovenian summer. The top of Javornik has nice views, to whats to come on the via alpina. Markings are good, the trail is quite easy to follow (just go up while staying on the gravel road, until you cannot anymore). The way down isnt that nice, lots of loose rocks, however you get rewarded with a nice little town with an open supermarket (till 19:00 on a weekday mid June '26).

Great start to the VD - we set off on 26th April from bottom of Nanos, and took 9 days including some rest. Warning to others looking at this time it was pretty cold. We camped a couple of times but froze in our summer gear (yes, probably our fault ;)) so mainly stuck to huts. Lots of options and everyone super friendly. Beautiful forest road walking, no bear sightings but a few paw prints. Trail sometimes badly marked/overgrown etc (as highlighted by others). We also got covered in ticks so should do thorough checks at the end of each day when on trail. Views from top of Sneznik are spectacular, would recommend staying at the hut. Run by a lovely family.

From Matavun to Senozece with a detour up Mala Vremsica. Very nice walk, rich with butterflies ! The climb was steep but not long. Nice to take some height compared to previous day. We slept in a hotel in Senozece, nothing remarkable there except that we could pack in some bananas and cash.

From San Dorligo della Valle to Koca na Kokosi. Nice walk, just very warm and moist especially in the morning. We struggled to find some lunch and had to settle for bad gas station sandwiches which we found at the Slovenia/Italia border. A striking impression from day 2 (which we kept for the rest of our time in Slovenia) is the absence of marking for the Via Alpina. If you don't have the track in your phone, you will very hardly be able to follow any track at all. Appreciated goulash and blueberry cake at the refuge Koca na Kokosi, though they were not open to sleep. They told us it was ok to camp so we spent the night there, freedom camping. We did the part from Kokos to Matavun the next day. Less nice and interesting day of walking (not bad either), but Matavun was really pretty and we had time to visit the Skockjan caves which comes highly recommended. Stayed at the hotel Skrla where we were very well received. Note that my GPS gives over 15 km for both days, and though both days were not hard, they were not short either, especially if you carry a bit of weight. I really recommend having some spare time in Matavun so cutting the day in two was a good decision imo.

HI! This is the link to full description with images for Slovenian section: https://medium.com/@alex.inter9/locals-guide-to-the-slovenian-section-of-the-via-dinarica-your-ultimate-hiking-adventure-a0280f9310b5 I’ve noticed that detailed guides for the Slovenian section of the Via Dinarica are hard to come by, leaving some hikers unsure of what to see or how to plan. As a Slovenian, I’ve put together this guide to help you navigate this route. My version tweaks the original a bit, adding must-see sights while trimming it a bit to keep it short and include things worth seeing. I hope it helps you get the most out of your journey! To make things easier, I’ve included a .gpx file for the track and another with .gpx points (places, descriptions, and info). You can download them at the end of the post. Gpx trails Slovenian section via Dinarica .gpx trail: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBVdA82kiz9ecyBpONP8he_0Dnas8AQ4/view?usp=sharing Slovenian section via Dinarica .gpx info poins, places of interests: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ux4BBlr3RdJek-fVhE64oFfY5-hqkXDn/view?usp=sharing Enjoy your via Dinarica! Alexander

Nice walk with great views