Zeleni gozd / Boscoverde - Soteska Ziljice / Orrido dello Slizza (circular path, counterclockwise)

Access to starting point:
From central Slovenia: we leave the Gorenjska highway at the Jesenice - west exit (the last before the Karavanški tunnel and the national border) and proceed on the road towards Kranjska Gora and Rateče, where we cross the national border with Italy. From the border we continue on the main road towards Trbiž (Italian Tarvisio) for about 9 km. Just before Trbiž at the exit for the railway station (“stazione”), we continue straight and drive into the underpass below the railway. track, and immediately after the underpass we turn right onto Via Bamberga street. From here, brown signs for “Orrido dello Slizza” also guide us. After about 500 meters and a few turns, a parallel cycling path joins the road from the left, and on the left we notice a smaller parking lot (named “Parcheggio all'Orrido dello Slizza” on Google Maps) with some white signposts with trilingual green captions in front of it. Carefully (taking care not to hit cyclists), we turn left into the parking lot and park. If it is full, we can drive about 150 meters further to another parking lot on the northern side of the railway station (named “Parcheggio ai Binari” on Google Maps) and walk back to the previously mentioned starting parking lot.

From Primorska (or western Slovenia) and elsewhere: from the Soča valley, we reach the fastest route via Bovec, heading to the Predel mountain pass, where we cross the national border with Italy and then continue past Rabelj (Italian Cave del Predil) towards Trbiž. If we come from southern regions, we can enter Italy elsewhere, head towards Videm (Italian Udine), and then towards Trbiž either via the highway (leaving it at the last Italian exit “Tarvisio”) or on the parallel main road. From wherever we come, upon arriving in Trbiž, we follow blue signs for “Fusine” or “Kranjska Gora” (or sometimes “Slovenia”) or white signs for “stazione fs”. When we are already in the eastern part of Trbiž, an entrance to the highway towards Austria branches off to the left (green sign “Austria”), but we continue straight, and just a few meters ahead, we turn slightly left from the main road onto Via Bamberga street. From here, brown signs for “Orrido dello Slizza” also guide us. After about 600 meters and a few turns, a parallel cycling path joins the road from the left, and on the left we notice a smaller parking lot (named “Parcheggio all'Orrido dello Slizza” on Google Maps) with some white signposts with trilingual green captions in front of it. Carefully (taking care not to hit cyclists), we turn left into this parking lot and park. If it is full, we can drive about 150 meters further to another parking lot on the northern side of the railway station (named “Parcheggio ai Binari” on Google Maps) and walk back to the previously mentioned starting parking lot.

Public transport: there is no direct connection from Slovenia. Right next to the starting point is the current railway station “Tarvisio Boscoverde,” where trains from Videm and Beljak stop, and on the southern side of the station, local buses from the center of Trbiž and from “Valico di Fusine” (the Italian side of the Rateče border crossing) also stop. Through the station underpass below the tracks, we reach the northern side, turn left at the parking lot, and after about 150 meters, we reach the starting parking lot.

Sustainably: the starting parking lot is located right by a branch of the popular and scenic cycling path “Ciclovia Alpe Adria” between Rateče and Trbiž (more precisely, about 160 meters east of the bridge over the gorge), which we can also reach on foot from the mentioned directions. By bike, we can reach (see description below) all the way to the resting place by the monument to Austrian soldiers, where a few basic bike racks are also available. It is good to note that typical cycling footwear may not be the most suitable for visiting the gorge, especially the steep descent from the monument.

Path description:
From the starting point at the parking lot, we head north on a roughly paved path, which ascends about 40 meters over approximately 250 meters until we reach the highest point of the path, where there is a resting place with several benches, a view to the north, a few bike racks, various information boards, and a monument to Austrian soldiers who fought against Napoleon's troops at the turn of the 18th to 19th century. When we descend towards the northern edge of the resting place, we find the marked beginning of the official path. Next follows a dizzying descent down a very steep slope, with a fence-secured path and constructed stairs winding through zigzags, descending about 90 meters in altitude until it reaches the riverbank where the gorge ends. If desired, we can go right to the riverbank itself; otherwise, we continue straight on the official path through the gorge.

The path is mostly narrow, secured with a fence, and consistently follows the right bank of the Ziljica, often running on wooden bridges, constantly gently ascending or descending above the riverbank, with only a few sections on slightly steeper stairs, while almost the entire time offering “Instagrammable” views of the gorge and the Ziljica. After walking along the path for some time and spotting a bridge above the southern part of the gorge in the distance, we first encounter a short tunnel, only a few meters long (a flashlight is not needed during the day), and a little further, just beside the path, there is a monument (stela) in memory of the main initiator of the path’s construction, Count Carl von Arco-Zinneberg. Somewhere approximately below the bridge, the path also runs beneath a rocky overhang, then the section along the bottom of the gorge soon ends, and it begins to ascend in zigzags (less spectacular than at the northern end) toward the starting point. Somewhere during this ascent, there is a resting place in the form of benches in front of a fence. Due to understandable safety reasons, there are no markings, so some visitors may not even realize that by bypassing this fence, they can quickly find the top of the Mlinščica waterfall (Italian: Rio Molino) on the other side, which is otherwise not visible from the path through the gorge.

As we continue ascending, at some zigzag, the idyll is suddenly interrupted by noise, and through the trees, we may notice that we have come very close to the highway between Austria and Trbiž. Fortunately, here the path turns away (above the highway tunnel) and soon becomes quieter again. A little further, we come across a found “kilometer” stone marked KRB, with text nearby explaining that this was the abbreviation for the former railway line from Trbiž to Jesenice and Ljubljana. A little further, we reach the cycling path, where the official part of the path ends. It is recommended to turn left here toward a bridge just a few meters away, from where we can view where we have just been (though the fence on both sides slightly obstructs the view); from the western end of the bridge, we can also see the aforementioned waterfall to the south. If we wish to return to the starting point, we turn right, walk along the cycling path, keep to the left at the fork a little further, and after about 150 meters and a gentle ascent, we reach the starting parking lot.

The description and photos refer to the condition in November 2024.

On the way: Spomenik avstrijskim vojakom (790m)