Ribčev Laz - Planinska koča Merjasec

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana - Jesenice highway, take the Lesce exit and follow the road towards Bled, Bohinjska Bistrica and later Ribčev Laz. At the junction right next to Lake Bohinj, turn left towards the hotel Bellevue, but we follow the road a little less than 100 meters, or to the large marked parking lot. The parking lot is paid, the price is 1€/h (data from May 2011).
We can also park on the free parking lot at the beginning of Ribčev Laz, which extends the path by approximately 10 minutes.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the asphalt road in the direction of the hotel Bellevue, from which soon a marked path to Rodica branches off to the left, and we follow the road almost to the already mentioned hotel. Only a little before the hotel, signs for Rjava skala, Vogel and Šija point us to the left on a wide path, which soon splits into two parts. We continue on the right marked path, which after a short ascent brings us to a larger meadow.
The path then returns to the forest, and at the next junction we choose the slightly left path (direction Vogel), which then changes from a cart track into a footpath and ascends along the edge of a meadow. Above the meadow the path goes back into the forest and gradually begins to ascend more steeply. For some time we ascend relatively steeply through the forest, then it thins out and the path brings us to a wider cart track and only a few meters further to a macadam road. We follow the road to the left, but walk on it only about 30 m, then signs for Vogel direct us right onto a footpath that begins to ascend more steeply through the forest. Higher up, we join a tractor track, which soon splits into two parts. We continue on the right marked path, which soon brings us to a forest road that we merely cross.
The path ahead ascends through a belt of scrub and a short panoramic slope, then enters dense forest through which we ascend for quite some time. Higher, we reach a smaller scree basin below Storeč vrh, which we bypass in a semicircle to the right. On the other side of the basin, the path ascends steeply, then brings us to the Vogel plateau. Here the path continues with a few shorter descents and ascents, and we soon arrive in the immediate vicinity of the ski area.
A little further on, the path splits into two parts, where the path to Šija branches off to the left, and we continue right in the direction of the Ski hotel on Vogel. After a short traverse and then a gentle ascent, we arrive at the already mentioned hotel.
From the hotel we continue left and walk in a few dozen steps to the mountain hut Merjasec on Vogel.

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Planina Zadnji Vogel, Orlove glave, Visoki Orlov rob, Vrh Dlani, Šija, Vrh Krnic, Rušnati vrh (3 h 30 min), Vogel, Meja (4 h)

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register