The Logar Valley

The Logar Valley is about seven kilometres long, flat as a floor, and enclosed on three sides by walls of rock rising well over a thousand metres, which makes it one of the most perfectly formed glacial valleys in the Alps and a protected landscape park. A single road and a parallel walking trail run its length through meadows and scattered farms, ending at a path up to the Rinka waterfall, which drops around ninety metres off the headwall and can be reached in half an hour from the road. Beyond it the ridge marks the Austrian border. The neighbouring Matkov Kot and Robanov Kot valleys are quieter versions of the same thing. Old farmhouses along the Solčava panoramic road, high on the sunny side, sell cheese and offer rooms, and the whole area is exceptionally peaceful.

What you actually see

• The valley floor - the flat glacial trough walled by peaks on three sides.
• Rinka waterfall - the ninety-metre fall closing the head of the valley.
• The Solčava panoramic road - high farms and viewpoints on the sunny slope.
• Matkov Kot and Robanov Kot - the quieter neighbouring valleys.

When to go

May to October is the walking season, with wildflowers in early summer and colour in October; the waterfall is strongest after snowmelt in late spring. Winter is quiet and often snowbound, with limited services. Weekends in summer bring Slovenian day-trippers.

Honest expectations

The valley is small and, once you have walked it and climbed to the waterfall, a day covers the main sights; its appeal is quiet rather than variety. Vehicles pay to enter, which surprises some. Accommodation is limited to farmhouses and a couple of hotels, and books out in summer. The road in from Ljubljana is long and winding.

Nearby

Velika Planina is over the ridge to the south; the Austrian border runs along the head of the valley.