Strunjan Nature Reserve

The Strunjan peninsula carries the longest stretch of undeveloped cliff on the Slovenian coast, a flysch wall of alternating sandstone and marl standing about eighty metres above the water and generally described as the highest cliff on the eastern Adriatic. A path runs along the top through pine and holm oak to the pilgrimage church at Strunjan. Behind the cliff lie the Stjuza lagoon, the only true lagoon on the Slovenian coast, and salt pans still partly worked.

What you actually see

• The flysch cliff - a layered wall of sandstone and marl about eighty metres high.
• The Stjuza lagoon - the only enclosed lagoon on the Slovenian coast, behind the ridge.
• Moon Bay - the beach below the cliff, reached by a steep path.
• The salt pans - a small surviving section of the Strunjan saltworks.

When to go

April to October for the coastal path and swimming, with spring best for flowers. Summer heat on the exposed clifftop is severe at midday. Winter bora winds make the top uncomfortable.

Honest expectations

The cliff is unstable and undercut, and the edge is genuinely dangerous; sections of path have been closed after collapses. Moon Bay involves a steep descent and back up. Shade on the clifftop path is patchy.

Nearby

Piran is west, and Izola is east.