Velika Planina

Velika Planina is a broad grassy plateau at around fifteen hundred metres above the Kamnik Alps, and it is one of the few places in Europe where a full seasonal herding settlement is still in use. Each summer herders drive cattle up and live in a village of small oval huts built in a distinctive local form, a conical shingle roof reaching almost to the ground over a low wooden shell, arranged in a scatter across the meadows with a tiny chapel among them. Visitors come up by cable car and chairlift and then simply walk, across open pasture full of wildflowers, past grazing cows with bells, to viewpoints over the surrounding peaks. The herders sell sour milk and cottage cheese from the huts. In winter the plateau becomes a gentle ski and sledging area and the huts stand in deep snow.

History

The herders' settlement on the plateau became a settlement in its own right in 1985, when it was separated administratively from neighbouring Žaga (Wikipedia, Velika Planina).

The landscape

• The herders' village - the oval huts with shingle roofs reaching to the ground.
• The summer pasture - cattle, bells and wildflowers across the plateau.
• Sour milk and cheese - dairy sold directly from the huts in season.
• The chapel - the small shepherds' chapel among the huts.

When to go

June to September is when the herders are up and the huts are occupied, which is the point; outside that the plateau is beautiful but empty. Winter brings snow, sledging and a very different look. Weekends are busy with day-trippers from Ljubljana, and the cable car queues.

Things to know

The herders are working, not performing, and the huts are their homes for the season, so photographing through doorways and wandering into them is intrusive. The cable car plus chairlift is not cheap and queues form at weekends; walking up takes about two hours instead. There is little shelter on the plateau and weather turns quickly.

Nearby

Kamnik's old town is below; Ljubljana is an hour away and Logar Valley to the northeast.