Lake Bled is Slovenia’s most popular resort and the town, called Bled, swarms with visitors in the summer because word had got around that it is such a special place. The lake is small, just 2km by 1.4km, but it’s 6km circumference is a good walk for visitors. The two main drawbacks are the traffic that crawls through the town and the difficulty in parking. Once out of the cars the town itself and the lake’s shores are big enough to take all the visitors on offer with hotels, parks, lakeside water theme park, trails, toboggan run, tea rooms, ice cream parlours.

Other than the lake there are three main sights. Bled Castle is perched high up on a steep cliff. This 11th century medieval castle boats towers, ramparts, mosaic and terraces. The path up to it is really steep and taken with care, or take the car and park up there. I should say it is quite expensive to get in and the best shots off it are from lakeside.

The Parish Church of St Martin stands next door to the castle, is steep steeple pointing to the heavens contrasts with the stumpy turrets and the bare faced walls.

Bled Island is at the far end of the lake. The Church of the Assumption dates from the 17th century. To reach it take a pletna (gondola) and get dropped off at the South Staircase, built in 1655.

For a complete contrast take the road south west and see the beauty that is Bohinj Lake. No tea rooms here; just a small unspoilt lake surrounded by high peaks over which clouds glare at the crystal-clear, blue-green water and the folks canoeing/swimming/sail boarding or walking/cycling the trails around its edges. Be sure to park in the proper car parks though. Those who pull onto the verge and make their way through the pine trees were all labelled with a ticket.

I’ll let the images do the work. See what you think. Both are special and well worth a visit. At the end of the day I wanted to spend more time in the quieter, smaller, cool, clear waters of Bohinj.