This journey through the Julian Alps is one of eastern Europe’s finest railway journeys. Known as the Bohinj Railway, the line between Jesenice and Sezana was likened to the feat of building the Suez Canal when it opened in 1906, on account of the engineering challenges in building its numerous tunnels, viaducts and bridges.
It skirts a mountainous national park, passes the famous resort of Lake Bled with its island chapel, and crosses the wild stony Kras plateau. Attractive towns and villages surround the stations, many of them built from local limestone. The line frequently crosses rivers such as the emerald-green Soca, sometimes on spectacular bridges, including the world’s longest span for an all-masonry structure, the 85m of the Solkan Bridge.
From Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, electric trains reach Jesenice at the northern end of the Bohinj Railway and Sezana at the southern end. The Bohinj Railway is operated by diesel railcars, but there is also the option of taking a summer steam-hauled excursion over part of the line between Gorizia and Bled.
Don’t miss
- The splendid railway museum in Ljubljana, at Parmova 35 in Kurilniska 3
- Joze Plecnik’s Secessionist buildings in Ljubljana along the Ljubljanica River, which featured in the 2006 Bond film Casino Royale.
- A worthwhile excursion from Sezana is the short descent to the Adriatic Sea at Trieste, with stupendous views.
- Bled Castle, first mentioned in 1004
- The Old Sava neighbourhood of Jesenice and Ruard Manor (now a museum)
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Journey time |
from 3 hours 55 minutes |
| Indirect service changing at Nova Gorica with stops including |
Bled Jezero, Most na Soci, Branik and Kopriva. |