Bled to Bovec: the Vršič pass, and the road for when it is shut

On a map Bled and Bovec are close: two valleys separated by one ridge of the Julian Alps. On the ground that ridge is the problem, and how you get across it decides whether the journey takes ninety minutes or two and a half hours.

The Vršič pass, May to October

The high road runs from Kranjska Gora over Vršič and down into the Trenta valley. It is the highest pass in Slovenia at 1611 metres, and it climbs on twenty-four hairpin bends and descends on twenty-six more, many of them cobbled.

It is also one of the great drives in Europe. The Russian Chapel on the way up was built in 1916 by prisoners of war who died building the road itself, and it is worth the ten minutes. Near the top the view opens onto Prisojnik and Razor; on the way down the source of the Soča is a short walk from the road.

Bled to Bovec this way is about 80 km and, with the bends, roughly two hours moving. Nobody drives it without stopping, so allow three.

When it closes, and what replaces it

Vršič is a snow road. It usually shuts somewhere in November and reopens in May, and the exact dates depend entirely on the year: an early autumn or a late spring moves them by weeks. It can also close for a day at either end of the season after a heavy fall.

The road that does not close runs the other way round the mountains, through Kranjska Gora, across into Italy at Tarvisio, and back into Slovenia over the Predel pass above Log pod Mangartom. It is about 100 km, an hour and three quarters, and it is open all year.

There is a third option in the worst weather, south through Ljubljana, Idrija and Tolmin, but at 170 km it is a different kind of day and almost nobody needs it.

Why the transfer price is the same in July

A transfer from Bled to Bovec is €160 for the saloon and €225 for the van, and that figure does not change with the season.

This is deliberate. The price is calculated on the hundred-kilometre road that is open every day of the year, not the eighty-kilometre one that is open for half of it. Quoting the short road would mean a summer price that has to be renegotiated the moment the pass shuts, which is exactly the phone call fixed pricing exists to prevent. In July you get the better drive at the same cost.

From Ljubljana the same trip is €150 for the saloon, and the routing question is identical.

What is at the other end

Bovec is the centre of the Soča valley, and the river is the reason to go. It runs an improbable green that photographs badly and looks unreal in person, and the stretch between Bovec and Kobarid is where the rafting, kayaking and canyoning operators are.

• The Great Soča Gorge and the Boka waterfall are both short walks from the road, not expeditions.
• Kobarid, 20 km down the valley, has the museum of the 1917 Caporetto offensive, which is one of the best small museums in this part of Europe.
• The Mangart saddle road, in season, is the highest road in Slovenia and takes about forty minutes from Bovec.
• Rafting on the Soča runs roughly April to October, and the water is cold enough in spring that the wetsuit is not optional.

If you are driving yourself

• The Vršič cobbles are slippery when wet and the hairpins are tight enough that a long wheelbase needs the full width. In a hire car, take it slowly.
• The Italian section of the winter route needs no vignette for the short stretch used, but check what your hire company says about crossing borders.
• Fuel in Bovec is limited and expensive. Fill up in Kranjska Gora or Tolmin.
• There is very little mobile signal on the pass itself. Download the map before you start.