Unplanned Adventure: By bus over the most stunning mountain pass in Europe

Europe has indeed stunning mountain passes. I grew close to the famous high alpine road, Grossglockner. So I know what a beautiful winding mountain road looks like. But I have experienced in Slovenia, on my not so well researched trip took me by surprise.

So come with me on this journey over the most stunning European mountain pass in Slovenia.

On Saturday, I took the train from Salzburg to Villach. It should have been a direct train to Lesce-Bled, where I spent the first night of my trip. But due to construction work, the rail tracks in Slovenia were closed. That’s why I needed to change to the bus in Villach. That this will affect my travel plans for the following day didn’t come to my mind. 

My trip to the Balkans was not entirely planned. I left lots of room for spontaneity. The idea was to go with the flow and use only ground transportation. Slovenia was my first stop.

Public transportation over Slovenia’s highest mountain pass

The Soča Valley in Slovenia has been on my bucket list since summer 2017. I worked in a rafting center, met great rafting guides and kayakers who recommended me to travel there. When I made up the idea of traveling to the Balkans, I knew I needed to stop at the Soča Valley. 

Finding suitable public transportation wasn’t easy. I stumbled upon this website.

And it tempted me to take the bus across the highest Slovenian pass – the Vršič Pass, but the bus website confused me. Since the last few weeks had been a bit hectic, I didn’t have time to plan, so it seemed the easiest way to take the train from Lesce-Bled to Mosti na Soci and hitchhike from there to Kobarid. Little did I know that I would have the chance to see Slovenia’s most beautiful mountain pass.

An unplanned bus trip over the mountain pass in Slovenia

On Sunday morning, I saw the buses at the train station and acknowledged that there might be no train. The man at the counter told me after I asked him how I could get to Mosti na Soci, “There is a bus across the street. Hurry up to catch it.” 

The bus driver was an older man, and he didn’t speak any English. Luckily, a young man in the first row was so kind to translate for me. It turns out that he isn’t going to Mosti na Soci, but I can take this bus and change to another bus somewhere else (I’m terrible at remembering these village names).

I paid for my ticket, sat down and nervously looked at Google Maps. The guy in the seat behind me told me he was going in the same direction, and I was relieved. At least now I know when to get off, I thought. Then we went back to the road I came from the day before. Confused, I turned around and asked the guy the name of the place where we had to change buses. “It’s a little further up, but I’m not sure if we can make it. It takes us 25 minutes to get there, and the connecting bus leaves at 11:30.”

Getting lost is part of the journey

I asked him to show me on google maps where we need to catch the other bus. While he was worried about catching the next bus, I still wondered where we were going. We headed north, which was the direction back to Austria. In the beginning, I was confused about the road we were taking. When I travel, I often or always have an imaginary map in my head. I want to know the direction I’m heading. But on this day on the bus, I felt lost. I was sad that I couldn’t take the train (I love riding the train). In addition, I wouldn’t say I liked that my planned route has been upset. 

We got on the next bus. We drove up this winding alpine road, higher and higher. It was later that I realized that this was the road I wanted to take over the beautiful mountain pass. My worries about taking another route disappeared. I felt lucky and happy to be riding through this beautiful pass, the Vršič pass, to the Soča valley. The view was magnificent. I couldn’t stop looking through the bus window. The mountain landscape got better with every meter we climbed. The road was crazy busy, with lots of motorcycles, which was not surprising since it was Sunday. Everyone enjoyed the great weather at this beautiful European alpine pass.

The Vršič Pass in Slovenia

We reached the Vršič Pass and had a gorgeous view of the mountains. The parking space was packed. At the top of the pass, there was a small bistro and mountain huts scattered around. The bus stopped and some people got off. But before I could observe everything, we continued our journey. The road descended. The valley opened up in front of us. I wished I could get off at the beautiful pass, but who knows when the next bus will come and if I will reach Kobarid before it gets dark.

At the top of the pass, it looks as if you could go for walks or hikes in different directions. At this high altitude of 1611 masl, the peaks of the Julian Alps lie majestically in your grasp. A very unique place to go for a walk.

The way down was not as beautiful as the way up, but the road was definitely as winding, with many hairpin bends.
At the end of the alpine road in the valley, finally, there she was – The Soča. A small clean alpine stream. A river I wanted to see for a long time. Later, I looked at the map and realized I almost saw Soča from her beginning. Driving along this little river was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop looking out the window. People were swimming or just relaxing on the shore and some fishers were trying their luck. Advertisements for outdoor activities covered the villages we passed.

The bus stopped in Bovec. I thought I needed to hitchhike from here, but shortly before everyone went out of the bus, the driver asked “Ljubljana – Kobarid”. “Yes”  
“You can take this bus,” he pointed to the bus in front of us.

Arriving in Kobarid, Slovenia

That was my last bus for today. In Kobarid, I had booked a lovely tiny hut via Airbnb. I just needed some quiet relaxing time in nature before doing all these baffling activities, seeing a thousand new places, and meeting many new people. 

When I arrived in Kobarid, I was super tired and still didn’t realize how lucky I’ve been with this journey to see the most beautiful mountain scenery. While I was waiting for my host to show me the way to my little hut in the woods, I took in the atmosphere of Kobarid. It was a nice little town.

Even though I planned to stay in Kobarid for two nights, I extended my stay for two more nights. I simply didn’t get enough from the Soča Valley.

So far, the best start of my trip. 
Even though I told myself that this trip was an unplanned, more spontaneous trip, I was sad that I could not take the planned route. At least at the beginning. So, I learned that I need to let things happen when I want to go by the flow. Even if I have an idea in my head of how things should work out, this is just a little I’ve learned about myself during my travels. On the rest of my Balkan trip, I let things happen and tried to push my stubbornness to stick to my ideas about how it should work out.

May my experience inspire you to do the same. Let things happen. Sometimes they turn out better than you ever imagined.