DURATION
LOCATION
ANNUAL LEAVE
SEASON
GROUP SIZE
MEETING POINT
ACCOMMODATION
Hotel · Guesthouse
DIFFICULTY
You'll need a reasonable level of fitness, the ability to swim, handle up to 3 hours of uphill hiking and an adventurous spirit!
Kick things off with an urban SUP experience through the heart of Ljubljana – one of Europe’s greenest and most photogenic cities
Head to the mountains and hike through the stunning Soča Valley, Slovenia’s adventure playground
Spend two nights in wine country, complete with hiking, caving, and a tandem paragliding experience that you’ll never forget
Day 1
Welcome to Slovenia!
Stand Up Paddleboarding
Fly to the picturesque city of Ljubljana, famous for its green spaces and captivating architecture and head to your hotel in the city centre. Your local guide will meet you there and take you on your first paddleboarding adventure down Ljubljanica river, where you will glide through the heart of the city, passing castles, city life, and iconic sights like the Dragon Bridge. After the tour Ljubiljana is yours to explore, whether it's checking out the famous Triple Bridge, wandering Prešeren Square, or dinner in the city.
Day 2
The Soča Valley
Hiking
Stand Up Paddleboarding
Take a scenic road trip to the lovely Soča Valley and explore the vivid waters of the Emerald River by SUP. Paddle between narrow canyon walls and float across wide-open pools – your guide will even challenge you to some SUP yoga (and photograph the varying results). If you want more adrenaline, why not try some cliff jumping? Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and then hike through the dramatic Tolmin Gorge – be sure to check out Bear’s Head Rock and the view from Devil’s Bridge. Finish the day in the beautiful Vipava Valley, where you’ll check into a charming guesthouse and indulge in wine and dinner at a local farm.
Day 3
Hike and paraglide the Vipava Valley
Hiking
Paragliding
Sleep in and enjoy a relaxing morning in the countryside, then depending on the conditions, either hike or take a tour of the valley, stopping at villages, farms and vineyards. In the afternoon, hike from the village of Ajdovščina to the top of Gora (780m). No need to walk back to town, as you strap in with a paragliding guide, fly across wine country and get some epic views of the Alps and the Adriatic Sea.
Day 4
Caving
Caving
Relax over breakfast, pack your things and then head out for a subterranean adventure in the Križna Cave where you'll raft and walk through tunnels to find the ancient remains of cave bears. Return to Ljubljana with time to explore some more beautiful spots along the way and head back to the airport in time for your flight home.
Included
Guides
Professional, English-speaking local guides
Accommodation
1 night hotel, 2 nights at a local farm
Meals
A delicious breakfast each day
Transfers
To and from the airport and everything in-between
Equipment
All the equipment you'll need on and off the water
Not Included
Flights to and from the meeting point
Some meals as described
Travel insurance
Visas where required
Day 1
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 3
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Food in Slovenia is very diverse with lots of influence from neighbouring countries. In addition to traditional Slovenian foods like meat stews and dandelion salads, you can also find plenty of Italian food and other international cuisine. A continental breakfast is included each morning and lunches and dinners are up to you - your guide will provide advice on the best spots for you to try.
Vegetarians, vegans and other dietary requirements and allergies can be catered for - please just request on your passenger info form
What is the accommodation like?
Ljubljana
You'll stay at the modern and recently opened Holiday Inn in Ljubljana in twin share rooms. It’s very popular among outdoorsy people, who stop in Ljubljana to grasp urban adventures like you will. The hotel has a garden and terrace and is a short walk away from all the main sights.
Vipava Valley
Kraljič Farmstay is part of a family farm property situated in a quiet village, surrounded by vineyards. You will stay in a twin-share room with a private bathroom. The friendly owners will prepare a tasty breakfast from local ingredients.
Upgrades
For solo travellers looking for their own space, an optional private room can be booked for an extra charge - see Optional Extras for the price. Please request this at the time of booking - this is subject to availability and can be limited depending on guesthouse availability.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Ljubljana Airport, Ljubljana
11:00 on Day 1
Ends
Ljubljana Airport, Ljubljana
19:00 on Day 4
Transfers
Your adventure begins at Ljubljana Airport (LJU) with your airport transfer at 11:00. If you’re not able to join the group transfer, you can easily get to the start point via a 25-minute taxi ride or the public bus. You will meet your guide and fellow adventurers at the Holiday Inn in Ljubljana.
At the end of your adventure, you will be dropped back at Ljubljana Airport (LJU) at 19:00, and we recommend booking any flight that departs after 21:00. Alternatively, you can be dropped off in Ljubljana city centre: just let your host know.
Travel options
There are regular flights to Ljubljana from airports across the UK and Europe.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- All equipment for SUP (board, paddle, shorty wetsuit), paragliding and caving (boots and head torch)
What do I need to bring?
- Swimsuit
- Board shorts and swim shirt (optional, but easier than full-body sunblock)
- Towel
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sunblock)
- Hiking shoes
- Comfortable, breathable trousers and shirt for hiking and caving
- Jumper or other warm layer
- Waterproof jacket
- Water bottle
- Bug spray
- Personal first aid kit
Optional Private Room Upgrade
Payable Before Departure
Optional Private Room Upgrade
… Per Person
Post-trip accommodation in Ljubljana (Single)
Payable Before Departure
Post-trip accommodation in Ljubljana (Single)
… Per Night
Post-trip accommodation in Ljubljana (Twin/Double))
Payable Before Departure
Post-trip accommodation in Ljubljana (Twin/Double))
… Per Night
Paragliding was the absolute highlight of this trip (it is weather dependent, so not always guaranteed to happen, but the guides made clear that they'd change the itinerary to accommodate the best weather opportunity for this activity). Lots crammed in to 4 days.... we had the additional bonus of a trip to Lake Bled and Bohinj on the final day! Beautiful country. Bit of a challenge in some places for veggie/vegan options. Quite a lot of time spent in the minibus travelling to different parts of the country, but for many of the group this gave a perfect nap opportunity! The SUPing is suitable for complete beginners (as I was).It felt like the guides worked hard to ensure we had the best experience and changed the itinerary accordingly (due to weather conditions for paragliding and a slight change with SUP route due to recent flooding). The caving is a bit touristy- nothing physically challenging about that, but all the other activities were great.
Excellent trip - Slovenia is beautiful, the hosts were all excellent, food great and activities loads of fun. The caving isn't 'caving' in the sense I was expecting, it was more exploring a cave. Really pleased I went and have already booked my next MBA trip!
This was a truly amazing experience, action packed without being to strenuous. Great food, great guides and great holiday full stop
This was my first MBA tour and it exceeded my expectations. The activities, organisation, food/wine and accommodation were all excellent. The local tour guides were fantastic, friendly, knowledgeable and made sure everyone had a great time. Slovenia is a beautiful country and the paragliding a big highlight!
This was my first MBA tour and I would definitely recommend. The guides were really knowledgeable, ensured everyone did all the activities despite v changeable weather conditions and made sure everyone had a great time
Amazing experience with a fabulous group & our guides Iris & Simon were incredible! Despite the dodgy weather, we just went with the flow & we got to do all the activities. A fair bit of driving, but we got to see so much of Slovenia, which is beautiful. Excellent trip!
Highly recommend this trip! We had friendly and knowledgeable local hosts for every part of the trip - all of whom do their job with passion for the tourism industry and huge pride in showing you their country. They also created a nice group dynamic were everyone is hands on and not afraid to get a bit muddy and wet in the caves or on the SUP board! You will see a lot of the country in just a few days - including some "secret" local spots! Our trip was in May, so few to no tourists in the places we visited both the sights and the local restaurants as soon as you get outside of Ljubljana. It's action packed but very doable at all levels of fitness but long days so be prepared! Definitely coming back to Slovenia again!!!
Excellent tour. Highly recommended. We did so much in such a short time!
Fantastic trip, highly recommended! Beautiful country and excellent activities, perfect mix of city and countryside. The local hosts are brilliant and make everything flow perfectly. However it's worth asking if you're finding flights tricky - I ended up paying for an extra night in Slovenia before the trip, and one at the airport the night before that, to get a flight that arrived before the start time. Only to find someone else turned up after the start time (on the flight I could have got, but assumed was too late).
This was a great trip, Spela provided some pre arrival hike information which I used to explore the local area. She went above and beyond to make sure the paddleboarding, cliff jumping and swimming was a sucess. She even noticed I could paddle a bit and traded up my SUP to a sport so I could practice on a new piece of kit. We transferred over to a new host, Veronika who was our hiking expert and she was very knowledgeable about the local area, taking us to historical places and a vinyard with wine tasting. She also did her upmost to keep us happy when the paragliding was postponed due to poor weather and drove us to another valley to ensure we jumped. I would highly recommend this trip, Slovenia wasn't on my travel radar before but these two guides and the amazing bunch of people I met on the trip made me love the country.
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 66kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
A good level of fitness is needed to enjoy up to 3 hours of uphill hiking. You also need to know how to swim. Other than that, all you need is an adventurous spirit!
Ljubljana is the only European capital to allow urban SUP. The water is calm, clear and clean and it’s a great place to learn the basics while getting a different view of the city. Don't worry, everyone can do it without falling into the water. The Soča River is larger and wilder, but you’ll stick to calm sections that are perfect for SUP. It’s incredibly scenic and fun and there are loads of opportunities to play around and perfect your balance.
The Tolmin Gorge trail leads through narrow canyons and follows the bright-blue water of the river. The path is well-maintained and easy, so you can focus on the beautiful scenery around you. In the Vipava Valley, you'll hike along the edge of the Trnovo Plateau. The trail is good and there’s no rush, so you can hike at your own pace and stop whenever you need to.
Križna Cave is considered one of the most beautiful and well-preserved caves in Europe. It’s open to the public, but unlike most tourist caves there are no paved paths or strong lights. Instead you’ll board a raft and float across an underground lake, then don boots and head torches to explore a tunnel where the remains of cave bears were found in the 19th Century.
You’ll tandem paraglide with a highly qualified and experienced guide. All you have to do is strap in, relax and enjoy the sensation of flying like a bird over the surrounding wine country. If you suffer from motion sickness, you may feel it a little during this activity.
Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
The area you'll be visiting has a lovely Mediterranean climate that's warm and sunny most days. From June to September temperatures average 23 – 28 °C during the day, cooling off to 16 – 19 °C at night.
Paragliding depends upon suitable weather conditions. If the forecast suggests the weather is likely to be unsuitable at the time of your flight, your host will reorder activities on your itinerary. In addition, this itinerary has some contingency time built into day 4 which can be also used to reschedule the paragliding, if required. In the unlikely event that poor weather conditions prevent paragliding from taking place at all during your trip, your host will either supply an alternative activity or refund the activity, depending on the circumstances.
Sure. On Days 2 and 4, you can leave it securely in your host's van and on days 1 and 3, you can leave it in your room.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all of our adventures and you are required to provide your policy information before departing.
Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure. We also strongly recommend it includes cancellation and curtailment insurance, should you be unable to join your trip for specific reasons such as illness.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last-minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
Pay In Installments
You can choose to pay for this trip in as many installments as you like, with no interest or fees.
Full Financial Protection
Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
