This route from bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-slovenia/ was quite spectacular. Since I was working every night and needed some assurance that I would make it to wifi on time and not sleep outside sans gear, I subbed out many of the offroad portions to make timing more predictable.


Flights

I couldn’t find any cheap flights in Ljubljana. But I had 72k miles from opening a United credit card, and this is sufficient to buy two one-way tickets connecting any city in the US with any city in Europe. United does not offer free bike transport (Delta and American do).


Bike

I had trouble finding used bikes in Ljubljana, even though the biking scene is huge. Everyone recommended Bolha, the Slovenian Craigslist, but it’s all in Slovenian and hard to use. One shop that sells them is at Bezenškova ulica 23. There, I got a 90s hardtail (Scott Blackstone) for 85 euros and had a rack installed for 25 more. It was extremely well-tuned and hasn’t had any issues thus far.


Hotels

Because of a Slovenian tourism stimulus, 99% of rooms were booked every night, and the remaining ones cost about 300 euros. On Saturday night, there wasn’t a single available bed listed within a hundred miles of the capital. While I had planned to avoid hostels, I ended up using them most nights and typically paid about 25 euros for one bed in an 8-bed dorm. The public work areas were surprisingly good. Sleep was unsurprisingly variable.


Route

Like with other bikepacking routes, many of the offroad portions were incredibly technical and involved dragging my bike through rock gardens for hours at a time. Some were quite pleasant. I spent most of my time on pavement.


Food

Bakeries are way less ubiquitous than in points west. Many mountain huts offer basic soups and supermarkets are plentiful. I ate a lot of muesli.


Water

Potable water is everywhere.


Weather

The weather was rather perfect -- until the last day when it poured. Unable to navigate with my touchscreen and unwilling to take dirt paths, I bailed to the Kranj train station. My Android’s screen will likely never work again.


Covid

Every airport checked my vaccination card. Most service workers wear masks but many customers do not; no one wears them outside.


Strava Logs

www.strava.com/activities/5819162222
www.strava.com/activities/5824279603
www.strava.com/activities/5830256142
www.strava.com/activities/5835568507
strava.com/activities/5845758906