Where in the world is the Karavanke?

One of the latest Cicerone guidebooks to have me reaching for the well-thumbed atlas was Walking in the Karavanke. Superb mountain walking, spectacular views and forested valleys. Sounds great, just tell me one thing - where is it? If that’s a question you find yourself asking, let me save you the trouble of looking it up.

It's Slovenia, or to be completely accurate, the Slovenian border with Austria (just north of the Julian Alps). The Karavanke is often described as ‘the way the Alps used to be’ for its unspoilt mountains and its lack of commercialization that can afflict the western Alps. If the photos in the guide are anything to go by, the entire area is utterly breathtaking.

The guidebook has 23 1-2 day walks along the Karavanke chain, with most of the walks starting on the Slovenian side. It also includes all the information for summer walking, where to stay and what you can expect to see along the routes. Getting to the Karavanke can be easy, with various low-cost flights getting into Ljubljana and Brnik in Slovenia and Klagenfurt in Austria, and the Slovene public transport serving most, but not all, of the Karavanke valleys.

Justi Carey and Roy Clark, our authors, have lived in the Slovenian Alps for over ten years, running a B&B and writing walking and trekking guides such as Cicerone’s Trekking in Slovenia and The Julian Alps of Slovenia.