To mountain walkers, Slovenia is best known for the Julian Alps, but it has a lot more than that to offer, and the Slovene High-Level Route crosses some of the most varied and interesting landscapes to be found anywhere in Europe.

From Maribor, close by the Austrian border in the north-east, to Ankaran on the Adriatic coast in the south-west, the route covers 500km of outstanding mountain and upland walking: the vast forested plateau of Pohorje, the sheer limestone peaks of the Julian and Kamnik-Savinja Alps with their via ferrata protected routes, the traditional alpine pastures and flower-strewn ridges of the Karavanke, and the forested hills and olive groves of the limestone karst country that stretch towards the coast.

Available for the first time to English-speaking walkers, the route is described in a series of 3-6 day treks of all levels of difficulty, which can be completed as single sections or linked in a number of ways for longer holidays.