At 800 m above sea level, fifty metres above the church of Trenta, a 2,572 m² garden turns one hundred in 2026. The Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden is Slovenia's oldest alpine botanical garden and the only one in the country set in the wild: some 600 to 700 species from the Julian Alps, the Karst and Istria, planted in belts like a miniature climb from the valley floor to a Julian summit. Open from 1 May to 30 September, €5 to get in, and a centenary year that brings a new guidebook, new exhibitions at Dom Trenta and guided tours into September. Here is what to know before you go, whether you stop on the Vršič pass road or arrive on the free shuttle.
Juliana at a glance: practical information 2026
| Info | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where | Trenta, Soča Valley, Triglav National Park; above St Mary's church, on the southern slope of Mt Kukla |
| Season | 1 May to 30 September, daily 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, Sundays and public holidays included |
| Tickets | €5 adults; €3 students and pensioners; €10 family ticket |
| Size and altitude | 2,572 m² at 800 m |
| Flora | 600 to 700 species, including around 70 protected and 60 on the Slovenian Red List |
| Guides | Free interactive guide in five languages (100 species); children's guide €3 on site |
| Distances | 23 km from Bovec, 25 km from Kranjska Gora over the Vršič pass (1,611 m) |
| Car-free | Free Bovec-Soča source-Vršič-Kranjska Gora shuttle, 1 June to 30 September |
| Run by | Slovenian Museum of Natural History (Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije) since 1962 |
Allow a good hour for the loop, more if you read the labels. The garden sits on a slope with earth paths and steps: proper shoes, and no chance with a pushchair. Just below, Dom Trenta, the national park's information centre, rounds off the visit with its exhibitions (including the centenary ones) and is the starting point of the Soška pot, the Soča Trail.
1926: a Trieste merchant, a mountain poet and a garden
The story begins with Albert Bois de Chesne (1871-1953), a timber merchant from Trieste, mountaineer and passionate botanist. In 1926 he bought a plot in Trenta and created a garden to gather the flora he kept meeting in the mountains. His friend Julius Kugy, the climber and writer who introduced the Julian Alps to the German-speaking world, advised him; alpine-flora specialists Henri Correvon and Lino Vaccari helped build the collection. The plants came first from the eastern and western Julian Alps, the Friuli hills, the Karst meadows and the pre-Alpine world, then from further afield: the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the Atlas, the Caucasus.
The original idea still holds: the garden is laid out as a botanical journey from the valley to a summit, with vegetation belts that mimic the natural altitude zones, from valley-floor plants to high-alpine species. Across 2,572 m² you cross several habitats of the Julian Alps without leaving the slope of Kukla.
The garden owes its survival to two people: Anton Tožbar (1905-1993), the gardener the founder sent to Padua for training, and Ančka Kavs (1907-2000), who kept it going through the Second World War and long after. Their daughter Marija, her husband Jože Završnik and then grandson Klemen took over: in 2026 it is still the Završnik family pruning, replanting and labelling Juliana. On the institutional side, the garden was declared a natural monument in 1951, entrusted to the Slovenian Museum of Natural History in 1962 and included in Triglav National Park in 1981.
What you see in the garden
Juliana is no formal garden: it is a landscaped rocky slope where each plant grows in a habitat close to its own. The collections hold around 70 protected species, some 60 on the Slovenian Red List and ten covered by the EU Habitats Directive (Natura 2000). Here you meet the stars of the Julian Alps that you look for in vain on the trails without a guide: bellflowers and saxifrages of the screes, lilies, gentians, the plants of limestone rubble and of the dry meadows of Primorska and Istria. The garden also takes part in a seed exchange with botanical gardens worldwide.
The most spectacular bloom runs from late May to late June, when the lower and upper belts flower almost together. July and August remain worthwhile for the high-altitude species and for the butterflies, plentiful on the globe thistles and scabious (the photo in this article was taken here). In September the garden turns to autumn colours and Trenta's low light does the rest.
The centenary in 2026: what is new
The centenary year opened on 24 April 2026 at the Slovenian Museum of Natural History in Ljubljana with the exhibition “Juliana, an Enchanting Natural Classroom”. The main ceremony took place on 6 June 2026 at Dom Trenta, with the screening of the film “Juliana, a botanical gem in the heart of the Julian Alps”, the launch of a new guidebook to the garden and the opening of a photo exhibition of the same name, alongside new permanent exhibitions at the park centre. What that means for visitors for the rest of the season:
- The new guidebook (on sale at the garden and at Dom Trenta) replaces the old booklet and complements the free interactive guide.
- The Dom Trenta exhibitions are open during the information centre's hours, a short walk from the garden.
- Themed guided tours run all summer: “plants of ancient legends” on 22 August and 5 September 2026 at 11 am, with paper-flower workshops for children; on 25 and 26 September the valley's hiking festival offers two guided days on the Soška pot from the hut at the Soča source, which passes right below the garden.
- A photo competition “plants from the Karst to the mountain peaks” involves Slovenian schools throughout the year.
The day-by-day programme is published on juliana.pms-lj.si. If you are coming for the hiking and biking festival, our annotated programme of the 2026 festival lists the outings that pass through Trenta.
Getting to Trenta, with or without a car
- By car: from Bovec, 23 km up the Soča Valley road; from Kranjska Gora, 25 km and the 50 hairpins of the Russian Road over the Vršič pass. The garden is on the main road by the Trenta church; park at Dom Trenta or along the road (limited space in summer). Reminder: the traffic rules on the Vršič pass changed in 2026, so check before you set off.
- By free shuttle: from 1 June to 30 September the Bovec-Soča source-Vršič pass-Kranjska Gora line stops in Trenta (daily service 26 June to 31 August). It is the easiest option from Bovec and from Kranjska Gora alike, detailed in our guide to the Soča Valley without a car.
- On foot: the Soška pot (Soča Trail) links the Soča source to Bovec in about twenty kilometres; the source-to-Trenta section (roughly 2.5 hours) reaches the garden through the gorges of the upper Soča.
- With the Julian Alps Card: the valley shuttles are free and the card, handed out by partner accommodation, brings other discounts; everything is in our Julian Alps Card guide.
A resident's take
For years I treated Juliana as a five-minute stop on the way to Vršič. A mistake: this is where you finally learn the names of what you have been photographing on the Triglav trails. The best plan is a June morning: the garden opens at 8:30, the light comes up the valley, the coaches have not yet climbed to the pass. Follow it with the Soča source (20 minutes by road, then a 15-minute walk) and head back down to Bovec for lunch. If you remember only two things from the Trenta valley, make it these: the water that springs from the rock and the flowers that line it.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden open in 2026?
From 1 May to 30 September 2026, daily from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, Sundays and public holidays included. It is closed for the rest of the year, as snow lies in Trenta from October to April.
How much is admission?
€5 for adults, €3 for students and pensioners, €10 for a family ticket. The interactive guide is free; the printed children's guide costs €3.
When is the best time to see the flowers?
From late May to late June, when most species of the lower and upper belts bloom at the same time. July and August are the season of the high-altitude species and the butterflies; September is quieter and beautiful in the low light.
Can I get there without a car?
Yes: the free Bovec-Trenta-Vršič-Kranjska Gora shuttle stops in the village from 1 June to 30 September, and the Soška pot lets you walk in from the Soča source.
Why is the garden called Juliana?
After the Julian Alps (Julijske Alpe), where most of its flora comes from. It was founded in 1926 by Albert Bois de Chesne, a Trieste merchant and botanist advised by the mountaineer Julius Kugy, and has been run by the Slovenian Museum of Natural History since 1962.
Information checked on 27 August 2026 with the Slovenian Museum of Natural History (juliana.pms-lj.si), the Alpine Association of Slovenia (pzs.si) and the inter-municipal bulletin SOČAsnik. Photo: butterflies on a globe thistle in the Juliana garden, Smihael, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Patrick Faust
French expat in Slovenia since 2004. Founder of e-Slovénie, a Slovenia travel guide. Learn more →