Velika Planina

One of Europe's largest preserved herdsmen's settlements: shingle-roofed shepherd huts, summer herds and trnič cheese, at around 1,600 m.

The shepherds' plateau

Above Kamnik, the Velika Planina plateau carries one of Europe's largest preserved herdsmen's settlements: dozens of shepherd huts with shingled roofs sweeping almost to the ground, scattered across pastures at around 1,600 metres. In summer the herds move up for the season and the plateau lives to the rhythm of cowbells, watched over by the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows.

Trnič and alpine life

The herders keep alive the trnič, a small hard cheese engraved with patterns, traditionally shaped in pairs — one of them offered to one's sweetheart. Try the soured milk (kislo mleko) served in the huts that double as inns. This is a working mountain, not a stage set.

Going up: cable car or trails

The cable car leaves from the Kamniška Bistrica valley, with a chairlift relay; several trails lead up on foot. Routes, variants and seasonal advice in our Velika Planina hiking guide.

Sleeping on the plateau, winter and summer

The best way to experience Velika Planina is to sleep there: shepherd huts rent by the night, and once the last cable car has gone the plateau falls silent, offering sunset over the Grintovec peaks and a night sky free of light pollution. In winter the pasture becomes a small family ski area — a few lifts, snowshoe routes, sledding — with snow-covered huts straight out of a storybook.

Getting there

The Kamniška Bistrica valley is 45 minutes from Ljubljana via Kamnik, a pretty medieval town worth a stop — see our ideas around Kamnik. On the far side of the massif, Logarska Dolina rounds off the alpine escape.

Photo: Reuben Dalke — CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.