Vintgar Gorge
Gorge and education path
During the Ice Age, an icy shield enclosed the Radovna River with ice and moraine material. A lake was formed, but the river continued to find its way. Between the slopes of Hom and Boršt hills, it carved a beautiful gorge in the rock called Blejski Vintgar, or just Vintgar.
The 1600-metre-long Vintgar Gorge is enriched by rapids, waterfalls and pools. There is an educational footpath across the gorge, crossing wooden bridges and Žumr's galleries. At the exit is the mighty Šum waterfall, a 13-metre high waterfall, one of the three river waterfalls in Slovenia.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Vintgar Gorge was discovered in 1891 by the mayor of Gorjany, Jakob Žumer, and the cartographer and photographer Benedikt Lergetporer. In 1893, more than 500 metres of bridges and galleries were built and the gorge was opened to the public.
- There are also two man-made attractions in the Vintgar. The first is the dam from where the water is channelled to the small hydroelectric power station Vintgar pod Šum. The second attraction is the stone single-arch bridge of the Bohinj railway, built in 1906, which crosses the 53-metre wide gorge 33.5 metres above the path.