If I’m being honest, Lake Bled from ground level is pretty, but it is not the fairy tale travel magazines make it out to be. Our first glance of Lake Bled was very underwhelming as the island looked super tiny from where we were (side with Tourist Information Centre and Park Hotel). We headed for the Ojstrica viewpoint immediately, which was on the opposite side of the lake, near Camping Bled. The views improved as we walked to the other side.
After walking for around 30 minutes, we spotted the signpost for Ojstrica. I was pretty apprehensive about the hike as based on what I had read, the hike up would be challenging for the unfit (me) but short enough (30 minutes max) to be feasible. True enough, the path started off gradually but it got increasingly steeper. Within 15 minutes, I was gasping for breath (poor XZ had to keep waiting for me). It was the “short” bit which kept me going. The last stretch had a couple of switchbacks and the path became extremely steep and narrow with only trees acting as a barrier between us and a sharp drop on one side. I am so grateful it wasn’t raining or I just might have tumbled off!
Still, we made it and it was totally worth the exhaustion and weak legs! Lake Bled laid before our eyes like a page straight out of a fairy tale. Now, this was the view I came to Lake Bled for!
Bled Island
We made a mistake in purchasing boat and entrance tickets to Bled island together with our bus tickets. So even though we had no interest in visiting the island after we saw how tiny it was, we went. Indeed, there was nothing much to see on the island, just a clock tower, a small café and a tiny chapel.
Bled Cream Cake
Once we completed our round circuit of the lake, we made our way to Park Hotel for a taste of the famous Bled cream cake. I’m usually not a fan of cream but this cake was pretty good. The cream and custard were both very light.
It was back to the bus station after that, for the last bus back to Ljubljana. There were tons of people waiting with us and people got pushy once the bus arrived. Thank goodness we were early or we might have ended up standing the whole way back.
How to get to Lake Bled from Ljubljana via Bus:
Purchase bus tickets to Bled from the bus station (situated in front of the main train station). Try to get them a day earlier if you are already in Ljubljana. The first bus of the day was sold out when we tried to buy them an hour before departure. The next bus was one hour later. The bus made a couple of stops along the way but overall, the journey was around an hour.
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