Hiking the Soca Trail

We only had a few days in the Bovec region, but one of the trails we knew we wanted to hike was the Soca Trail that we had read so much about. Since it is not a round trip we too the bus that runs from Bovec across the Vršič pass to Kranjska Gora to get to our starting point at the Information Centre in Trenta. There is actually another stop in Trenta, closer to the spring of the Soca, but we decided that about 24 kilometers to get back to Bovec were enough for our first day hiking and chose to skip the spring.

We first walked through Trenta, down to the stream, and found the trail there. Right away the trail started great - a swing bridge led us across the river for the first time. And it really only gets even better from there - the trail switches between sections on rocky terrain, though forest areas and across swing bridges, so it never gets boring. 

For the first part, the Soca is mostly a regular river in a wieder riverbed, but nevertheless a river of an incredibly clear, brigh blue-greenish color. The further along one walks along the trail though, the narrower the riverbed gets. In those sections the trail is mostly quite high above the river, allowing for breakthaking views down into the canyon.

Along the way the Soca Trail switches from one side of the river to the other a few times, sometimes across swingbridges. In some places it's easy to climb down to the river too, so weary hikers can dip their feet into the nice cold water.

The small village that goes by the same name as the river, Soca, is located at about the half-way point of the trail, and when we passed it we decided to take a short break there. The village has a little shop and cafe, which is convenient if you didn't bring enough snacks or beverages for your hike - we enjoyed a coffee there before continuing our hike.

A bit after the village the river flows through a narrow canyon and forms the best known natural highlights of the trail, the pools.

Along the way there are several busstops, so it's easy to break the trail into multiple sections and walk it over the course of several days. That does require a bit of planning though, since the busses run only once an hour or so, and not necessarily on regular intervals during the whole day.