Lake Bled in Slovenia is like something out of a fairy tale. A beautiful lake with an island in the middle that contains a spectacular church. All this surrounded by mountains and a castle on one end of the lake that overlooks the water. This post though, is to share with you a simple hike to one of the best viewpoints of the lake from above.
How to Get to Lake Bled
Lake Bled can be found in the town Bled, around 35km from the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. It’s quite easy to find transportation to Bled from the capital and shouldn’t cost you too much money either.
During the summer, there are hourly departures from the main bus station in Ljubljana that take around 70 minutes and costs less than 10 euro at the time of writing. In the winter time, the frequency of these buses is less, but still available.
You can take the train, however, both train stations are a little bit out of town. The first train station is Lesce station which is located 4.5km from Bled, but has many trains throughout the day from Ljubljana.
The better train station option is Jezero Bled, however, there are only a few trains per day and these trains depart from the Jezenice Station northwest of Bled and not from Ljubljana.
How to get to the Ojstrica Viewpoint
The ojstrica viewpoint hike should take around 1-2 hours and is not a super difficult hike to find or to do. It does provide you with one of the best views of Lake Bled from above and will certainly satisfy your instagramming needs with its near picture perfect location.
To get here, you will first want to make your way down to the lake and then find the walkway that goes around the lake. This walkway is well kept, popular, and provides great views of the church on the island in the middle of the lake and the castle up on the hill.
If you follow this path counter clockwise, keep going until you reach camping bled which should be opposite the town center. You will know you are at camping bled by spotting tents and a rocky beach. As you pass the campsite, you will enter a wooded section and should spot signs and a trail that direct you to Ojstrica and Osojnica (a higher viewpoint not written about in this article).
Hiking to Osjnica Viewpoint
Now that you have found the path, the rest is going to be pretty straightforward. From here, the hike up to the top should take around 30 minutes depending on your fitness level.
The path up to Ojstrica goes through the trees and is not too difficult to start. After a while of following this path, there will be a sign directing you to either Ojstrica (lower viewpoint) and Osojnica (higher viewpoint). If you are shorter on time, stick to the right and head towards Ojstrica which is the viewpoint I’m sharing about here.
As this point, after going right, you will start to head steeper through some rocky section. It’s not too difficult, just take your time and hike carefully. Most fitness levels should easily be able to go through this section.
After not too long, you will reach the viewpoint on a small rocky outcrop and your jaw will drop. Its a postcard perfect viewpoint of Lake Bled looking out the mountains and countryside of Slovenia. It’s what you probably came here for and will be happy to have made this hike.
Up on the viewpoint they have a bench to take a rest and several lookouts to take that amazing photo.
Tips for Hiking Ojstrica Viewpoint
- If its a hot summer day, even though it’s only a 1-2 hour hike, take enough water with you to rehydrate!
- Sunrise and sunset are the best times to hike the viewpoint. This is because lighting is amazing at those times, but also because crowds should be less. Bled is most popular during the early afternoon when the tour buses come streaming in.
- It is a safe enough hike to Ojstrica that you can do this on your own. Do take a headlamp or form of light if you are going late at night or early in the morning.
Where to stay in Bled?
As Bled is one of the most popular places to go in Slovenia, there is no shortage of accommodation or places to stay. While it’s typically the case that the closer you stay to the lake the more money you will spend, you can find all budget levels in Bled. I would like to recommend a hostel I stayed at though which was phenomenal on so many levels:
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links through booking.com, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.
Garden House Bled – This lodge is located just an easy 5-10 minute walk from the lake side and has both private rooms and hostel rooms. I stayed in the hostel rooms which were quite affordable and had very comfortable rooms and amenities. Their private rooms looked amazing as well. The staff here were very friendly and the garden and hang out areas are all well taken care of.
If you are looking for other forms of accommodation, feel free to use our booking form down below to look on booking.com
Booking.comSo if you find yourself in bled, even for just a day, make sure to try out this hike and let us know how it goes. If you have any other questions or comments, please let us know in the comments below.
