Slovenia in Two Houses
Four chalets a thousand metres above the Soča valley and a moated castle on a river island in the south-east. Two hours' drive, two countries in one.
Slovenia is so small you can cross it in a day, and so varied you won't understand it in a week. In the west the Julian Alps and a river whose colour you won't believe. In the south-east hills, vines and a castle in the water.
Two houses that each bring their corner of the country to the point — and that you can connect in a weekend if you drive the whole width of the country between them.
Nebesa: above the valley
Livek is a village at a thousand metres above Kobarid, on the Italian border, looking at the whole chain of the Julian Alps and, far below, the turquoise ribbon of the Soča. Nebesa — the word means heaven — is four chalets for two on a terrace on the slope, of wood and glass, with a wellness area of three saunas and a cellar you help yourself from with wine and cheese from the valley.
The family is connected to Ana Roš and Hiša Franko, the restaurant in Kobarid that has made one of the world's best out of a valley nobody knew. You can tell at breakfast. Nebesa is adults only and only for people who want to see the mountains in the morning and nothing else.
Grad Otočec: the castle in the river
Two hours south-east, in Dolenjska, the Krka flows slowly through a wide valley, and on an island in it has stood, since the 13th century, Slovenia's only moated castle. Otočec today is a hotel with towers, park, tennis courts and a bridge you cross to come home in the evening.
It's a castle you actually sleep in — not a museum with rooms. The kitchen takes Cviček seriously, the light, sour red you drink only here. For an occasion you'll talk about later. From here Zagreb is closer than Ljubljana, and both are an hour away.
Practical
Arrive via Ljubljana, Trieste or Venice. Order: mountains first, then the castle — or the reverse if you're coming from Zagreb. Best time: June when the Soča runs high and the Krka warms up, or October for the beeches in the valley and the harvest in the south-east. Book Hiša Franko before the chalet.
