Basic information
Location
Štanjel
Difficulty
Duration
3.5 h
Distance
54 km
Start point elevation
300 m
Highest point
400 m
Total vertical climb
720 m
Type of trail
asphalt, dirt road, trail

Starting point:
Leave the 'Ljubljana - Koper' motorway at Senožeče exit and from there on follow the signposts for Divača and then Štanjel. Tidy and nicely marked parking lots are in Štanjel village.

Description:
Štanjel is a beautiful traditional Karst village. Ascend up to the village, stroll around and have a look at the interesting Ferrari garden at the back of the village.

The tour: From the parking lot continue down the road through the 'new part' of the town towards west. Soon you will come to the main road where you turn right but pretty quickly turn left towards Hruševica village. A low traffic road leads you past vineyards and almost too quickly you will reach the main road again in Kobjeglava village. Turn left just before a small chapel onto a narrow cart road towards lonely meadows. The fall-colors are amazing here! Keep on the 'main' cart road and turn left on a 'V-shape' crossroad. You will reach Kosovelje village and a bit further you come to a bigger road. Cross it and continue on a dirt road towards Pliskovica - a cute little village with an excellent youth hostel. After Pliskovica turn onto a wider asphalt road to the right. A beautiful and low traffic road is mostly descending through small Karst villages. In Gorjansko village turn left (direction Brestovica) and take a look at the military cemetery from the 1st World War. 10,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers that fell at the Soča front are buried here.

From Gorjansko the road descends into a colourful valley towards Brestovica where you turn right and start ascending on a steep asphalt slope. The ascent is quite hard and those who prefer gentler (but longer!) ascents should do the tour in the opposite direction. The steep slope ends in the village Sela na Krasu where you turn left (direction Opatje Selo) and in Korita village turn right (no signs) onto a tractor road towards Kostanjevica. In Kostanjevica go up to the church and continue on the asphalt road towards the next pretty village - Temnica. A bit further (next to Lipa village) turn right onto a tractor road that leads through a pleasant forest in a gentle descent towards Sveto village where you can visit an interesting St. Tilen church. From here an asphalt road takes you through vineyards to the largest town of this area - Komen. Follow the main road in the direction of Sežana, but just behind the board that marks the end of Komen, turn left on a tractor road among vineyards once again. Before the next village (Gabrovica) you must overcome a rough slope and look for the village church. From the church continue straight ahead on the asphalt road in the direction of Kobjeglava which you already see in front of you. There are only three more kilometers on the main road to the starting point from there.

Highest point:
Temnica village: 400 m

Length (duration, km):
Štanjel - Pliskovica: 45 min (11 km)
Pliskovica - Kostanjevica: 1.30 h (23 km)
Kostanjevica - Komen: 45 min (11 km)
Komen - Štanjel: 30 min (9 km)
Total: 3.30 h, 54 km

Type of trail:
80% asphalt (43 km)
20% dirt roads (11 km)

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