Snowshoeing & winter walking in Julian Alps, Slovenia

Planet

We are passionate about leaving the Julian Alps, Brda region and pristine Kocevje forests as we find them - we feel lucky to be in a position to benefit from the beauty and, in the case of Kocevje, the wilderness of these areas , and we recognise the need to leave them in a pristine state. As such we operate a strict no litter policy, taking all refuse to either be recycled or properly disposed. We ensure our clients understand how to responsibly manage any toileting in the wild. We work with the policy of ‘take nothing but memories, Leave nothing but footprints’.

We promote travel by train as an alternative to flying. Although the most timely way to get to Slovenia is to use a low cost airline, there is much joy to be found in incorporating your travel into your adventure and choosing the lower carbon footprint option of the train. You can travel from London to Paris, across France into Southern Germany, down through Austria and into Slovenia. The journey takes around 18hrs and costs between £250 & £500.

During the adventure we are using walking as our main mode of transport to explore the sights, sounds and history which is a low carbon way to travel. Where required we use private minibus transfers.

We are working with a local partner whose focus on sustainable travel matches our own ethos (Travelife Partner in GSTC scheme - see section on Community).

Finally, we are very proud to have partnered with Water-To-Go, specialists in personal and expedition water purification, instantly, and on-demand. Their unique, 350L water bottles incorporate advanced filtration technology to convert even the dirtiest water to drinking water as you fill up.

Being able to produce safe drinking water from sources off the beaten track, of sometimes dubious quality, offers incredible benefits to our adventure travellers and eliminates the need for single-use plastic bottles. We subsidise this product to make it more accessible to you.

People

We work directly with a small Slovenian operator based in Ljubljana, who are Travelife Partners in the internationally recognised Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Travelife for Tour Operator & Travel Agents scheme.

They are providing a local walking guide (qualified) for our adventures as well as a wildlife expert for our day hike into the protected Kocevje forests on Day 8 of our adventure. Our clients benefit from their expertise, and they benefit from our employment.

We use small, locally run hotels and traditional guesthouses during our adventure rather than larger internationally run chain hotels. These hotels use local produce wherever possible and serve traditional cuisine for our clients to enjoy.

The visit to a vineyard and prosciutto tasting in the Brda region on Day 6 & 7 is another opportunity to support local tourism (locally produced products) in the area.

Our Slovenian partner has a fabulous network of local contacts who are passionate about developing the right kind of tourism, one which supports local communities as well as the environment.

As we do with all our destinations / itinerarie, we are in the process of looking to work with a local charity in the area but have not yet found the right one - a project in progress.