Lake Bloke, Slovenia

Lake Bloke (Bloško jezero) lies cradled on the Bloke Plateau in southern Slovenia, a broad, bowl-like highland set between 700 and 850 metres above the sea in the traditional region of Inner Carniola. Fed by the Bloščica stream and resting beside the little village of Volčje, it is a tranquil man-made lake surrounded by some of the most pristine and unspoilt countryside in the land.

The setting is one of gentle beauty — open water ringed by spruce forest and colourful meadows, where wild orchids and even insect-eating plants flower in spring and summer. The whole plateau is wonderful walking, cycling and hiking country, its quiet lanes and forest tracks winding between scattered hamlets. Brown bears still roam these woods, and in a charming nod to their presence the lakeside is watched over by hand-carved wooden sculptures — one bear fishing from a log, another improbably skiing across the water on traditional Bloke skis.

That skiing detail is no accident, for the Bloke Plateau is celebrated as the cradle of skiing in Slovenia and Central Europe — a tradition so old it was already being described by the chronicler Valvasor in 1689. Known affectionately as ‘the Slovenian Tibet’ for its long, snow-filled winters, the plateau becomes a paradise of cross-country ski trails when the snows arrive, its skiing heritage proudly borne on the local coat of arms.

In the warmer months the lake softens into a place of pure calm: swimmers and fishermen come for its clear waters, families gather along its shores, and visitors linger over food and drink at the little lakeside cabin. Away from the crowds of Slovenia’s more famous lakes, Lake Bloke offers a quieter, more secret kind of paradise — a still mirror of water held in the embrace of highland forest and meadow.