TRIESTE AND THE KARST REGION:
Soft hiking in the borderlands

Welcome to Trieste

Arrival in Trieste and accommodation in the hotel. We recommend dedicating the afternoon entirely to the city centre. There are so many things to see: the streets and squares of the historic centre, the seafront, the famous piazza Unità and the hill of San Giusto. All sites can be easily reached on foot, the best way to get around for a first ‘slow’ approach to this splendid city. Numerous restaurants in the center will offer you the opportunity to end the day with a Trieste dinner for a first taste of the varied local cuisine, a mirror of the city’s frontier identity.

From the Karst to the Miramare Castle

After a good breakfast put on comfortable shoes and set off for the Karst plateau! To get up to the plateau, take one of the old 1940s cars of the Opicina tram (replacement bus in case the tram connection is out of service), the famous tram network that has connected the Karst to the city of Trieste since 1902. The tram will take you along a very panoramic route up to the green and characteristic karst plateau, the starting point of the walk. From here you will walk admiring a splendid panorama of the city and the sea. After crossing a characteristic village you will begin to descend towards the sea. Following an ancient fishermen’s path and passing through a railway station dating back to 1857, you will finish the walk in the splendid Miramare Castle Park. Here you can stroll in the immense park, visit the castle or, in season, cool off with a nice swim. Back in the city you will still have part of the afternoon available to visit the centre.

Lipica stud farm

The day is dedicated to the discovery of the famous equestrian park of Lipica (in Slovenia), founded in 1580 by Archduke Charles of Habsburg, which is a true oasis of tranquility surrounded by nature. Tree-lined avenues and oak groves lead to ancient stables while herds of white Lipizzan horses gallop across the green meadows of the estate, considered by many to be the most elegant horses in the world. You will go up to the plateau with public transport and then continue on foot on a comfortable old Austro-Hungarian cart track. You will enter the Slovenian Karst almost without realizing it to reach Lipica in about an hour’s walk. Here you can take part in a guided tour that will take you to the old stables of the park and to the interactive museum dedicated to the Lipizzan horse, after which you can stroll without haste in the tranquility and serenity of the estate. Before saying goodbye to Lipica you can stop in the nearby valley of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes, a very special sanctuary dating back to the 1800s immersed in a karst sinkhole. Return to Trieste by public transport.

Rosandra Valley Natural Reserve

With a local transport you will reach the village of Bagnoli, the main access point of the Reserve. You will begin your journey by taking the ancient salt road used for centuries by traders from the hinterland to get to the Trieste salt pans. The path, which goes into the valley skirting vertical walls, woods and scree, offers splendid views of the watercourse of the Rosandra stream with its 35-metre waterfall and its twenty-one natural pools. After passing an ancient pilgrimage church and the remains of one of the 32 mills once active in the valley, you will reach the isolated village of Botač, now almost uninhabited. A few meters away, a small bridge and an old border toll booth delimit the border between Italy and Slovenia. From Botač you will begin to climb towards the Karst plateau to quickly reach the former Austro-Hungarian railway Trieste-Hrpelje, now dismantled. You will follow its route for a while, then you will climb again to reach the summit of Mount Stena (422 m), from which you can admire a spectacular panorama of the Val Rosandra and the Gulf of Trieste. From here you will descend towards the town of Bagnoli from which, with a local transport, you will return to the city center.

Grotta Gigante - Giant Cave

After breakfast and check out, you will conclude your stay in Trieste with a visit to another marvel of these places: the karst caves. With the public bus you reach the exciting Grotta Gigante, which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the largest cave in the world. The visit will take place with a speleological guide along an illuminated path that reaches a depth of 100 meters. Back on the surface you will have time to visit the museum, which presents karst phenomena and more.
At the end of the visit you will return to the city. From here, once you have recovered any luggage left at the deposit of your facility, you can continue your journey independently or return home.

NOTE: Bring a sweater or sweatshirt even in summer (the temperature inside the cave is a constant 11°C all year round)