Happy New Year dear reader! Here is a collection of my best photos of Slovenia for 2021. Posts like this have become a tradition for me and here you can find the previous years. In 2021 I did a lot of travelling. I visited Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Together I’ve spent almost two months abroad. What a difference from 2020 when we were in lockdowns most of the time! Nevertheless, I have also spend a lot of time photographing Slovenia, my home country. Read on for my best photos!

A newly discovered hilltop church :). Slovenia has many iconic churches that are conveniently located on top of hills, usually with mountains in the background. Sveti Ožbolt is no exception. This is a telephoto shot on a winter morning. Mt Storžič and Košuta ridge are nicely visible in the background.

A minimalist shot from Velika Planina. I love how these trees are snow capped and leaning to/away from each other. With a little bit of imagination we can come up with a lot of cool captions 🙂 Here I opted for colour version as I like the cool feel of blue tones.

Evening sun is lighting up snow capped spruce trees. Another shot from Velika Planina. Some days deliver multiple wonderful photos and make up for days without luck!

Hilltop church again. This one is an old acquaintance. We often come here for family hikes as it is incredibly scenic and close to our home. This time we went for winter sledding with my boys and luckily I had my camera with me.

One of the most beautiful winter scenes I’ve ever seen. One of the nicest forest of Kočevsko, beautiful in any season but this!!! I spent the whole day walking around, looking for compositions. It was a complete silence. One has to experience it, it cannot be described in words.

A rainy spring day at Bohinj. I hiked up to the Govic waterfall that only appears when there are extensive rains. I wasn’t disappointed by the sight of the waterfall, but the image I like the most is this one. Looking back towards the lake, I noticed the tourist boat approaching. All I needed to do is to wait until it is in a good spot.

Every spring the slopes of Karavanke turn white from blossoming wild daffodils. This is a popular event among hikers and photographers alike. Most of the photos are from sunrise when the first sun lights up the flowers. I wanted to do something different so Miro and I visited this place in the afternoon. This is my favourite shot were one can see Mt Golica, the daffodils, the Golica hut and Julian Alps with Mt Triglav. I really like my new 20mm lens that I used to get this nice sun star.

One of the typical features of Slovenian landscape is kozolec, a hayrack. They can be found everywhere around the country. It is getting harder and harder to find a beautiful one though. One that is not falling apart or that is not polluted by advertising boards or surrounded with plastic hay bales. This one at Sorica village is a prime example what hayracks used to be.

Slovenia may not have as many castles as central European countries such as Czech republic or Germany. But we do have a few very cool ones! This one at Turjak is one of them. It is slowly being restored to its previous glory and is well worth visiting. If nothing else, for the cool story about the previous owners and to try out some archery. The dungeon is fun too!

One of my favourite places in Slovenia is Lake Cerknica. For many reasons. I like to come here for photography, for kayaking or for birdwatching. Sometimes I can do all three at once, successfully. This is such moment.

This is a rare selfie of me while I was kayaking on Lake Cerknica. The image was taken with a drone on the same morning as the image above. Check out my vlog on YouTube from that day.

This scene is nothing spectacular but I like the gentle colours and light. I took this photo in the middle of the day when I was driving over Vršič pass. It looked like the sun might peak through the rolling clouds so I took a quick hike to Prednje Robičje. There were no big views but small scenes like this were coming and going for the whole time. Lovely.
Lake Jasna offers some of the best views on Julian Alps in Slovenia. The reflections of Mt Prisojnik and Mt Razor are a classic photo that is a must do when in Kranjska Gora. In October we stopped here with my photo tour group. The light was gorgeous with sunlit trees and dramatic dark mount Razor in he background.

Sveti Tomaž must be the most photographed church in Slovenia and I have photographed it many times myself. This is the first time with a drone. Early autumn, morning mists, soft warm sunlight and a beautiful scene! I bring many photo groups to this location. If you want to visit it on your own, you can find the location on PhotoHound.
I took this photo on my last photo tour of the season.. A sunset from Piran city walls. A brief moment when the sailboat crossed the sunlit sea… We photographed many passing boats but this one was the best. Open sails and a long casting shadow…

I like photographing fog or mists. Conditions like this simplify the scene, often hiding what is not necessary in a composition. Fog in this photo did just that, only the church, treetops and rolling hills are visible, hiding everything else.

This is a source of a small spring above Lake Bohinj. I visited it only a few times, partially because it is a fragile environment and partially because it is remote. Visit Nature First website if you want to learn more about responsible photography.

A little higher up above Lake Bohinj there are numerous mountain pastures. Most of them are surrounded by beautiful larch trees and the best time to visit is autumn. Then, the whole hillsides turn golden, especially in late afternoon when sun is still strong. I should hike up there more often!

Bela Krajina in autumn. This is much less known part of Slovenia, mainly because it is so remote. It is no less beautiful though. This photo turned out to be one of my personal favourites. I need to see it on a large print.

Two times a year, sun shines through Mt Prisojnik and creates this natural spectacle. This year I photographed it for the first time. It was a fun experience – sun moves really quickly! Also I met so many photography friends there.

Beautiful layers of mountains make this photo really fascinating. And the fact that half of mountains are in Slovenia and the other half in Austria helps the fascination too 🙂 This is a handheld telephoto shot at sunset from Veliko Kladivo peak. I forgot my tripod in the car and was wondering the whole time hiking up how the hell my backpack is so light!

Let’s conclude this collection with another winter shot from Velika Planina. This photo was one of your favourites if judging from social media. And rightfully so. The conditions were just incredible, even if only for a few moments!
Slovenia – Best photos in 2021 – Conclusion
So this is my selection of best photos of Slovenia for 2021. You probably noticed that winter and autumn are my two favourite seasons. Winter for its minimalism and nice light quality and autumn for the colours and moody weather. Nevertheless, Slovenia is worth exploring in any season! Thank you for reading and Happy New Year!
“Best of the year” collections from 2020, 2019, 2018, 2015 and 2014.
8 comments
Great images! I would love you to the roundup of photographers’ top images of 2021 over at photographyandtravel.com (like what Jim Goldstein used to do up until a couple years ago). Here is a link to the submission form if you are willing. Thanks.
https://www.photographyandtravel.com/submit-your-top-images-of-2021/
This is a beautiful collection of photos! I love winter scenes like many of these as they’re things I don’t typically get to see. I love the hilltop churches, like St Oswald Church, just beautiful. And Winter at Velika Planina is fantastic! I hope you have a wonderful and photographic 2022!
Thank you Todd! I appreciate you taking time to go through the images. All the best in photography for you too!
What a gorgeous country. You are lucky to have this on your doorstep. Great work!
Thank you Jeremy! You still have reasons to come back.. Winter perhaps?
Bellissimo!
Grazie Scoiatolla 🙂