Cycling the Slovenia Green Gourmet Route is about more than pedaling from one breathtaking, hilltop village to another. A ride along this trail, which covers every corner of the country, is about all the places in between. It’s about biking past vineyards that suddenly extend across the horizon. It’s about sitting with friends for a great Michelin-starred experience … or at a local farm-to-table bistro for the meal of your life. It’s about coming to a panoramic locale with the Alps behind you and the Adriatic Sea ahead. The Slovenia Green Gourmet Route (SGGR) is about moving (and eating) across one of the world’s most sustainably minded countries, while taking in community stories and learning about an oft-overlooked culture at human speed.
The SGGR, which launched last year, is the perfect itinerary for rapidly evolving world travelers who demand everything: pleasure, adventure, and responsibility. Combining food, Slovenia Green-certified destinations, beautiful and varied landscapes, challenging and safe cycling, and “the world’s most sustainable country,” the SGGR has something for everyone but never forgets its roots — the communities scattered across this beautiful and magnificent Central European nation.
The route only visits green-certified destinations and crisscrosses nearly all of Slovenia, which was named the European Region of Gastronomy for 2021. The path provides all the information cyclists need to discover Slovenia along forest roads and quiet roads. The Green Gourmet Route makes food and wine a top priority and visits Michelin-starred restaurants (Michelin awarded Slovenia its first stars in 2020), great local bistros, farmers, and wineries. The itinerary was created to give travelers all the information necessary to drink in this country’s rich wine history and learn more about its expansive food culture.
The SGGR begins in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, and utilizes the country’s convenient train system to the Soča Valley, framed by the Alps. Cyclists then pedal to the Vipava Valley, roll into the Karst Region, and then take another train east. After discovering the Sava River region, travelers go north to Ptuj, along the Drava River, to Maribor.
The SGGR is a route that makes nature, food, great wine, and green-certified destinations its main must-see activities. But, perhaps the most important aspect of the new itinerary is that it makes the people along the trail its most important asset.