Slovenia

Day 1 | Tuesday 18 May
Arrive Bled
Bled has drawn travellers since the mid-19th century,
when the Swiss healer Arnold Rikli established his celebrated open-air spa above the lake and made the town a byword for alpine wellbeing. On arrival at Ljubljana Airport today, individual transfers will be arranged by Academy Travel to the Rikli Balance Hotel – named for this legacy and set on the slopes above the water. Beneath the peaks of the Julian Alps, with its island church and clifftop castle, Bled offers the painter an introduction to Slovenia like no other. We gather in the hotel lobby this evening for introductions followed by a welcome dinner, offering an opportunity to get to know fellow travellers ahead of the fortnight to come. Overnight Bled (D)

Day 2 | Wednesday 19 May
Lake Bled
Carved by glaciers and fed by underground springs, Lake Bled lies within a natural bowl of forested hills, its blue-green waters shifting with the light. At its centre, a small island carries the baroque Church of the Assumption, while Bled Castle rises dramatically above the eastern shore on a sheer 130-metre cliff. In May, with the surrounding peaks still snow-capped and the chestnut trees in full leaf, the lake is at its most painterly. This morning, we cross the lake aboard a traditional Pletna boat used here since the 17th century. On reaching the island, we climb the 99 steps to the church and its celebrated wishing bell. We then continue to Bled Castle for lunch in the castle restaurant, overlooking the full sweep of the lake below. The afternoon is then devoted to painting from selected vantage points around the shore, while non-painters may further explore the castle or follow the lakeside path at leisure. Overnight Bled (B, L)

Day 3 | Thursday 20 May
Lake Bohinj
Wilder and less visited than its famous neighbour, Lake Bohinj occupies a broader valley deep in the Triglav National Park – a glacial lake of exceptional clarity ringed by peaks that rise steeply from the water’s edge. Where Bled is refined and composed, Bohinj is open and elemental, its southern shore lined with meadows that run directly to the water and its reflections offering a mirror of the surrounding mountains. In the morning we make the short drive west into the park, spending the day painting along the lakeshore and in the surrounding meadows, where the stillness of the water and the scale of the alpine backdrop reward a full day at the easel. Non-painters can walk the lakeshore path and enjoy the serene views around the lake and the wilderness beyond. We return to Bled in the late afternoon, where the evening is at leisure. Overnight Bled (B)

Day 4 | Friday 21 May
Kranjska Gora, the Vršič Pass and Lake Jasna
Set beneath the peaks of the Karavanke and Julian Alps, Kranjska Gora has long served as a gateway to Slovenia’s high mountain country. Above the village, the Vršič Pass climbs through forests and rocky alpine terrain along the country’s highest mountain road, opening to dramatic views across the surrounding peaks. This morning we travel through Kranjska Gora and ascend towards Tičar Lodge, pausing at the Russian Chapel, built in memory of the prisoners of war who died while constructing the road during World War I. The chapel provides the first subject for our morning of painting and sketching before we continue to Tičar Lodge to capture the surrounding peaks and alpine landscape. We then return to Kranjska Gora for lunch at a local restaurant, followed by an afternoon capturing the turquoise waters, rushing streams and mountain reflections of nearby Lake Jasna. On returning to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Bled (B, L)

Day 5 | Saturday 22 May
Škofja Loka
For more than eight centuries, Škofja Loka and its surrounding lands belonged to the Bishops of Freising, whose Bavarian seat governed this corner of Carniola from 973 until the Napoleonic era – a continuity that has left the town among the best preserved in Slovenia. Its 13th-century core of patrician houses, frescoed facades and hilltop castle gathers around Mestni trg, the main square, whilst below, a handsome stone bridge spans the clear waters of the Selška Sora. Today we make the short drive to Škofja Loka for a morning painting session in the old town. The colourful facades of the main square offer rewarding architectural subjects, while the riverbank provides quieter compositions with views towards the castle and wooded hills beyond. Non-painters may explore the medieval lanes and churches at their own pace before we return to Bled for an afternoon at leisure. Overnight Bled (B)

Day 6 | Sunday 23 May
Postojna and Predjama
The Karst plateau, from which the geological term “karst” takes its name, is a limestone landscape of sinkholes, underground rivers and vast cave systems stretching across southwestern Slovenia. Its most spectacular subterranean feature is Postojna Cave, one of the largest cave systems in the world, and home to the extraordinary olm, a blind cave-dwelling amphibian found only in the underground waters of the Dinaric Karst. Departing Bled, we descend onto the plateau and enter Postojna Cave by underground train for a private guided tour of its cathedral-like chambers. We then continue to nearby Predjama Castle, one of the most dramatic fortifications in Europe – built directly into the gaping mouth of a cave in a sheer 123-metre cliff face. Painters can set up to capture this remarkable subject whilst non-painters explore the castle’s interior. In the late afternoon we continue south to Lipica, where dinner is served in our hotel. Overnight Lipica (B, D)

Day 7 | Monday 24 May
Piran and the Sečovlje Salt Pans
Among the best-preserved medieval towns on the Adriatic, Piran is a compact peninsula of Venetian Gothic architecture whose narrow streets, white stone squares and encircling walls bear witness to five centuries of Venetian rule. Facing out over the sea, with Venice a faint hint across the bay, the town’s most prominent landmark, the cathedral of St George, sits high above the harbour, its campanile modelled on the bell tower of San Marco. A short drive from Lipica brings us to Piran this morning, where a guided walking tour reveals the old town’s narrow lanes, elegant waterfront and historic fortifications. In the afternoon, we continue to the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, where painters can set up among the geometric patterns of the working salt pans, the vast flat light of the coastal landscape offering a subject unlike any other on the tour. We return to Lipica in the late afternoon. Overnight Lipica (B)

Day 8 | Tuesday 25 May
Lipica
The Lipica stud farm has been breeding the celebrated Lipizzaner horse since 1580, when the Habsburg Archduke Charles II established the stud on the Karst plateau to supply the Imperial Court in Vienna with its famed white horses. The breed’s association with the Spanish Riding School made it one of the most recognisable in the world, and Lipica remains the oldest continuously operating stud farm in Europe. The horses themselves hold a quiet surprise – foals are born dark and turn white gradually over their first years. A private guided tour of the farm this morning traces more than four centuries of breeding tradition, before we take our seats for the official morning training of the Lipica Riding School, watching horses and riders rehearse the classical movements perfected over generations. A picnic lunch is then enjoyed in the manor gardens of the estate, followed by an afternoon painting across the parkland and paddocks in the open horizons of the Karst. The late afternoon is at leisure. Overnight Lipica (B, L)

Day 9 | Wednesday 26 May
Miramare Castle
On a rocky promontory above the Gulf of Trieste stands Miramare Castle, the gleaming white residence built in the 1850s for Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg, the Austrian naval commander whose ill-fated acceptance of the Mexican crown ended before a firing squad in 1867. His castle survives as one of the Adriatic’s most romantic silhouettes, its Istrian stone rising directly from the sea amid 22 hectares of terraced gardens. Today we cross the nearby border into Italy for a day of painting in the castle grounds, where the parkland, sea walls and shifting light on the water offer subjects in every direction. Non-painters can tour the richly furnished interiors, preserved much as Maximilian left them, and wander the gardens at their own pace. We return to Lipica in the late afternoon. Overnight Lipica (B)

Day 10 | Thursday 27 May
Kamnik and the Arboretum
Among Slovenia’s oldest medieval towns, Kamnik has a compact historic centre centred on the cobbled street of Šutna, its Gothic church spire and the rocky outcrop of Mali Grad, crowned by a Romanesque chapel, set dramatically beneath the Kamnik–Savinja Alps – a backdrop that has drawn painters here for generations. Departing Lipica this morning, we travel north for a morning painting session in the old town, its rooftops and castle silhouette framed against the peaks. After a break for lunch, we continue the short distance to the Arboretum Volčji Potok, the most celebrated landscaped garden in Slovenia, laid out from 1885 by the Souvan family, patrons of the Slovene impressionists, where the afternoon painting session unfolds among avenues, ponds and flowering borders. In the late afternoon we continue to Ljubljana, the capital and our base for the final five nights, gathering for dinner together after check-in. Overnight Ljubljana (B, D)

Day 11 | Friday 28 May
Ljubljana
Ljubljana has been shaped by centuries of history – Roman Emona, a medieval market town, a Habsburg provincial capital – each leaving its mark on a city that today feels both intimate and cosmopolitan. Its most distinctive layer belongs to the architect Jože Plečnik, whose early 20th-century redesign gave the city its colonnaded market, triple bridge and riverfront promenades, transforming Ljubljana into one of central Europe’s most idiosyncratic capitals. A walking tour this morning takes in his city of colonnades and bridges before we board a boat for a cruise along the Ljubljanica, seeing the willow-lined embankments – themselves among Plečnik’s finest achievements – from the water. Painters then settle in for a first session by the river, and following a break for lunch, the afternoon continues at the easel in the old town’s squares and laneways, whilst non-painters explore the city’s cafes, galleries and artisan shops. Overnight Ljubljana (B)

Saturday 29 May
Logarska Valley
Logarska Valley, or Logarska dolina, is one of the finest glacial valleys in the Alps – a narrow, forested corridor carved by ice and enclosed on three sides by peaks rising above 2,000 metres. Long protected as a landscape park, it remains one of the least-disturbed alpine environments in central Europe, with its meadows, waterfalls and traditional farmsteads largely unchanged by modern development. Today we travel north into the Kamnik–Savinja Alps for a full day of plein-air painting amid the valley’s dramatic scenery. Non-painters may explore the valley floor on foot, taking in sweeping views of forest, river and mountain peaks. Lunch is enjoyed together at a local farmstead, known for its regional cuisine, before continuing our painting session in the afternoon. On return to Ljubljana, the evening at leisure. Overnight Ljubljana (B, L)

Day 13 | Sunday 30 May
Celje
In the late Middle Ages, the Counts of Celje rose from provincial nobility to become the most powerful dynasty on Slovene soil – rivals to the Habsburgs, whose three golden stars survive today in Slovenia’s national coat of arms. Their seat, Celje Castle, remains the largest medieval castle complex in the country, its ramparts, towers and walls sprawling across a wooded ridge high above the Savinja valley. We make the day trip east from Ljubljana this morning, and painters set up along the battlements – the towers, rooftops and river valley below offering commanding subjects – whilst non-painters climb Frederick’s Tower and trace the story of a dynasty that so nearly reshaped central Europe, including the doomed love of Count Frederick II and Veronika of Desenice, still one of Slovenia’s most cherished legends. After lunch together in the old town, we visit the Old Counts’ Mansion to stand beneath the extraordinary Celje Ceiling, a vast illusionistic painting from the early 17th century whose trompe l’oeil columns open onto a painted sky. In the late afternoon we return to Ljubljana for an evening at leisure. Overnight Ljubljana (B, L)

Day 14 | Monday 31 May
Ljubljana Castle
Rising above Ljubljana’s old town, Castle Hill is crowned by a fortress that has watched over the city for nine centuries, serving in turn as a stronghold, arsenal and prison before becoming one of its finest viewpoints. We ride the funicular up to the castle to begin our final day among its ramparts, with sweeping views across the terracotta rooftops, the winding river and the Kamnik Alps on the horizon. The late morning and afternoon are then given over to a closing painting session under John’s guidance – an opportunity to bring a fortnight’s practice to bear on one last subject, whether the riverfront, a quiet laneway or the castle itself – with time also at leisure for final wanderings. In the evening, we gather for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant, marking the close of our time together in Slovenia. Overnight Ljubljana (B, D)

Day 15 | Tuesday 1 June
Depart Ljubljana
Our tour ends after breakfast, followed by a group transfer to Ljubljana airport for onward flights. (B)