Vrtaca Wertatscha Trail – Hiking the Alps

Reaching the starting point

The Vrtaca trail starts at the Ljubelj Pass (Loibl Pass in German) which is located on the Slovenian-Austrian border. You can leave your car free of charge on a big parking lot on the Slovenian side, 1063 meters above the sea level (coordinates 46.431299, 14.260257). The above attached GPS track starts exactly at this parking lot.

If you are coming from the south (e.g. Slovenia, Croatia etc.), drive along the E61 highway towards Jesenice and take the Ljubelj exit (approximately 40 kilometers north of Ljubljana). Then drive on road E652 towards Ljubelj and Austria. After driving for approximately 16 kilometers you will reach the border and the Ljubelj tunnel. Just before the border and the tunnel, turn left and park your car on the big parking lot.

In case that you are coming from the north (e.g. Austria, Germany etc.) you should first drive to Klagenfurt. From there you should drive towards south on road 91 over the Ferlacher Stausee river and across the border, through the Ljubelj tunnel. When you come out of the tunnel, turn right and park your car on the big parking lot.

Even though the road to the Ljubelj pass is in a very good condition, the Ljubelj pass is unfortunately not accessible by public transport.

Trail

The Vrtaca trail is well-marked with direction signs and painted red and white circles on trees and rocks. Therefore, you shouldn’t have any problems navigating your way to the top. However, for easier navigation you can also download our GPS track above for free and use it with your smartphone or handheld GPS device.

At the parking lot at the Ljubelj pass find the direction sign for Zelenica, Vrtaca and Stol and start hiking towards west on the wide dirt track. The wide dirt track ascends rapidly across the slopes of an old ski resort and after hiking for 1.3 kilometers you will reach the first mountain hut, called Vrtaca. The Vrtaca mountain hut was closed in July when we executed this hike and we are therefore not sure if it is even still operational. After the Vrtaca mountain hut, the path will first take you towards south-west and then towards north-west. After one kilometer or so you will reach the next mountain hut, named Dom na Zelenici. This mountain hut was open when we did the hike. The Dom na Zelenici mountain hut offers drinks and warm food. The prices are very reasonable – you can get a beer for less than 3 € ($3.5) and a warm meal for approximately 8 € ($9.3). Since the weather was good we decided to proceed towards the top and first make a stop in this mountain hut on the way back.

After the Dom na Zelenici mountain hut, the path becomes narrower, less steep and changes its direction towards north-west. After hiking for approximately one hour you will reach a crossroad (4.5 kilometers from the starting point) where you should go right in the direction of the Vrtaca peak. Note that this crossroad is not clearly seen and thus some attention is required here. In case you miss the right turn here, you will go towards Stol Hochstuhl – the highest peak of the Karawanks. After turning right at the crossroad, the path becomes quite steep and first goes towards north-west, and then changes its direction towards north-east. After hiking for one kilometer more on rocky terrain you will reach the Vrtaca peak.

On the top you will get a great view on the surrounding mountains such as Stol Hochstuhl, Begunjscica and many more. You will also have a great view on the Slovenian and Austrian valleys beneath. In clear weather, you can also spot the famous Bled lake towards south.

Getting back to the starting point

As we couldn’t find any other trail that goes back to the starting point, we decided to descend via the same trail. On the way back, we stopped at the Dom na Zelenici mountain hut where we relaxed for an hour or so. Many hikers were having fun there after their successful ascents.

Getting back to the starting point

As we couldn’t find any other trail that goes back to the starting point, we decided to descend via the same trail. On the way back, we stopped at the Dom na Zelenici mountain hut where we relaxed for an hour or so. Many hikers were having fun there after their successful ascents.

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