Pokljuka plateau: the quiet climb above Bled

Pokljuka is the plateau you can see from Bled if you look past the castle: a rounded block of spruce forest at 1,100–1,400 m, 20 km long and almost as wide, the largest continuous forest area in Triglav National Park. It has a biathlon stadium on it, three peat bogs that are the southernmost of their kind in Europe, and two tarmac roads that climb to it — one from the Bled side, one from Bohinj — with a forest road across the top that is closed to cars from mid-June to mid-October but open to bikes. If Vršič is the climb everyone in Slovenia has done, Pokljuka is the one the locals do on a Tuesday evening. It is the better training climb of the two and by a distance the quieter.

What is up there

The plateau is forest almost from edge to edge, which is the point. The road climbs are shaded, the surface stays cool, and the views arrive as clearings rather than as a panorama — the pastures at Zajamniki and Uskovnica, and the Vodnikov razglednik lookout over the Bohinj valleys and the lake basin. The biathlon and cross-country centre at Rudno polje, at 1,347 m by the Bohinj tourist board's listing, is where the road from Bled ends: a stadium with 30 electronic targets, more than 30 km of ski trails, a 66-bed hotel and, every winter, a round of the World Cup. In summer it is a car park with a café, and the destination of the climb.

The Slovenian Tourist Board's page on the plateau counts over 80 km of interlacing forest trails for cycling and notes that road cycling routes lead from the places round the edge all the way to the top. That is the honest summary: two tarmac roads up, and a network of gravel across.

The Bled side

From Bled the road goes up through Gorje and Krnica and onto the plateau past the hamlets at Zatrnik and Goreljek, then across to Rudno polje. It is the longer and gentler of the two approaches, wooded almost from the start, and it is where the peat-bog study trail at Goreljek leaves the road. The gradient is steady rather than steep; it is a climb you can ride at tempo for an hour without the kind of pitches that force you out of the saddle, which is exactly what a training climb should be. Pacing a climb with power is easy to apply here because the road does not fight you.

The Bled tourist board's phrase for it is "pleasant cycling in the cool shadow of the pine forests", which is accurate and undersells it. On a July afternoon when Bled is 25 °C and full, the plateau is several degrees cooler and empty.

The Bohinj side

From Bohinj the road climbs from Srednja vas through Koprivnik to Goreljek and joins the Bled road on the plateau. It is shorter and steeper, with the views over the Upper Bohinj valley opening early, and it is the side the Juliana Bike route uses: the tourist board's first stage runs from Bohinjska Bistrica to Goreljek in 32.4 km with 1,049 m of climbing, "completely in Bohinj", through the pastures on the plateau. The second stage continues from Goreljek across the plateau and down the Radovna valley to Kranjska Gora — 65.2 km and 1,092 m — which is the long way off the top and a beautiful one.

The forest road, and the summer traffic regime

This is what makes the plateau unusual. The Bohinj municipality closes two forest roads to motor traffic between 15 June and 15 October — the Srednja vas–Uskovnica road and the Spodnji Goreljek–Praprotnica–Rudno polje road — with exceptions for landowners, official services and the municipal shuttle. Cycling is explicitly permitted. So in summer you can ride from Rudno polje across to Uskovnica and down to Srednja vas on a road with almost nothing on it, and make a loop of the two tarmac climbs without touching the regional road in between.

The surface on those forest roads is gravel, and the descent to Srednja vas is steep. Fine on 28 mm tyres in the dry, a different proposition on 23s in the wet. Motor vehicles are also barred from driving across the Praprotnica and Uskovnica pastures, and parking along the forest roads between Rudno polje and Razpotje is not permitted, which keeps the top of the plateau quiet even at weekends. The municipality runs a bus up from Bohinjska Bistrica between 25 June and 13 September, and a shuttle on request to Uskovnica in July and August, so a one-way ride with a bus back is possible if you ask about bikes first.

The loop we would ride

1. Bled to Rudno polje by the Gorje road. Steady, shaded, an hour or so of tempo.
2. Across the forest road from Rudno polje towards Uskovnica, in summer, with the barrier behind you.
3. Down to Srednja vas on gravel, carefully, into the Upper Bohinj valley.
4. Back to Bled on the new separated cycle route from Bohinjska Bistrica along the Sava Bohinjka — or, if you have the legs, back up the Koprivnik road and over the top again.

The Bled and Bohinj guide covers the cycle route between the two and the other climbs around them. If you are deciding between a loop and an out-and-back, this piece makes the case for loops; on Pokljuka the loop is only there from mid-June, so outside that window the out-and-back from Bled is the ride.

Rules, and why the plateau is protected

The whole plateau is inside Triglav National Park, and the park's cycling rules apply: bikes are allowed on existing roads built for motor traffic and on forest roads, in daylight only, and are banned from the natural environment off them. The daylight rule is there because of wildlife, and on Pokljuka that is not theoretical — the peat bogs are glacial remnants that shelter plants and animals with nowhere else to go, and the Bohinj board describes traffic calming on the plateau as part of a habitat-preservation project. Stay on the road, ride in daylight, and do not cut across a bog because it looks flat.

When to go

ARSO's 1981–2010 normals for Lesce, on the plain below Bled at 515 m, show snow on the ground on 51 mornings a year, with a mean fresh-snow total of 117 cm and the last of it in April. The plateau is 600–900 m higher and holds its snow much longer; the biathlon centre has an artificial snowmaking system precisely because it is a winter venue. In practice the tarmac roads are clear from late spring, the forest-road loop opens on 15 June, and the plateau is at its best from June to early October, when the forest edges turn. The July mean daily maximum at Lesce is 25.3 °C; the plateau will be cooler, and the descent through the forest to Bled is long enough to want a gilet.

In winter the ski bus runs from Bohinjska Bistrica to Rudno polje for the cross-country skiers, and the road is a ski road. If you want to ride it then, save the climb in Moveee and ride it in Moveee Indoor; the elevation data reproduces the gradient, if not the smell of the spruce.

Why it is better than Vršič for training

Not more beautiful, and not more famous. Better for training: a steady gradient without cobbles, a road surface that stays consistent, shade for the whole climb, almost no coaches, and a summit you can turn round at without negotiating a car park. You can do it twice in a morning from Bled and be home for lunch. The plateau is also the one climb in the area where the top is not the end — there is a plateau up there, with roads across it, which is a rare thing in the Julian Alps. Vršič is the one to photograph. Pokljuka is the one to come back to.