Slovenia with a rooftop tent: our route in twelve days

From Hoogwoud to the Julian Alps and back. Twelve days, 3,274 kilometres, four countries. This route was not pulled off the internet: Erwin and Sandra drove it in August 2026 with the Land Cruiser and the Dune in khaki on the roof. Including the flat tyre, the broken ignition lock and the three full campsites.

Why Slovenia works with a rooftop tent

Slovenia is small, green and full of forest roads that are open to the public. In half a day you drive from alpine passes to karst plains. There are plenty of campsites, but in August they are full. With a rooftop tent you are set up in about a minute and gone again just as fast. That is exactly the difference between driving on to the next spot and carrying on looking.

The route, day by day

The place names below are the actual stops. Tap them into your navigation and you drive the same line.

Day 1. Hoogwoud to Bavaria

Hoogwoud, Middenbeemster, Kranzberg near Freising.

Nine hours of driving with a few traffic jams. This is the day you simply tick off, so that tomorrow you are in the mountains. Slept at a farm, 18 euros, quiet spot with a dry toilet.

Tip. A farm campsite in Bavaria costs a fraction of a campsite pitch and you are set up in about a minute. Search for Stellplatz or Bauernhof instead of camping.

Day 2. Over the Grossglockner to Villach

Kranzberg, Schliersee, Fusch an der Grossglocknerstrasse, Edelweissspitze, Hochtor, Heiligenblut, Villach.

The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is the classic: 36 hairpin bends, glaciers and peaks above 2,500 metres. From the car park you walk the last stretch up to the Edelweissspitze. Count on half a day, not on a road you drive straight through. Slept at campsite Gerli near Villach, old-fashioned but with decent sanitary facilities.

Note. This is a toll road that is only open in the summer season, with daily opening hours. Check the season and the rate with the road operator before you leave.

Day 3. Into Slovenia, the Soča valley

Fürnitz, Arnoldstein, border, Triglav National Park, Kobarid, Stol pass, Sedlo, Tolmin.

The only national park in Slovenia, around the Triglav of 2,864 metres. The Vršič pass, at 1,611 metres and fifty hairpin bends, is the best-known road here, but in August you share it with buses, motorbikes and cyclists. The Stol pass towards Sedlo is the nicer alternative: unpaved, much quieter, and you come out above the Soča valley. Slept at kamp Siber in Tolmin, after three campsites turned out to be full because of a festival.

From experience. A tyre went flat here. Half an hour of work by the roadside. Make sure your spare wheel is reachable without taking half the tent off.

Day 4. The ridge above the Soča

Tolmin, Kolovrat open-air museum, the border road with Italy, Kanal, back to Tolmin, Vipava.

Kolovrat is an open-air museum on the ridge between Slovenia and Italy, an Italian defence line from the First World War on the Isonzo front. You drive along the ridge with a view of both countries. In Kanal there is the stone bridge where they jump into the azure water from seventeen metres. Slept at kamp Tura near Vipava, in the wine valley.

From experience. New tyres were waiting in Tolmin that afternoon, ordered the same morning. Even here that is arranged within a day, but count on half a day of waiting.

Day 5. Forest roads and quicksilver

Vipava, the forest roads above Ajdovščina, Idrija, Postojna, Pivka.

This is the day for the real work: macadam forest roads with the sign GOZDNA CESTA, uporaba na lastno odgovornost. Forest road, use at your own risk. They are open to the public, but they are not maintained like an ordinary road. Idrija was a quicksilver mining town for centuries. Lunch is somewhere on a forest track. Slept at campsite Plana in Pivka.

Rule. If the sign says Prepovedan promet, it is a no-entry sign and you turn around. Driving off the roads is not allowed in Slovenia, not even on a forest track.

Day 6. Breakdown, and what you get out of it

Pivka, Ljubljana, Cerknica.

The ignition lock gave up. Roadside assistance came quickly, both occupants were allowed to ride along in the truck, and in a Toyota garage in Ljubljana there was a mechanic who fixed it well enough for the trip to carry on. The rest of the day was a route where you drive forty kilometres and meet one car. Slept at Emberbarn near Cerknica.

Take with you. A spare key. This one had to come from the Netherlands by courier and took two days.

Day 7. The lake that is not always there

Cerknica and the Cerkniško jezero.

One of the largest karst lakes in Europe, which turns from dry grassland into the largest lake in the country depending on the season. The water drains away through sinkholes and underground channels. In August there was almost nothing. A walk of seven kilometres takes you past the caves and the natural bridges.

Plan a day without driving. With a rooftop tent you stay where you are, and that is exactly the moment when a trip like this calms down.

Day 8. Tanks, a submarine and into the forests

Velika Pristava, Pivka, Ilirska Bistrica, Kočevje.

The Park of Military History in Pivka is housed in an old barracks: tanks, fighter jets and a Yugoslav midget submarine of over nineteen metres. After that into the forests of Kočevsko, one of the most densely forested areas in Central Europe. Slept at campsite Jezero on the Rudniško jezero, 54.50 euros for one night and with that the most expensive of the trip.

Note. There are bears in Kočevsko. Food and waste go into the car at night, not into the awning.

Day 9. Swimming in the Kolpa

Kočevje, the Kolpa, Novo mesto, Kozje and Podsreda, Šentjur.

The Kolpa forms almost three hundred kilometres of border with Croatia and is one of the warmest rivers in Slovenia. In summer the water in the upper reaches rises to above 25 degrees. You drive to the water, you get in, the little fish nibble at your legs. At Podsreda a way of the cross with fourteen pink and white chapels runs up the hill. The overnight stop near Šentjur was the finest spot of the trip.

Day 10. Out of the Savinja valley

Luče, Solčava, border, Spittal an der Drau.

Solčava lies in the upper Savinja valley against the Austrian border, the gateway to the Solčavsko. After that into Austria again.

Watch your vignette. The Slovenian vignette expired on exactly this day. Work out the end date before you cross the border, not after.

Day 11. Nockalmstrasse as a farewell

Spittal an der Drau, Innerkrems, Nockalmstrasse, Reichenau.

Thirty-five kilometres of panoramic road through the Biosphärenpark Nockberge, with thirty-five bends and high points around 2,000 metres. Quieter than the Grossglockner and just as beautiful. On the alpine pasture the herds simply walk across the road. This too is a toll road with a summer season, so check in advance what applies.

Day 12. Home

Back through Germany to Noord-Holland.

A day of motorway. If you want to break up the last stretch, stop in Franconia, for example in Sommerhausen on the Main.

What you need

• Vignettes. Austria and Slovenia both work with a vignette. Buy them before you leave and note the end date. The Grossglockner and the Nockalmstrasse have their own toll on top of that.
• Tyres and tools. Forest roads are macadam with loose stones. Spare wheel reachable, tyre repair kit along, and a jack that stands on uneven ground.
• A spare key. Not theoretical. Store it separately, not in the same bag as the first one.
• Call campsites in advance. August is busy, certainly around festivals in the Soča valley. Calling works better than booking through a site.

The honest bit

• Wild camping is not allowed in Slovenia. You spend the night at a campsite or a designated spot. This is not a route for staying put by the roadside.
• Driving off the roads is prohibited. The forest roads are public, the terrain next to them is not. GOZDNA CESTA means allowed at your own risk, Prepovedan promet means turn around.
• Passes are seasonal. Grossglockner, Nockalmstrasse and Vršič close in winter and have daily opening hours during the season. Check that with the road operator itself.
• This is not an organised trip. You drive under your own steam and at your own responsibility. Prices, opening hours and roads from August 2026 may be different by now.

And the tent?

On this trip the Dune in khaki was on the roof, the lightest of our three models at 60.5 kilos. Every evening the same: clamps off, lid up, bed is standing. Every morning mats emptied, ladder in, done. In Vipava it stood through a night of hard wind, in the Soča valley at 37 degrees in the shade.

Buying, renting or first coming to lie in one is possible in Hoogwoud, by appointment. Call or message any time: +31 6 28075883, or mail info@lcmoffroad.com.