Podljubelj (Lajb) - Begunjska Vrtača

Access to starting point:
We leave the Gorenjska motorway at the Podtabor junction, and then continue driving towards the Ljubelj border crossing. Further, we drive past the turn-off for Bistrica pri Tržiču, and higher also past the turn-off for Podljubelj. A little after the road sign 4.5 km, after the underpass we turn right and then once again right into Podljubelj. We park at a suitable place by the sign which marks the beginning of Podljubelj.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the road which crosses a narrow bridge (overpass) and on the other side turns left. After a few dozen steps along the road we notice signs for Preval, Begunjščica and Dobrča. Further, we continue on the road which ascends above the village and at the end of the village we notice a sign prohibiting further driving. The road, which further moderately ascends, soon crosses the stream over a bridge and continues on a mostly vegetated slope. Somewhere halfway up to Preval the road crosses some panoramic slopes, then goes back into the forest, where we have two options for continuing. On the right side of the road we notice a steep cart track which soon brings us to Preval, or we can continue on the slightly gentler road which brings us to Preval just a minute later. On Preval both paths join and only a short ascent to the cottage follows, which we notice on the left side.
From the cross on Preval we continue north on the marked footpath in the direction of Begunjščica over Kalvarija (left Roblekov dom over Roža, right Ljubelj and Podljubelj). The path ahead first ascends over a panoramic grassy slope, then transitions into the forest through which it begins to ascend more steeply. Higher up the forest starts to thin out, and the path becomes somewhat steeper. A fairly steep ascent follows, which first goes through some belts of dwarf pines, higher over steep grassy slopes which are especially dangerous for slipping when wet. Further on we cross a slightly exposed gully where a small memorial is placed, and the path then ascends for a few more minutes over the steep grassy slope. When the slope a little higher flattens somewhat, the marked path turns left and crosses the slopes to the left. Just a few minutes further we arrive in a small valley where the slope flattens even more.
Here the marked path, which leads to Veliki vrh, crosses the valley, but we continue straight up the valley, where we first still follow a faint path. A little higher we head slightly right, then in 10 minutes of further walking over easier pathless terrain we ascend to the summit of Begunjska Vrtača.
Lajb - Preval 1:30, Preval - Begunjska vrtača 1:35.

Along the route: Koča na Prevalu mountain hut (1311m)

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register