Hotel Bohinj
Reboot camp
Lakeside amid the Alps
We’re apologising to your other Smith half in advance: any stay at mountain spa escape Hotel Bohinj will cause the heart to stray… and fall for the Alpine beauty of mountain-fringed Lake Bohinj. This overhauled boutique hotel shares its passion for place through seasonal, local plates in the all-day restaurant; an all-Slovenian wine list in the cellar bar, and storied decor diffused in thoughtful details that speak to the area’s pastoral heritage. Spa therapies themed around Alpine wellness are a seduction worth surrendering to: a devil-may-care fling among the surrounding meadows and mountains is sure to follow…
Facilities
Rooms
62, including one suite.
Checkout
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More Details
Rates include a locally sourced buffet breakfast of daily-baked breads, pastries, cheese and cold meats, fresh fruit, yoghurt and cereals.
Also
The ground-floor restaurant and spa are wheelchair-friendly and there’s a number of accessible rooms suitable for wheelchair use.
Free Internet Access
Laundry
Pet Friendly
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
Spa
At the Hotel
Mezzanine lounge; museum; boutique (selling merchandise and local goods); ski and bike storage room; outdoor yoga platform; paid laundry service; free daily spa access (up to two hours), free WiFi throughout. In rooms: LCD TV, minibar, coffee maker, free tea and coffee, and local, natural bath products by Prija.
Our Favourite Rooms
Comfort double rooms at Hotel Bohinj are more generous in size than their Classic counterparts: opt for a balcony in either category to maximise your room’s panoramic potential. Family suites bring together adjoining rooms with two bathrooms. Top-of-house is the apartment-like Superior Suite, which has superlative views and its own Jacuzzi.
Poolside
In front of the spa where the garden rolls towards the lake is a modest oblong pool (adults only) with whirlpool jets that’s ideal for refreshing dips (rather than laps) in spectacular Alpine scenery.
Spa
A larch-lined warren of restorative wellness to the rear of the hotel, the adults-only spa is a highlight of any stay at Hotel Bohinj. Its design is compartmentalised – a space of corridors and cocooning zones of calm, comprising Finnish and Turkish saunas, a relaxation lounge with views down to the lake, a garden-facing terrace and spa pool, and three treatment rooms (bring your own tunes to stream through Bluetooth speakers to accompany your massage or facial). All the senses are catered for here: there’s an ice fountain, steam room, and experience showers; to reach the spa’s refreshment station, you pad barefoot across a textured, reflexology walkway. Downtime in the indoor lounge deploys chromotherapy and salt crystals to promote healing as well as rest. Two hours’ access a day is free to hotel guests, but you’ll want to book in for a massage or body treatment: our tip is to opt for one that includes time on the zero-gravity heated water-bed for a cosseting sense of weightlessness.
Packing Tips
More swimwear than you’d think: even in winter, you’ll want a rotation of togs for time in the spa.
Also
For those who prefer their spa time à deux, a spa suite can be hired for exclusive use, including the Finnish sauna. Or book a ‘floating breakfast’ and enjoy the first meal of the day surrounded by mountain scenery, wallowing in the outdoor spa pool.
Children
Welcome, although not in the adults-only spa. Little Smiths between the ages of two and 12 are charged as children; Comfort rooms sleep up to three, and Family Suites connect two ensuite doubles.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
The views windowside are tempting, but there’s a cosy, more intimate feel to tables on the far side of the room nearer the kitchen.
Dress Code
An outdoorsy stay such as Hotel Bohinj needs no formal glamour: mountain-ready threads are fine by day – if you want to switch the ski or hiking pants for something more glittering by evening, a glamorous top with casual trousers is pitch perfect.
Hotel Restaurant
Off the lobby, Hotel Bohinj’s restaurant is an all-day dining spot, its larch-lined, airy dining room, flooded with light from floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the front of the hotel. The space is partitioned by a shelf-wall dotted with plants. Breakfast is a buffet affair that’ll have you boomeranging from table to counter for fresh fruit, pastries, bread, cereals and yoghurt, plus top-ups of coffee and juice. A menu that changes with the seasons and showcases local produce in artfully presented plates caters to lunchtime and evening diners, accompanied by a broad choice of Slovenian wines.
Hotel Bar
There are free-flowing lounge spaces off the lobby, including cow-hide-dressed tub chairs and tables by reception, a mezzanine lounge overlooking the entrance, and tables in the restaurant that double as drinking spots. To one side of reception, a secluded lounge has a checkerboard wall of traditional oven-doors turned into an installation and is a cosy spot for coffees or apéritifs. Downstairs, the Club is Hotel Bohinj’s dedicated drinks lounge – open till 2am and the venue for a calendar of live music and DJ sets (Saturday nights are a highlight). A cellar wall of resting bottles indicates the Club’s other key passion – wine: this is where group and individual tastings of the grape and the good are held with a sommelier, introducing the hotel’s all-Slovenian vintages (in summer, sessions migrate to tastings around the outdoor fire pit).
Last Orders
The kitchen closes at 10pm; the Bar Lounge closes at 11pm, and the Club is open 9pm until 2am.
Room Service
Between 7am and 10pm, you can order food and drink to your room when the restaurant is open.
Planes
Ljubljana is the nearest international airport (Austria’s regional hub, Klagenfurt is equi-distant) around an hour’s drive from the hotel; or you could fly in to Trieste, Italy, which is two hours and 15 minutes from Hotel Bohinj by road. The hotel can arrange private transfers from Ljubljana airport from €200 each-way.
Trains
The nearest railway station is Bohinjska Bistrica, a 10-minute drive from the hotel; private transfers are available from €25 each-way.
Automobiles
There’s free parking in front of the hotel and electric-vehicle charging stations.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Outdoors-lovers are drawn to Lake Bohinj for the Alpine trails and lake-based adventures in summer, and snowsports in winter. On the north shore of the lake, Triglav National Park is a forested wilderness crowned by rugged limestone crags – none higher than the eponymous Mount Triglav. Canoe or take a boat tour of the lake; try stand-up paddleboarding, or kayak the rapids of the Sava Bohinjka river. Within the park, Vogel is the area’s diminutive winter resort in Gorenjska: it has a handful of lifts, piste-side dining spots and 22 kilometres of runs. South-west of the lake, the hamlet of Ukanc is your gateway to the dramatic gorge and torrent that is Savica waterfall. Mostnica’s gorge and falls offer similarly dramatic scenery. To get a broader understanding of the geography, there are a handful of breathtaking viewpoints worth tracking down: the first is accessible by cable car at Vogel, summiting Brown Rock; or Vodnik – a 30-minute ascent from Koprivnik – with good views of the upper and lower valleys; the third is less of a climb on a well-marked trail at Peč. Without leaving the grounds of Hotel Bohinj, there’s convivial entertainment on offer: wine tasting around the outdoor fire pit in summer; live music weekly alfresco, and a Sunday farmers’ market where local producers showcase cheese, honey, wine, ceramics and more luggage-filling treasure. And be sure to reserve a little downtime for the spa – for treatments, exclusive use of its private spa suite, or a memorable start to the day with a floating breakfast in the spa pool.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
