Kranjska Gora is the last real town in the Upper Sava valley, a ski resort in winter and a base for hikers and cyclists in summer, tucked so close to the Italian and Austrian frontiers that you can see both countries on a clear afternoon. It is a small place, about fourteen hundred residents, with pastel chalets, a main street of cafes and shops, and the Julian Alps going straight up behind it. The tall wall of Triglav's neighbours dominates the sky, and the fields around the village are neat, green and full of hay racks.
This is the foot of the Vršič Pass, the highest road pass in Slovenia at roughly sixteen hundred metres, and most riders come here for the road alone. Its hairpins are numbered, fifty of them, with twenty-four on the north side and twenty-six on the south, and on the northern ramp several of them are paved in cobbles. The cobbles can be slick in rain and awkward on a heavy bike, so take them slowly and in a low gear. The upper part of the road is narrow, with rock walls and little shoulder, and in summer you will share it with campervans and cyclists. Come early or late for the best of it.
The road itself has a sad origin. It was built during the First World War by Russian prisoners of war, working for the Austro-Hungarian army that was fighting the Italians on the Isonzo front. In March 1916 an avalanche killed many of them, and the little wooden Russian Chapel on the north side of the pass, built by their comrades, still stands among the trees. Stopping there is worth a minute, and flowers are often laid at the door. The road remains a quiet memorial to the men who made it.
Practical matters are simple here. There is fuel in Kranjska Gora, and it is wise to take it, because the pass has none. Restaurants in town serve Slovenian dishes such as jota, a sour-turnip and bean stew, and a sweet called potica. The pass is closed or restricted in winter, usually from late autumn until spring, so look at conditions before planning. Close by is Planica, where ski jumpers fly farther than anywhere else in the world, and the nearby lakes at Jasna are among the most photographed in the valley.