Luxury holidays in Jezersko

Easier to love than it is to pronounce, the village of Jezersko is set in a pristine mountain valley just under an hour away from the country’s (equally jaw-breaking) capital Ljubljana. If you’re looking for a less crowded alternative to the Austrian Alps, this charming little village may be just the ticket. Slovenian for ‘lakeland’, the valley itself was once a huge glacial lake that drained away. For centuries, the only lake Jezersko could speak of was its name, but that all changed in 1970, when locals created the heart-shaped Lake Planšar – a stunning turquoise inlet surrounded by dramatic blush greens and towering snow-capped peaks. Cosetted by nature, hikers and bikers are spoilt for choice, with a mixed bag of trails for every ability. The locals are understandably protective of their spectacularly bucolic corner of the earth, and do their best to maintain the area through sustainable tourism practises and the preservation of agricultural traditions. Join them for herb-picking walking tours, storytelling gatherings, ram auctioning and, um, a yearly sheep ball, where the herdsman and milkmaids of old come alive in a fantastically rural re-enactment.