Type: Self-catering house
Price Guide 230 - 250 euros/night/house
Minimum nights: Single booking: 5, Itinerary booking: 4

OUR VIEW
The house is over one hundred years old, and has been nicely renovated to reflect the style and feel of those days long past. The walls are very thick and made of local stone, providing comparative coolness in the summer months, while keeping you snuggly warm in the winter. Although the walls are thick, the windows are large enough to make the place feel light and airy. The little village of Škrbina is right in the middle of karst country: caves and wine feature heavily.

ACCOMMODATION
The house comprises four double bedrooms, each with en-suite bathrooms. On the ground floor is a lounging room (with flat screen TV, DVD, broadband, hi-fi and some CDs and films) and a huge kitchen and dining room, with a large table and an old Slovenian steel wood-burning fire. There is also a sauna, massage pool and a large walled garden, with loungers and a barbecue. Oh, and off-street parking. We think our biggest problem will be getting you out.

THINGS TO DO
Hopefully, one of the things you will be here for is to take a look underground. The karst region of Slovenia is riddled with holes, some of which are huge and breath-taking, some where rivers or even lakes disappear, many that have not yet been explored... but ten of which have been opened to the public. The most breath-taking of all is the Škocjan cave, which is only about thirty km from the house.Taking slightly less breath, but much larger (third largest in the world), is the world-famous Postojna cave, in a more northerly direction.
If you'd prefer the sky over your head, trot off to see the wonderful Lipizzaners at the Lipica stud farm - or maybe the old walled town of Štanjel, just down the road. As mentioned before, this is one of Slovenia's wine regions, so a few tastings will definitely be in order. As well as vines, the region is also full of various orchards: olives, peaches and cherries all feature heavily.
If one country is just not enough, the nearest beach is in Italy, about fifteen minutes away, while the town of Trieste is a little further than that.

LOCAL FACILITIES
Škrbina is a quiet little village, with a local shop and... three very nice wineries. The town of Komen is about ten minutes away, where you can get just about anything else you may need, while Trieste, just over the border, has the same... but Italian.

LANGUAGES
Slovenian, English, Italian

CHILDREN
More than welcome.

WEATHER
Kras is comparatively warm throughout the year, seeing as it sits just above the Adriatic coast. Summers can be very hot - up to 30C - while winters rarely drop below 10C. The late autumn can be a bit blowy, as Slovenia's equivalent to the Mistral - the Burja - hurtles down from the north.

WHEN
Vila Škrbina is open throughout the year.

TO TAKE WITH YOU
In the summer, shorts, T-shirts, sturdy shoes or boots, something warm for the evenings and something waterproof in case it rains, for daytime adventures. In winter: wrap up!

CAR HIRE
AVIS - click on this link and you will open a new window for the Avis Slovenia website, from where you can book your car.


HOW TO GET THERE
Closest destination airports are in this colour.
Click on the airline name to open their web page in a new window.

From Gatwick:
Ljubljana with Adria (the national airline).
From Stansted:
Ljubljana or Rijeka with EasyJet.
Trieste, Klagenfurt, Graz or Balaton with Ryanair.
From Luton:
Zagreb with Wizz.
From Manchester:
Ljubljana with Adria (summer months only).
From Bristol:
Venice with EasyJet.
From Birmingham:
Trieste with Ryanair, Wednesday and Sunday only.

DRIVING TO RATEČE (Google map here)

Click here for directions.