About the Upper Idrijca
Landscape Park
IDRIJA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK
Upper Idrijca is the area of the Idrijca and Belca rivers and their tributaries together with their surroundings; and area of such geologic, geomorphologic, hidrologic, and botanical richness and of such a high level of natural preservation that it has been declared a landscape park since 1993. In the landscape park, you can discover its natural and cultural heritage, as well as enjoy in recreational activities.
Upper Idrijca Landscape Park
The Upper Idrijca Landscape Park is a world of solitary roads, wild valleys, lush forests, and tich technical heritage. The rugged terrain carved out by the Idrijca and Belca rivers and their tributaries reveals gorges, geological cross-sections, waterfalls, picturesque pools, and water springs. Colourful rocks of different composition, strength, age, colour, and shape reveal traces of life in the distant past. Karst phenomena have developed in the permeable rocks, but there are also igneous rocks that show volcanic activity in the distant past.
Together with the interplay between the Mediterranean and Alpine climates, all this diversity contributes to the wealth of flora and fauna. The steep slopes above the Idrijca and Belca riverbeds are covered by forests, which were an important raw material and energy source for the mine in the past. Today, they play an economic, biotopic, and protective role. The Idrijca River, after which the park takes its name, rises below the Mrzla Rupa at the edge of the Vojsko Plateau. It is one of Slovenia’s cleanest and most attractive rivers for fishing.
VISIT IDRIJA
