How To Take The Best Photo of Lake Bled [2024]
Lake Bled is Slovenia’s most iconic sights, and one the best locations for photography in the world. It’s also one of my all-time favourite places, so find out how you can take the best photo of Lake Bled.
Want to find out how to take this photo of the stunning Lake Bled?
Slovenia is literally my favourite country in the world, and I hope to be back very soon. When I went around Europe in 2018 for 2 months, Lake Bled was the number one most unforgettable destination I visited on that trip.
How to get to Lake Bled
By Car
Getting to Lake Bled is relatively easy, as it’s only less than an hour’s drive away by car from Ljubljana, Slovenia’s cute capital. When visiting Slovenia, I would highly recommend you rent a car, as many places are inaccessible by public transport or tours.
By Guided Tour
You can also visit Lake Bled on a guided tour. The great thing about tours in Slovenia is that they’re often reasonably priced, and include other great stops on the same tour, such as Lake Bohinj, Vintgar Gorge, Predjama Castle and Postojna Cave – all very much worth visiting.
Here are some tours we recommend:
Fred at the Lake Bled Jetty
By Bus
Lake Bled, however, is one the exceptions to that rule. From Ljubljana, you can take a local bus to Bled bus station, located a 3-minute walking distance from the Lake. Some buses will also stop at Bled Union bus station, located at the entrance to Bled. From here, it’s about a 5-minute walk to the lake.
The long-haul budget bus carrier FlixBus also stops at Bled, sometimes from neighbouring major cities such as Salzburg, Munich, Budapest, Prague, Milan, Zagreb and other cities. Be sure to check the FlixBus schedule and prices if you’re coming from another city.
By Train
The Lesce-Bled train station is located along the ‘Oste’ railway line that goes from Munich, to Salzburg, Ljubljana, Belgrade and Athens. However, the station is about 4km away from Bled.
From the station, you can take a bus from the Bled bus station (just on the opposite side of the railway station), a taxi or travel to Lake Bled on foot.
Bled Castle, as seen on a plenta boat on the way to Bled Island
Another station you can reach is the Bled Jezero station, which is 1.5km away from the centre of Bled. Getting to this station will work out better for you if you’re coming from more obscure destinations such as Jesenice, Nova Gorica, Koper or Gorizia (Italy).
About Lake Bled
Fred at Lake Bled, Slovenia
Lake Bled is located in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of Slovenia. Just 35km from Ljubljana airport and 55km from Ljubljana city, it’s a popular day trip destination for those passing through Slovenia.
Bled Island, Slovenia
Over the years, Lake Bled has gained quite the reputation for being a photographer’s hotspot. With Bled Island and the Church of the Assumption sitting pretty in the middle of the lake, and Bled Castle peering over from the side, it’s literally impossible to get a bad picture of Lake Bled. But how do you get the best photo of Lake Bled? Read on!
Bled Castle, Slovenia
RELATED: If you’re staying over in Bled or Ljubljana, you may also want to check out the beautiful hidden gem of Most Na Soci.
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Where to take the best photo of Lake Bled?
There are a lot of great spots to take photos of Lake Bled, some of which I’ll list here:
Mala Osojnica Viewpoint
Velika Osojnica
Bled Castle
Straža Viewpoint
On a Plenta Boat, on the way to Bled Island
Fred at Ojstrica Viewpoint – the best location to take photos of Lake Bled
But what is the best photo location for Lake Bled? In my opinion, it is none other than the Ojstrica Viewpoint. This famous viewpoint is the place where you can take that classic shot of Lake Bled – Bled Island in the middle, the Julian Alps in the background, and greenery surrounding the whole scene. It’s especially beautiful in autumn, as the trees would have turned orange and brown.
Time to take that money shot of Lake Bled!
To get to Ojstrica, you’ll need to go on a short hike – but it’ll be completely worth it. The track is pretty steep, but totally doable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness and good walking shoes. Sitting 611 metres above the lake, the hike will take about 20-30 minutes. The end of the trail will be marked with a wooden bench where you can sit and soak in the beautiful views of Lake Bled.
PS: If the trail is slippery after it’s rained, please make a judgment call on whether it’s safe enough to hike up or not. When I went on this hike, it had just rained for a few hours, but thankfully it dried up just enough so that the trail was doable.
This bench marks the end of the Ojstrica trail.
Even though the view from the wooden bench is great, I actually preferred the vantage point of the rocks just before the bench. I also found that it was a slightly less crowded location.
The Ojstrica trail is popular, and you might have to wait in line to take a photo on the famous Ojstrica bench.
View of Lake Bled from the Ojstrica rocks, as opposed to the bench.
If you have a wide angle camera lens, that will serve you well in this location as you’ll be able to capture even more of the surroundings - ensuring that Bled Castle can also be seen in your shot.
Wide angle shot of Lake Bled
How to get to Ojstrica Viewpoint
The easiest way to get to the start of the Ojstrica trailhead is to find this Pinpoint on Google Maps. If you’re not using Google Maps (you should, by the way), then you can find the pin for Restavracija Camping Site and walk a little from there to get to the trailhead (as seen on this map).
Type in ‘Ojstrica Trailhead’ into your Google Maps app.
As you can see, the Ojstrica Trailhead is close to the Panoramic Viewpoint.
You might want to head to the ‘Panoramic Viewpoint’ before you start the Ojstrica trail.
Before you embark on the trail, you might want to walk to the edge of the coastline to this spot called Panoramic Viewpoint, which is a pretty nice viewpoint as well – of course, it won’t be as dramatic as the viewpoint you’ll get from Ojstrica, but it’s not bad at all.
Lake Bled from the ‘Panoramic Viewpoint’.
HOT TIP – Make sure you input the correct Ojstrica trailhead on your GPS – if you just type in ‘Ojstrica’, Google Maps may suggest a different mountain range, also named Ojstrica. The views look pretty epic up there too, but you can save that for another day!
All the best in taking photos of Lake Bled!