Whitewater Rafting

The Soča is a river of opinions. Most of it disagrees with you about which line to take. Whitewater rafting is the simplest way to find out who’s right.

We launch in Tolmin and run the upper stretch of the Soča — class II and III rapids that move fast, look impossible, and turn out to be exactly the right amount of difficult. You don’t need experience. You need to be able to hold a paddle and follow instructions in English. Our guides do the steering. Your job is to dig in when they say “forward!” and laugh when the bow takes a wall of water in the chest.

The water is cold — alpine snowmelt all the way down — but the wetsuit handles that. The colour is the thing photos never quite capture: limestone glacial flour suspended in spring water, somewhere between turquoise and absinthe, depending on the cloud cover. After a few minutes you stop trying to describe it and start trying to splash people.

What’s included

– Wetsuit, splash jacket, helmet, life vest (full kit, sized on arrival)
– Certified IRF guide per raft, English-speaking
– Waterproof bag for car keys and phones
– Transport from Camp Gabrje 29 to the put-in and back from the take-out
– Hot tea or coffee at the take-out (you’ll want it)
– GoPro photos shared by your guide via WhatsApp after the run

What’s NOT included

– **Soča River Pass** — required by Slovenian law for every person on the river. €18/day or €36/3 days as of 2026, sold separately at [gosoca.si](https://www.gosoca.si). It takes about 90 seconds to buy on your phone. We’ll check it on arrival.
– Insurance — we have liability cover; you should have your own travel insurance for personal injury.

Difficulty and fitness

Easy. The rapids do the work; you mostly paddle on command. We’ve taken eight-year-olds (over 30 kg) and seventy-year-olds in the same boat without incident. If you can swim 25 m unaided and you’re not pregnant past the second trimester, you’ll be fine. We don’t recommend it for people who can’t tolerate cold water on their face or who panic underwater — but even then, the wetsuit and life vest make involuntary swims uneventful.

Age and weight

Minimum age 8 (min 30 kg). Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian signing the waiver and ideally in the same raft. No hard upper weight limit — we’ve fit 130 kg paddlers comfortably. If you’re outside the usual range, message us first and we’ll plan around it.

What to bring

– Swimsuit (worn under the wetsuit)
– Towel and dry clothes for after
– Closed-toe water shoes — old trainers work, flip-flops don’t
– Sunscreen (yes, even in cloud — alpine UV is brutal)
– Cash or card for the River Pass if you haven’t bought it yet
– Sense of humour about getting completely soaked

Schedule and meeting point

We run rafting trips daily from late April through early October, weather and water levels permitting. Departures at **9:30** and **14:00** during the high season (June–August); 14:00 only in the shoulder seasons.

Meet us at **Camp Gabrje 29, 5220 Tolmin**, fifteen minutes before departure for kit fitting and safety briefing. There’s free parking on site. By public transport, it’s a ten-minute walk from Tolmin bus station.

The full experience runs about three hours: thirty minutes of kit-up and briefing, ninety minutes on the water, then transport, dry-off, and tea. Plan a half-day with buffer for photos and lunch in Tolmin afterwards.

Why book with us

We’ve been guiding the upper Soča since 2009. Every guide is IRF-certified and most of them grew up paddling this water. We run rafts at six paddlers plus a guide — not the eight-per-raft you’ll see elsewhere, because it’s more fun and you get more time on each stroke. We’re a small operator, which means you’ll never feel like cargo on a conveyor belt.

The flagship rafting run from Tolmin is one of the great alpine rafting experiences in Europe — easy enough that complete beginners come off grinning, technical enough that experienced paddlers don’t get bored. The valley around you is a Triglav National Park landscape: limestone cliffs, beech forest, the road switchbacking up to Bovec in the distance.

—