Carsiana – In And Out Slovenia

Hello guys,

We are in the Karst Region but this time on the other side of the border.
Slovenes call it “Kras” but Italians call it “Carso“.
In a nutshell, the Karst Region is a karst plateau region extending accross the south west of Slovenia
and northeast of Italy and extreme northwest of Croatia.

I have already showed you a few nice spots and villages of the Karst Region, in Slovenia.
Now, I’ll show a few nice spots and things to do just a few kilometers away from the Slovenian border, here in Italy.

Let’s start with a visit of Carsiana.
This hidden gem mainly visited by locals is a botanical garden located within the municipality of Sgonico,
between the villages of Gabrovizza and Sgonico.

Main Gate of **Carsiana**. The entrance is just to the right of that gate.

Little house with an operateur, about 30 meters behind the main gate.

About 600 plant species are gathered in the 5000 m2 dedicated to the botanical garden.
If you feel like going out and get some fresh air surrounded by trees, flowers, plants and rocks …
then Carsiana is the perfect place to do just that.
Those who created this botanical garden in 1964 wanted it to be a “synthesis of the Karst landscape”.

Beautiful green arch near the entrance of the garden.

View of the ponds from above, near the green arch.

Plants and flowers in the “dry grassland” part of the garden.

The admission fee used to be 3€ but since the beginning of 2019, it is free of charge.
Quite oddly, very very few Slovenians leaving near the border know that there is a botanic garden there.
They see signs indicating Carsiana, but they don’t know what it is.

Carsiana is opened to visitots between March and November.
But the perfect time to go there is between April and September,
when most plants and flowers have grown and when the vegetation is green and colorful.

One of the many nice paths in the botanical garden.

View of a part of the garden with plants and flowers. This part is called the “Upland Karst”.

The garden is composed of 10 parts :
– The karstic scrubs.
– The screes.
– The Karstic woodland.
– The dry grassland.
– The coastal cliffs.
– The doline woodland.
– The upland karst.
– Ponds in the karst.
– A karstic pot-hole.
– A mediterranean garden.

You can easily spend 2 hours in the garden without even realizing it.
There are benches a little bit everywhere in the garden for you to sit and relax.
The good thing about Carsiana is that you can go there with kids.
Kids absolutly love this kind of places and they will learn a lot and have fun in the same time.

Visitors walking in the “Coastal Cliffs” part of the garden.

For each plant or flower, there is a little note with its name …

…This is really good for the uninitiated.

Do not hesitate to ask questions to the operator working in the botanical garden.
He/She will give you a brochure (written in Italian, English, German and Slovene) with the layout of the garden.

My tips for Carsiana:

1/ Go there between April and September.
2/ Do not hesitate to go there with kids.
3/ Watch the timetable (often closed in the afternoon).
4/ The admission is free but you can give money to participate.
5/ Look at the timetable (it changes quite often).