Solkan Bridge

The world's longest stone-arched railway bridge, spanning the turquoise Soca river

A 25-minute walk or short bus ride from central Nova Gorica gets you to the small village of Solkan, where the Soca river runs under one of the most graceful pieces of railway engineering in Europe. The single limestone arch stretches 85 metres across the river, with the whole span 220 metres long. Trains still cross it on the line between Nova Gorica and Bled.

The footpath under the bridge gives the best view, especially in late spring when the Soca runs its full electric turquoise. You can also kayak under it — Solkan is one of the put-in points for trips down the Soca, and the rapids just downstream were used for the 1991 World Whitewater Championships.

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A story
Completed in 1906 as part of the Transalpina railway connecting Vienna with Trieste, the 85-metre central arch was the longest stone railway arch in the world when it was built — and it still is. Austro-Hungarian troops dynamited the bridge in 1916 to stop the Italian advance, and the reconstructed version reuses many of the original stones.