St Thomas Church (Sveti Tomaž) in Slovenia

How to get to Sveti Tomaž

The easiest and most convenient way to reach Slovenia is to fly. Book your flight to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, via Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (Airport Code: LJU). From there, you can take a taxi or bus to Ljubljana city center (there are no ride sharing services just yet in Slovenia like Uber, Lyft, or Bolt).

For those who want to save a few Euros, taking the Ljubljana airport bus is a great, cost-effective way to reach the city center of Ljubljana. The bus journey takes 45 minutes and costs 4 Euros. Just take public bus number 28 (Bus timetable here).

From Ljubljana city center, I rented a car and drove 45 minutes Northwest of Ljubljana to reach the village of Sveti Tomaž.

As far as other options to get here if you don’t have a car, you can see if there is a local tour operator that will do a custom trip for you and you can make Sveti Tomaž one of your points of interest.

There is also a way to get to Sveti Tomaž by bus, albeit it is a bit longer:

• First you take a bus from Ljubljana Bus Station to the town of Škofja Loka. Buses go there every 30 minutes to 1 hour in frequency and the ride takes 37 minutes. You can search for exact times and buy tickets here.

• Then you transfer buses in Škofja Loka and take the next bus towards Železniki and stopping at Praprotno pri Selščic. This part of the journey should only take about 8 minutes and 3 stops.

• From Praprotno pri Selščic bus stop, it is then a 2.6 km walk (about 45 minutes), uphill to finally arrive at Sveti Tomaž.

PROTIP: Before making this bus journey, ensure that you have devised a bus journey for your way back so you don’t get stranded at Sveti Tomaž or Škofja Loka on your way back to Ljubljana.

When to visit Sveti Tomaž

My only experience at the church happened during Autumn in the morning time, around sunrise. I imagine the church is amazing at other times as well but I really feel like this time of year and this time of day is guaranteed to give you some amazing shots.

With the autumn colors, and the morning moisture, you can often get shots like mine where you have a blanket of clouds that make the entire area look like an island in the sky. Combine that with the golden hour sunrise and you’ve got yourself some amazing photos.

Of course, it is important to understand that there are people that actually live in the village, so it is best to respect their space but parking down the road and not next to their homes and to be quieter when you see the church, especially in the early mornings.

Photography

There are some areas on the road just a few hundred meters from the church that you can park at, out of the way. From there, I would recommend using a telephoto lens to capture the church from afar, before you walk up to it. Then switch to a lens with a medium focal length, 70-150 mm, as you make your way towards the church.

I would recommend also walking the entire 360 degrees around the church to get unique vantage points and interesting background subjects like the fall foliage/colors. Switch it up to a wide angle lens of around 10 mm in focal length to get nice, sweeping shots of the entire landscape. This especially works well when you have the subdued orange sun coming up behind the church.

As you can see, many of my shots were taken with a drone. It is legal to fly your drone in Sveti Tomaž though you need to be respectful of the local residents by not buzzing their homes so many times, especially those with FPV drones that have a much higher pitch.

Maintain visual line of sight of course and never fly more than 1 kilometer away from you and no more than 120 meters high. A simple orbit of the church with your drone will show you all the shots that are possible to get. There are a number of undulating peaks and valleys in the distance that you can incorporate into your shots.

Purchasing Photos

Conclusion and Further Resources

St Thomas church is rightfully one of the most popular photo locations in Slovenia. After Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj, Soča River Valley and other destinations, this little church should be on your list when visiting Slovenia for photography.

If you like places in Slovenia as well as the castles and fortresses they may contain, check out my related blog posts below:

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