Slovenia, one of Europe's greenest countries, will explode with colour in May as the Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival returns with the theme 'Flowers and Bees'. This year's festival opening coincides with World Bee Day, a United Nations initiative created in cooperation with The Slovenian Beekeepers' Association. In recent years, Slovenia has been identified as a leading beekeeping destination, creating honey therapy (apitherapy) programmes to emphasise how bees positively impact human lives.
Visitors to the festival will be treated to a 'bouquet' of bee-themed events including guided beekeeping study tours, honey tastings from a variety of blooms, lectures on natural and cultural history, artistic exhibitions including traditional embroidery workshops, wildflower cooking demonstrations, special family events, and how to build a 'bee hotel'.
As Europe's original wildflower festival, the main objective of the Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival is 'to build a sustainable future for people and nature'. This will be especially relevant as 2017 is the United Nation's Year of Sustainable Tourism and the festival is a credit to Slovenia's green credentials, having been rated the 'greenest country in the world' by the Green Destinations Network.
Bohinj is famous in the horticultural world for its incredibly diverse ecosystem. It is one of the best regions in which to see wild flowers in Europe and this annual celebration of local and international alpine flora celebrates the culture, nature and landscapes of the region.