Kranjska Gora

Kranjska Gora

Občina Kranjska Gora
Kranjska Gora Občina Kranjska Gora
Town and Municipality
	Location of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora in Slovenia
Country	Slovenia
Government
• Mayor	Jure Žerjav
Area
• Total	256.3 km2 (99.0 sq mi)
Population (2002)
• Total	5,500
• Density	21/km2 (56/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02 (CEST)

Kranjska Gora (Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-it) is a town and a municipality on the Sava Dolinka river in the Upper Carniola region of northwest Slovenia, close to the Austrian and Italian borders.

Kranjska Gora is best known as a winter sports town, being situated in the Julian Alps. It annually hosts an event in the Alpine skiing World Cup series, also known as the Vitranc Cup for the slalom and giant slalom events. The well-known ski jumping hill Planica is located in the nearby Tamar valley.

Geography and climate

The municipality of Kranjska Gora is situated in the Upper Sava Valley, a typical Alpine valley.

Located at the far north west of Slovenia where the borders of Slovenia, Austria, and Italy meet, the valley is embraced on the north and south by the towering peaks of the Karavanke Mountains and the Julian Alps. In the east its border runs just below the town of Jesenice, where the valley opens up towards the Radovljica Valley, extending in the west along the water-shed between the Sava and Slizza rivers, just west of Rateče. In the north the Wurzenpass at Podkoren leads to Arnoldstein in Carinthia, in the south the Vršič Pass connects it with Trenta in the Slovenian Littoral region.

The Upper Sava Valley has an Alpine climate with its long, snow-abundant winters and shorter summers with moderate temperatures, easterly winds and sufficient rain to maintain the valley's greenery. The winter usually stays in the valley for between four and five months, and a blanket of snow usually covers the valley for just around four months. The lowest daytime temperature in January sometimes reaches –8 °C, while on average it usually warms up during the day to just over freezing point. The average temperature in the hottest summer months is 10 °C in the morning, rising up to around 23 °C during the day. In winter, there are large differences between the sunny and shady slopes embracing the valley. The sunny slopes are accommodating to hikes and strolls, while the shady slopes retain a snow blanket.