As this is the shortest of the routes that I followed on this walk, there’s not as much to say about the Cammino Via Flavia, but here’s a quick rundown of some key takeaways:
- The Via Flavia runs from Lazzaretto, next to the Slovenian border, to Aquileia, covering 116km. The organizers break it into five stages
- The route is inspired by the ancient Roman Via Flavia, which linked Trieste to Istria, and the marvelous Roman ruins in Aquileia speak most powerfully to those historic ties
- The Via Flavia overlaps with two larger, established routes: the Alpe-Adria Trail, which runs from Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, Austria to Muggia, and the Adriatic Sea Cycle Route, which is very popular with bikers and connects Salzburg to Gorizia
- Beyond the main route, there are some appealing variants, including a short detour on the first stage to a stunning waterfall near the Slovenian border, and a higher-level variant heading north from Trieste
- Waymarking mostly consists of yellow arrows, though there are some occasional signs and stickers. These exclusively mark the route going towards Aquileia; there’s no consideration of people (like me) potentially walking in reverse, but the GPS available on the official site worked fine
- The only accommodation that is a classic pilgrim-focused, donation-based hostel is the foresteria at Muggia Vecchia, just a few kms from the Slovenian border. It’s freshly renovated and very comfortable–though you’d want to pack in food to prepare in the kitchen. Youth hostels are available in Trieste, Monfalcone, and Aquileia. I really liked the rustic hostel in the Isola della Cona nature preserve; once night falls, it’s just you and the birds. There are plenty of other kinds of accommodations possible, of course, and the proximity of the railroad in places (along with the passenger boat connecting Muggia and Trieste) would make it possible to use Trieste as a multi-day base
- The organizers have made sure that plenty of stamps are available along the way, though many of them are identical, with just the place name changed. They include a full list of places with stamps available on the site
- The only parts of the walk that might qualify as strenuous come after Muggia and after Miramar Castle, outside of Trieste. Those stretches are hilly in places, but the steepest ascents are never particularly long
- The quality of the walking is uneven. I loved the walk from Miramar to Monfalcone, and thought it was often quite good before/after Muggia. On the whole, the journey in and out of Trieste was about as good as you can hope for with a city, even if it was paved most of the time. The most uninteresting part was the beginning for me and the ending for most. From Monfalcone to Aquileia, it’s nearly all paved, and a good chunk of it follows a paved cycle track alongside auto traffic. Some of it follows the coastline and offers some pretty views, for sure, but there’s not a ton of variety
- I definitely passed people with packs on their backs and panniers on their bikes. How many were doing the Via Flavia, as opposed to the other routes? I have no idea. It seems like a popular thing among groups of Italians, and they tend to be pretty insular, so I didn’t strike up conversations with others in this section, aside from a group of four Austrian bikers. The Via Flavia Facebook group has some very active posters, excitedly sharing their walks, so it definitely seems like a route with some juice behind it
While my tastes align more towards the Benedetto/Francesco, the Via Flavia works really well as an option for people seeking a short walk that they can complete in less than a week, as part of a larger trip in the region. Over just a handful of days, you can have great Roman ruins, a lovely city, a beautiful nature preserve, some pretty coastal walking, and even a couple castles. It’s like the Camino Inglés, but with more pronounced highlights.
