The Mach Trail

Mach’s Trail – Step into the story of the visionary Mach family and their legacy. 

Mach’s Trail (map in the gallery)  is 6.8 km long and runs from Mali Slatnik towards Veliki Slatnik, where the Mach family’s mansion once stood. The story “The Cursed Walnut,” connected to Mach’s beautiful yet tragically unlucky daughter Wilhelmina, and the rocky open-air amphitheater, where Janez Trdina, the eternal traveler and storyteller from Gorjanci, occasionally stayed, are part of the story. The trail forms a circular loop at the parking lot near the Štefan Inn, where it also begins. Several route variations are possible.  

Johan Mach, a humanist educated in philosophy and a connoisseur of natural sciences, purchased a mansion in the village of Veliki Slatnik in 1862 and moved there with his family. On Mach Hill, he cultivated silkworms, including the previously unknown Asian silk moth Bombyx mori, also known as the silkworm. His son, Ernest Mach, was a world-renowned scientist, physicist, and philosopher. Mach’s number, a term named after him, is commonly used to describe the speed of aircraft.