One of the most beautiful countries if you ask me. A little pearl in the heart of Europe. Even if it is really small and has only 2 million people, it still offers a part of the beautiful Adriatic coast, a great part of the Alps for skiing and some amazing lakes, castles and rivers. The country itself is very green as consist of 70% forest.
I don’t love it only because it is a place where I come from, but I actually appreciate the beautiful landscape even more after living abroad. If you feel like having a great healthy get-away in the beautiful green fields, do various sports like cycling around the lake, mountain climbing, paddle boarding, skiing… it is the perfect spot.
The capital itself is very small, but incredible charming. Through the city runs the main river Ljubljanica, and the whole path is paved. On both sides of the river there is plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy a nice afternoon on the sun.
While visiting the capital you should do the 5-10min walk up the hill, and you can have a beautiful view of the whole city from the main Castle. As well check all the beautiful bridges, where every single one of them is special and unique. We have the Dragon Bridge, the Love Lock bridge, the Triple bridge.. etc 🙂
WHAT TO SEE AND DO:
- Old town of Ljubljana (as written above)
- Visit Lake Bled and go on a boat ride to reach the natural island
- Go see the Postojna Caves
- Visit Grad Otocec and take a look at the most amazing castle that was build on the rivers
- Go to Lake Bohinj and go climbing, cycling and paddle boarding
- Go to the beach side and visit a small town Piran and the capital for the gablers Portoroz
- Go skiing to Kranjska Gora, Krvavec or Kanin
- Go hiking and mountain climbing or hiking to one of the beautiful mountains (from smallest to highest) – Smarna Gora, Grmada, Slivnica, Ribniski Vrh, Sneznik, Nanos, Mokrica, Triglav (highest mountain – recommending two days trip)
- Go visit incredible Slap Savica
- Go to Dvorec Zemono and enjoy a beautiful nature and great food
- Go to Goriska brda and enjoy a good vine tastening
- Go Bowling or watch a movie to the Box or Kolisej
- Go shopping to BTC
HOTELS:
- Vida Slovenian House (good rate and nice homey environment)
- Antiq Hotel / Antiq Palace
- Vander Hotel
- Hotel Cubo
- Hotel Slon
- Hotel Lev
- Hotel Antique
- Plaza
BARS:
- Kavarna Zvezda (my favorite coffee place)
- Le Petit (nice for a coffee)
- Cacao (great ice-cream)
- Kavarna Macek (by the river)
- Solist
- Slovenska hisa (all products are slovenian)
- As Aperitivo (for a nice aperitif or a drink in the evening)
- E-Vino (for a glass of wine)
- Soba 102
- Playa (the nicer one is on the sea side in Portoroz
- Luda
RESTAURANTS:
- JB Restaurant
- Strelec (On top of the Ljubljana Castle)
- Pr’ Noni (probably my favorite)
- Cubo
- Hisa Franko
- Zemono
- As Restaurant
- Zabar
- Joe Penas (great mexican food)
- Sushimama (japanese)
- Jurman (Pizzeria)
- Restaurant Vander
- Luda
- Sorbara
- Valvasor
SHOPPING:
There is a whole huge shopping area called BTC where you have probably like 7-8 huge shopping complexes, all offering different things. The most popular one is probably City Park where you can find all the known popular brands. If you want more lux brands there is Emporium (or Galleria Emporium even better in the city center), that is just across from Zara and all the other spanish brands. We also have a huge Muller where you can find everything that there is in a drogeries, huge Baby Center, Animal Center, Healthy Food store – Kalcek, Big Bang for technical stuff. There is also a lot of cute shops in the city center of Ljubljana, and if that is not enough you can take a 45 min drive and you are in Italian Trieste, which is great for shopping as well. And for the most motivated ones – you can drive even a bit further where is a huge shopping village that consists of all outlets from the most known brands. Only straight at the highway and you are there! But you probably need to plan a whole day trip as the stores are never ending..
I hope I gave you some nice tips about my country, and mostly if you do decide to go, enjoy the beautiful nature! It is really like a little fairytale!
Love, MM xx
