In the world of travel blogging, I read the phrase ‘hidden gem’ all the time (mostly because lazy travel writers seem to all be taking their vocabulary cues from ChatGPT. But of all the places I’ve visited, Ljubljana is actually the city that best fits this now ubiquitous term. Not only is Ljubljana worth visiting, but I think it should be top of your central European itineraries, for reasons which I will elaborate on below.
Ljubljana is exceptionally green, with wonderful food, fresh air, and some very cool and open local people. The city is small and compact and it exudes a genuine charm and energy wherever you go, be it the gorgeous old town, the down and dirty Metelkova district, or from atop its majestic castle. Furthermore, you’ll find very few crowds here compared with other European cities, even when visiting in the peak summer months.
I loved every minute of my time here, so in this article, I’m reviewing some of the best things to do in Ljubljana, where to stay, what to eat, and why I liked this city so much. So welcome to my travel guide to Ljubljana Slovenia – hands down Europe’s most relaxed capital city…
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Having arrived via bus, I walked just 10 minutes from the station right into the heart of Ljubljana, first reaching its main square in the center of town, Prešernov trg, or Prešeren Square to you and me.
From there, on the way to my accommodation, I wandered slowly along the willow tree-lined banks of the Ljubljanica river, which gently carves its way through the city. These thoughtfully designed spaces, along with the famous bridges designed by architectural darling of the city, Jože Plečnik, were packed full of bars and restaurants on both sides, and provided locals and tourists alike with what appeared to be a riverine sanctuary.
As I took it all in, I felt an overwhelming urge to be amongst it, to be outside exploring and getting to know this place and its people. I’ve never quite had that feeling immediately on arrival to somewhere new before, even with some of my favourite Travel Tortoise destinations.
As I continued walking, I then came across a kayaking slalom event taking place on the river. For someone with a kayak tour company of his own in Vienna, I decided to take this as a further good omen, and so it turned out…
HOW TO GET TO LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA?
A country with just over 2 million residents, Slovenia, located bang in the heart of central Europe, gained its independence from former communist Yugoslavia relatively recently, back in 1991. Ljubljana, its capital city, thus has a pretty small population of around 300,000 people.
There are direct flights to Ljubljana from some European cities, although relatively few compared with other destinations. Munich is the closest city to offer a direct flight, otherwise you’ll have to take a bus or train there from a neighbouring larger city. UK direct flight options include Easyjet from Glasgow, Manchester & London Gatwick, and BA from London Heathrow.
For many people though, especially those doing a longer, multi-city/country trip, the best way to reach Ljubljana is with a train or bus. Its closest big cities are Venice and Trieste in Italy, Zagreb in Croatia, and Vienna in Austria. In fact, because the city is surrounded by the gorgeous alps, in many cases the simplest, quickest and cheapest way to arrive will in fact be by bus…
Trains & Buses From Nearby Cities
Buses: Venice to Ljubljana is surprisingly quick, taking on average just 3hrs 45 mins. There are multiple departure times throughout the day, with buses leaving from either Venice Mestre train station, Tronchetto, Venice Mestre Hotel Plaza, or Marco Polo Airport. Book your tickets with Flixbus.
Trains: You can take a train if you want to (and this is a very beautiful journey!) but it does take ages, as you must travel around the alps, up into Austria and then down again into Ljubljana, taking around 7 hours, with a change in Villach. So yeah, just take the bus!
Buses: By far the best way to get from Trieste to Ljubljana is also to take a bus. The journey takes just an hour and a half and there are several daily departures to choose from, starting in the early hours all through the day. Book your tickets with Flixbus.
Trains: Duration = 6hrs. Trains depart from Trieste to Ljubljana once daily, with a change in Villach, Austria. Again, this is because there’s a bloody great big mountain range (the alps!) blocking the more direct path. Book your train tickets here.
Duration: 2.5 hrs
Trains depart from Zagreb main station and arrive to Ljubljana two and a half hour later. There are three daily departures, all leaving in the morning and lunchtime. Book your train tickets here.
For a cheaper alternative, coach journeys with Flixbus take the same amount of time, but cost just 15 EUR.
Duration: approx 6 hours
If you’re coming from Vienna, you’ll be changing once in Villach, down in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia. Book your train tickets here.
Alternatively, you can travel by coach with Flixbus, which is considerably cheaper and is how I travelled to Ljubljana. There are 7 departures spaced throughout the day to choose from, and the journey takes around 5hrs.
WHERE TO STAY IN LJUBLJANA?
I stayed at the rather complicatedly named ‘Gluten Free Bed & Breakfast Dežela Okusov‘. Although my room was tiny, it had everything I needed i.e. a bed. It was clean, and the shared bathrooms were always spotless. All breakfast was served gluten free and plentiful, which was fine by me, so if you’re looking for a budget place to stay in Ljubljana and you don’t mind not having your own private bathroom, I can thoroughly recommend this place. The staff who worked there were also really helpful and friendly.
For the best-rated mid-range hotel, check out Tivoli Boutique Inn, which is located right next to the gorgeous Tivoli Park.
For a mini-splurge then consider the Grand Plaza Hotel close to Ljubljana train station, or for a big fat splurge then its gotta be the Zlata Ladjica Boutique Hotel which sits right on the Ljubljanica river in the center of town.
THINGS TO DO IN LJUBLJANA
A big reason why I enjoyed my stay in Ljubljana so much, aside from its general vibe, was because of the activities and tours I chose. I found there to be plenty of cool things to do here, and I had difficulty choosing between tours. I eventually settled on doing a bike tour, and a food tour, I wandered the old town, and I spent a morning wandering up to the city’s imposing castle to take in some magnificent views. Here are my reviews…
Ljubljana Bike Tour Review
Regular readers of TTT will know that I like to do at least one active thing when I visit a new place, not least to work off all the calories that I tend to consume in-situ. I also wanted to explore some of Ljubljana’s outskirts, as I had already wandered around most of its compact center by that point. I therefore decided to take this city bike tour with a local chap called Klemen.
After meeting at the city’s main square (Prešernov trg), we had a brief intro to the city from Klemen, before collecting our bikes from a nearby lock-up and starting our 4hr peddling odyssey.
Leaving the city via a quick stop at Saint Nicholas’ Cathedral, we soon reached the rather surreal Locksmith Street. Here lies a collection of hundreds of little sculpted bronze faces running the length of an almost unpronounceable (Ključavničarska ulica) alleyway. These faces apparently depict the many different facades that we humans are capable of and come from the mind of Slovenian artist, Jakov Brdar.
I mostly saw a lot of angst-ridden faces filled with despair among the collection, which I found rather baffling at the time as Ljubljana had seemed so pleasant ’til that point. Brdar was clearly not a local, I thought.
Klemen then took us down to the Ljublanica River to chat about that before we cycled to the city’s rather small but pretty botanical gardens. Here we learnt a little about Ljubljana’s love for urban bee keeping and honey production. Did you know that it takes the entire lifetime of 12 bees just to produce one teaspoon of honey? Fair dues – I’ll certainly appreciate my next honey crumpet a little more now.
After a couple more stops, we then found ourselves in the lovely Tivoli gardens – a huge park on the western side of the city, before taking a break for a piece of cake on top of Ljubljana’s tallest ‘skyscraper’. This was a really nice touch and a welcome rest from the (albeit very slow and relaxed) peddling we’d done ’til that point.
Metelkova Mesto
Finally, we explored one of the city’s grungier ‘hoods, the area of Metelkova mesto, once home to a large Austro-Hungarian military barracks, but which local Slovenian artisans and ruffians claimed back, and turned into the city’s alternative cultural hub, with some great examples of street art, as well as a few museums, clubs and bars.
I got a really cool vibe while in Metelkova mesto, it reminded me of a place called Nimbin in Australia. A few loose characters hanging around but would no doubt be great for a night out in one of its clubs. During the day it made for an interesting wander, and I particularly enjoyed discovering its street art, as I have previously in both Warsaw and Bologna with The Travel Tortoise.
Ljubljana Food Tour
I also did a food tour while visiting Ljubljana, as has become tradition on all of my research trips for The Travel Tortoise. Using the word ‘research’ makes me feel better about being a fat, greedy bastard, you see. Of course, the prospect of missing out on the best restaurant recommendations and local dishes, from someone who really knows what they’re talking about, was also too much for me to handle.
So, I booked a 4-hour Slovenian food tour with Get Your Guide. This was operated by a cool local lady with attitude, called Jasmina, who offered up historical tidbits with a generous side of humour throughout the 5 food & drink stops that we made during the tour.
From fried chicken, Slovene charcuterie, cheese & wine, traditionally smoked & PGI designated Carniolan sausage, and a touch of local fine dining, this experience had pretty much everything that you’d want from a food tour. My only minor gripe was that the stories could possibly have been shortened a little, although that’s probably just due to the anticipation of imminent food driving me to distraction at each stop.
We actually finished the food tour at the same skyscraper for a slice of the deliciously diverse national cake (Prekmurska gibanica), views and a nice glass of fizz, just as we had done with Klemen on the bike tour. I totally didn’t mind visiting again though, as neither the views, nor the cake got any worse.
For those of you with a particular interest in wine, this will certainly be a solid food tour for you, as at every stop the dishes were paired with a cheeky glass of something. And while you may not have heard much about it…Slovenian wine is very, very good.
Strolling Up to Ljubljana Castle
I just realised that I’m old enough now to use the word ‘strolling’ as an accurate description of my walking style. Fuck.
Anyway, one gorgeous sunny morning, I walked from the city center the 375 meters up to Ljubljana’s imposing castle fortress. It only took about 15 minutes but I was pretty knackered when I got there as the path up is undeniably steep. It’ll certainly blow away the cobwebs if you choose to go up on foot.
For the lazier or older among you, you may want to consider taking the funicular up to the castle. This leaves from the city center, close to the main market square. If you want a guided tour on arrival too then this combo ticket includes a return funicular journey, access to the castle and a time machine tour delivered by various costumed actors representing different eras of the castle’s past.
If you decide to just DIY it on arrival, then you can pay to go inside the castle where they offer guided tours in various languages, some exhibitions, and various attempts at keeping kids entertained (including a puppet museum). I preferred to just wander around the grounds, sit on a bench, and have a long hard think about things, while allowing myself be inspired by the gorgeous views and clean air instead.
I also took a short walk to the castle vineyard, which, perched on a south facing slope, is one of the prettiest small vineyard plots you’ll find anywhere. Here, they grow 1050 vines of Chardonnay (white) and Zweigelt (red), and you can even organise a Michellin level romantic dinner among the vines.
I loved my morning up at the castle. I didn’t really do much, other than sit on a bench and walk its mazy, winding paths, but that’s precisely what I wanted. Being up there was probably my fondest memory from the whole Ljubljana trip in fact. Despite being in a city with loads to do, it was Ljubljana’s expansive views that gave my mind a sense of freedom and perspective that isn’t easy to achieve in normal life.
Ljubljana Stand-up Paddle Tour
Full disclosure: I didn’t actually do this one, due to scheduling conflicts with the other tours that I had chosen to do, but while out on the bikes I saw a group of intrepid travellers starting their stand-up paddle tour, and receiving their SUP tutorial before launching. We later saw them cruising down the river towards the city center and it looked like a lot of fun.
As a seasoned watersports activities provider myself, for extra fun doing this, be sure to travel with an especially clumsy person, akin to a newborn Bambi, so that you can laugh at them when they inevitably stack it into the water.
WHERE TO EAT IN LJUBLJANA
I was really impressed with the quality of food in Ljubljana. From cheap eats and coffee, to gourmet dining, Slovenian cuisine was rich, varied, and good value too. Here are some of my favourite places to eat and why…
Restaurant Pri Škofu
On my first night in Ljubljana I ate at a wonderfully small and cozy restaurant called Pri Škofu. I enjoyed a fresh and herby zucchini soup to start, a chanterelle mushroom tagliatelle, and hot cranberries served over a vanilla creme for dessert. The main and dessert in particular were incredible. How they infused so much umami flavour into that pasta is a mystery, while the slight bitterness and acidity of the cranberries offset with the cooler, luscious vanilla creme made for a perfect dessert. Highly recommended!
Gostilna Trnovski Pristan
Just around the corner from my hotel, I found a rather unassuming place called Gostilna Trnovski Pristan. Due to its incredible ratings on Google, I went there early to ensure I got a table, and soon found myself in Slovenian food heaven. Portions were huge, and the depth of flavour that my pate with acacia honey and truffle starter, as well as my sausage, sauerkraut and potato main course had was really special. I was less impressed with the overly bitter caramelised pear panna cotta for pudding, but overall it was a fantastic meal in a delightful outdoor spot, just 10 minutes walk from the city center.
Osha Asian Bistro
Located on my favourite street in Ljubljana, late one night after a couple of beers, I found this place offering up Asian street-food style dishes. While obviously not at all Slovenian, I nonetheless grabbed a quick bite of pad thai and spring rolls, and was absolutely satisfied. Very flavourful food, with friendly service and late night hours.
NIGHTLIFE IN LJUBLJANA
Ljubljana’s nightlife scene was immense. Despite being a relatively small capital city, it boasts plenty of young people full of life spirit, who make night time a varied and fun experience.
In my short time in the city, I caught an amazing Nirvana cover band, a super chill country music duo, I drank locally brewed beers with the locals along the somewhat grungy but cool Trubarjeva cesta street, and on my final night I pretty much stumbled upon a full night out with some very cool local dudes in a wicked 80’s bar. So basically, whatever your music tastes, they will be catered to in Ljubljana.
Check out the Sax Pub for regular live rock music (this is where I caught the brilliant Nirvana cover band – NirvanaSi), sit outside with the quirkier locals at Kavarna Mačkon while enjoying a selection of locally brewed craft beers, check out Kavarna Tromostovje right in the heart of the city for an after-dinner drink and some live country music performed by the very friendly bluegrass duo – the Pointless Rebels, or dance the night away in Holidays Pub for a cheesy wedge of nostalgia, incredibly cheap drinks, and a younger party crowd.
IS LJUBLJANA WORTH VISITING? OUTRO
Without a shadow of a doubt, yes, Ljubljana Slovenia is absolutely worth visiting due to the many and varied things to do, the great food, and the warmth of the local people. This is a clean, safe, walkable, innovative, and above all, vibrant capital city.
Ljubljana, and Slovenia more widely, is of course influenced by some of its Balkan neighbours from the ex-Yugoslavia, which include Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. You see that in its restaurants and in some conversations with local people. Yet from what I can gather, locals saw themselves as proudly different, and Slovenian above all else.
Equally, some of its architecture is unmistakably inspired by the Austrian baroque period, as the region was under Hapsburg control for centuries. In fact, for anyone who’s visited Austria, I consider Slovenia similar, sans the stuffiness and the unfriendly locals. This is a young country, unconcerned with petty ideologies about how former glories should or should not direct its future.
This emerging Slovenian identity is certainly one that I loved surrounding myself with, and I look forward to exploring much more of this relatively young alpine nation.
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