When to go to Slovenia
The season for traveling to Slovenia depends a lot on your vacation format and the regions you plan to visit. There are 4 climate zones in the small country, and the weather in different parts of the country can vary considerably.
The hottest months in all regions are July and August. At this time, the coast is too hot, the sea is like boiled broth, and even trekking in the Alps is pleasant only in the early morning. But the water in the Alpine Lake Bled is very pleasant and cool, which is why Slovenes themselves try to go to the mountains and lakes with their children when the sea coast is crowded with tourists.
It is better to visit the seaside in June or September. And if you prefer city walks and sightseeing - Ljubljana and the major cities are most pleasant in spring and early fall: April - June and September - October.
December is Advent all over the country: it is a period of waiting for Catholic Christmas. All cities are decorated with lights, and Christmas fairs are held in major cities. Almost every town tries to install an ice rink and, of course, a Christmas tree.
Christmas and New Year in Slovenia
From December to March - ski season (if you are lucky and get enough snow). In spring, summer and fall, the same mountains are an endless network of trekking routes: Europeans are very fond of hiking in Slovenia. Guide to the Slovenian Alps
January is the dreariest month in cities. Even in Ljubljana, many restaurants close immediately after New Year's Eve and until Slovenian Culture Day on February 8. Only the ski resorts are buzzing with life at this time.
In summer and fall, most gastronomic events take place throughout the country: festivals of žlikrofi (Slovenian "ravioli"), bograča (a special kind of goulash), persimmon picking, and the festival of young wine. All summer on Fridays in Ljubljana there is a street food festival "Open Kitchen", where popular establishments bring their cuisine. If you schedule a trip to coincide with the festival, you can quickly familiarize yourself with Slovenia's diverse cuisine.
How to get to Slovenia
Slovenia can be traveled by plane, come by car, train, bus and even by ferry.
The country's only international airport is in Ljubljana and is named after Jože Pučnik, a Slovenian oppositionist and critic of the Tito regime. From Russia, Aeroflot flies from Moscow and St. Petersburg, a one-way ticket costs approximately €143. Check flights
Read more: How to get from Moscow to Ljubljana
It can be easier - and definitely much cheaper - to get to Ljubljana from neighboring airports - Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb and Pula.
From neighboring countries you can get there by train or bus. For timetables and prices, see the official websites of the train stations:
Official websites don't show all flights. I always check the schedules of Flixbus and the local carrier Nomago, as well as train flights from Austria, Zagreb and Trieste. Tickets to neighboring countries cost from 5€.
Slovenia has access to the sea, so the most touristy town on the coast, Piran, can also be reached by ferry. Flights in pre-pandemic times ran in the summer from Trieste or Venice on Liberty Lines or Venezia Lines ferries . A ticket from Trieste to Piran in 2019 cost 9 €, it takes about an hour to sail (about the same as driving). Ferries were not running during the pandemic, so check the carriers' websites for current prices and flights before traveling.
Finally, you can come to Slovenia on a travel voucher. This method is mainly chosen for health tourism - the country has its own "Baden-Baden". During the pandemic vouchers to Slovenia disappeared, but in normal times should be back on sale. Check tours departing from Russia here and here, and from Ukraine here.
What to see in Slovenia
The Slovenia itinerary and travel program depends very much on what kind of transportation you plan to use. I rarely use a rented car in my trips to other countries, but Slovenia is the very country where a car is very desirable. Public transportation for a tourist is almost impossible to use and many interesting places are simply impossible to get to without a car.
Below I'll give the main locations and my recommendations for visiting them.
Ljubljana
It is the most visited city in Slovenia and its capital. From here you can reach any point in the country in an hour and a half by car, and if you travel by public transport, it is the only option for a base with radial departures.
One day is enough to explore the capital itself:
- Climbing the hail - the town castle.
- Take a photo with the local symbol - dragons at the Dragon Bridge.
- Stroll through the old center, which consists of the Ljubljanica river embankment and two parallel streets. Buy souvenirs in hearty craft shops and taste orange wine in enotecas (or on a guided tour). If you're bored just walking around, you can book a local guide or go on a self-guided tour-quest in a special app.
- To dine on national cuisine in a good modern version, to drink Slovenian wine with Slovenian appetizers for an aperitif, and to dine on the best burger - all the places are here.
Lake Bled
Alpine Blejsko Lake is the most accessible for tourists: you can get there and back in a day by train or bus from Ljubljana. In high season, there are hour-long traffic jams on the way to Bled, so I recommend leaving early. On the lake is expensive accommodation, so economy tourists come in the afternoon from the capital, but if the budget allows, you can stay overnight and walk in the neighboring mountains and forests - around Bled is very picturesque. Or you can stay for a few days and spend your vacation very actively.
Due to the fact that Lake Blejsko is very hyped, Slovenians and knowledgeable tourists try to go to another alpine lake, Bohinj. There is much colder water and little tourist infrastructure there, but the lake and surroundings are very beautiful. From Ljubljana it is difficult to reach Bohinj by public transportation, so you can book an excursion to Bled and Bohinj in one day.
The Alps and the Socha River Valley
Slovenia has three alpine zones, of which the Julian Alps are the most popular. The mountains are relatively low, the highest mountain in the country is Triglav with a height of 2864 meters. Every Slovenian is obliged to climb it at least once in his or her life. The ascent is said to be not very difficult, easy to prepare for, and takes two days with an overnight stay in a "koche" - a shelter on the slope.
A simpler option for everyone is the thousands of trekking and hiking trails. They are all over the country, except for the capital, and they are especially numerous in the Alps. If you come to Kranjska Gora or Kobarid for an overnight stay, pick up a trail map at the local information center and choose the right level of difficulty. All trails are signposted and marked, so it's impossible to get lost.
In Kranjska Gora you will walk along the mountains and lakes, near Kobarid - along the valley of the Soča, a mountain river with water of incredible emerald color. You can also go kayaking and rafting on the Socha. This is such a rich region that a separate guide to the main locations would be huge - read it here. Check out the photos in the guide and tell me you wouldn't love to see it with your own eyes!
Kranjska Gora can be reached by public transportation from Ljubljana, the trip will take 1.5-2 hours. Kobarid is more difficult, so I recommend taking a car or planning a stopover there for a couple of nights. Recommended locations for overnight stays are described in the guidebook. If you don't want to rent a car, you can go through Soča and Kranjska Gora in one day with an excursion.
Slovenian Adriatic coast
Although small, just over 40 kilometers long, Slovenia also has a seashore - "obala" in Slovenian. It belonged to the Byzantine Empire for several centuries, so the main towns are very similar to small "Venice" - with recognizable window arches and architecture, with names of streets and squares. Italians left only after World War II, so there are still many Italians here, and Italian is the second official language on the coast.
The main towns along the coast can be reached by bus, and Koper can also be reached by train. In summer, there are "fast" flights - about 1.5 hours by car. In low season, the journey by public transportation can take up to 3 hours.
The capital of the Littoral Region is the city of Koper, the country's main port. It retains an old center of a square with a cathedral (which is larger than Ljubljana's), two old streets and dozens of small alleys with an Italian spirit.
The most interesting towns for tourists are Izola, Piran and Portoroz. Izola has a large beach (very crowded in season). Piran has preserved more integral historical buildings, so the town, which has no normal beaches, is considered to be the most touristy on the coast - it is like a postcard. And Portoroz is a fully hotelized area with the only full sandy beach in Slovenia and an active evening life.
Useful: A detailed guide to Slovenian beaches
Maribor and Ptuj
I can't call these cities a "mast visit" if you're traveling by public transportation, but if you have a car at your disposal or are entering the country from Hungary or Austria, you can stop for a couple of hours or plan an overnight stay along the way.
In Maribor, the oldest grapevine in Europe still bears fruit - in the fall there is a festival named after it. Ptuj is the oldest town in the country, and in spring it hosts a large local festival - kurentovanje, which is essentially a winter farewell.
From Ljubljana it takes a long time to get to Ptuj and Maribor by public transportation - about 3-4 hours by train. For a day trip it makes sense to book an excursion.
Vineyards, caves and castles
The most interesting tourist attractions are accessible by car. Beautiful vineyards - in the Vipava Valley and around Maribor. Ancient castles that are now museums or hotels. Caves with guided tours - of which only the super-touristy and crowded Postojnska Jama can be reached by public transportation.
So rent a car or book a guided tour by car - it's more than worth it in Slovenia.
What to try in Slovenia
Slovenian cuisine seems similar to a post-Soviet person: simple dishes made of meat, cereals, cabbage, beans, in the form of soups or with thick sauces, simple dough rolls with sweet or salty fillings - baked, boiled, steamed.... At the same time, the country has 24 gastronomic regions, each of which is proud of something. I will tell you about a few dishes that can be tasted almost everywhere in Slovenia.
- Kranjska klobasa is a semi-smoked sausage similar to Krakowska sausage, but unlike it, it has been granted the status of a protected product in the EU. It is served with cabbage, mashed potatoes, beans or other side dishes.
- Strückli are boiled or steamed rolls of dough with sweet or savory fillings. In Kobarid, they make a separate type of strückli, which are more like large dumplings.
- Goulash is a stew with a rich liquid sauce, similar to Czech goulash with dumplings. In the northeastern part of the country, on the border with Hungary, bograč is a variation of goulash made of three types of meat, more like soup or Hungarian goulash. At the end of August, the town of Lendava hosts an international bograch festival - and it's delicious.
- Glicrofi are small ravioli in the shape of Napoleon's hat. Typical glicrofi are filled with mashed potatoes and served in a meat sauce, but nowadays there are many variations. The most typical ones are made in their homeland of Idrija, but they are often found in other regions as well.
- Prekmurje gibanica is a multi-layered cake made of thin dough with several layers of sweet filling: cottage cheese, poppy, apple. The most delicious one is made in Prekmurje, but you can also try it in Ljubljana - it doesn't differ much.
- Blejska rubber, or kremšnita, is a pastry made of heavy cream and whipped cream. It was invented in a restaurant on Lake Bled, where you can still try the original version. Cakes are made all over the country that are just as good, if not better, than the original.
There are also chivapcici, a fried sausage made of ground beef and pork, and pleskavica, a flat, thin cutlet made of the same. They are very popular among the locals, but this is not Slovenian cuisine, but Balkan.
National cuisine can be tasted in numerous "gostilnas", which is the name given to traditional establishments in Slovenia. Good modern restaurants and gastropubs serve reworked versions of national dishes.
Where to eat in Ljubljana: top modern places to eat
Where to stay in Slovenia
For traveling around the country, tourists often choose hotels in Ljubljana - it is justified, because you can get to any part of Slovenia from the capital in a maximum of 1.5 hours. If you plan to travel by car - this is a normal option. If you count on public transportation, then I recommend laying overnight stays in different parts of the country. Firstly, so see the cities with their evening life. Secondly, public transportation in Slovenia is frustratingly infrequent and slow.
Where it's worth spending the night at least once:
On the coast, prices are higher and there are far fewer hotels, so book as far in advance as you can. I wrote about hotels in seaside towns here.
You can also stay in thermae - these are recreation complexes built on thermal springs. A night in a hotel costs from 100 € in a 3* hotel or from 160 € in a 5* hotel. Apartments nearby - from 60 €.If you plan to use the pools and thermal complexes, check whether the ticket is included in the hotel price. If you stay outside the hotel, for example, in an apartment, you will definitely have to buy a ticket separately.
Hotels in Ljubljana
In Ljubljana it makes sense to choose a hotel no further than 1.5-2 km from the center. The city is so compact that 3 km is almost a suburb.
- A room in a 3* hotel in low season costs from 50 € per night, in high season - from 100 €.
- Apartments can be booked from 35 €.
- Hostel prices start from 20 € for a bed in a shared room.
Hotels in Ljubljana that I recommend: Best Western Slon 4*, design hotel 4* Vander (its restaurant is awarded by Michelin), boutique hotel Adora 3*. All of them are in the city center, with cozy interiors, good service and low price for their level.
Public transportation in Slovenia
In Slovenia, you can't go anywhere without a car. Remote and interesting places - to wineries, to the Alps - can be reached only by car: public transportation can go there once a day, and not daily. In many settlements there is no internal transportation.
A rental car will cost from 30 € per day depending on how early you book. As with hotels, it is better to book early with free cancellation.
A bus fare in Ljubljana costs 1.3 €. You can only use the Urbana public transportation card. It must be purchased for €2 before the first trip from a machine at the bus stop. Without the card you can't pay on the buses - the driver won't accept payment. And controllers often come around. You can also use the Urbana card to pay for city parking in Ljubljana.
"There are no Uber or large international cabs in Slovenia. In major cities there is a Croatian cab Cammeo with a smartphone app.
What else you need to know about Slovenia
- Traveling in this country does not tolerate hurry and fuss. To see only what I have described, allow 5-7 days.
- Sunday is an official day off in all shopping centers and supermarkets. By law, only small private stores and restaurants can operate. In fact, many of them close down.
- But, unlike in neighboring Italy, restaurants do not close for a break, and you can dine at any time.
- Many museums and castles offer free admission on public holidays: December 3, February 8, May 18, and International Museum Night in June. In pre-pandemic times there was also free admission to all state museums every first Sunday of the month - check before your trip if the museum you are interested in has brought this promotion back.