About Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and a university city that has the vibe and lifestyle of a small relaxed university town with only 260,000 residents. It is renowned for the use of green spaces throughout the city. Ljubljana is possibly the best capital city in Europe due to its laid back atmosphere, infrastructure, and green spaces. Ljubljana’s history goes back to 2000BC and its symbol is the Ljubljana Dragon, which is depicted around town on bridges and on the tower of the castle. The Ljubljana marshes have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.
Ljubljana – Day 1
We arrived at the Ljubljana train station in the afternoon from Venice via Trieste and Sežana. We found a taxi and headed to the apartment that we rented for 3 nights (it was only $270 for all 3 nights). If you have read any of my previous posts, you know we typically stay 1 or 2 nights max in a town. In this case, we decided to take it slower than normal and do day trips from Ljubljana if we were so inclined.
The apartment is situated on a small street that is pedestrian-only, like most of downtown Ljubljana. The street had a couple of restaurants, but was primarily residential and was lined with flowerpots and beautiful hanging flower baskets. It was approximately 150 feet (50m) from the river and in an area filled with restaurants and pubs. The building dates back to the 17th or 18th century and is one of the oldest in town.
Around the Apartment
After we dropped off our bags, we went to the neighborhood store to pick up some snacks and drinks since we would be there for 3 days. This also gave us some time to look around and see the area. We realized immediately that it was one of the most beautiful places we had seen. The architecture was very Germanic with a Parisian twist. Imagine a smaller down-to-earth version of Vienna or Salzburg; very green with trees and bushes lining the river that runs through the downtown area. The laid-back atmosphere made it feel like a small town, not a capital city.
Snacks and drinks gathered and dropped off at the apartment, we set off to see the city. It is a very nice walk along the river and up to the triple bridge; this area was very relaxing. I kept wondering where the heart of the city was, because it seemed too relaxed for a capital city. We were in the downtown area where cars are not allowed; this made it a very quiet and relaxed atmosphere. A lot of people walking and riding bikes made it feel like it was a park filled with beautiful old buildings. For the most part, you didn’t hear the cars 2 or 3 blocks away, just peace and quiet and the occasional boat on the river.
Dining
We found an authentic Slovenian restaurant and decided to have dinner. They had tables along the river with beautiful views of the cityscape and some great people watching. The restaurant had a platter of local foods; it was not cheap at about 50 euros, but it was more than my wife and I could eat. The food was excellent, the price was not expensive for what you got, and there was enough food for 3 or 4 people.
The streets had a great vibe with street musicians, restaurants, and pubs. There was a bachelor party passing by while we had dinner that provided some free entertainment.
Fat and happy, we continued our walk along the river and into the Old Town area. The sun had set, the bridges and buildings along the river were lit beautifully. We thought this place was heaven: relaxing, beautiful, friendly, and very clean. It was almost too good to be true.
After walking around for a couple of hours, we returned to the apartment to continue our research of Ljubljana and what we could see the next day. We were still tired from the South Africa trip and rushing around Venice the day before, not to mention the travels and walking that day. It was hard to believe we were in Cape Town just 2.5 days previously.
Ljubljana – Day 2
The next morning we headed out for breakfast and again found a restaurant along the river. While eating, we had a few birds sitting in the bushes a few feet away and some even jumped on the table. That made the experience even better; we were in the middle of nature in the middle of a city. I snapped a few pictures of them and how close they were to us. After breakfast, we started the tourist portion of the day. We walked along the river down to the market that they have on Saturday with a lot of vendors selling local foods and goods in the square.
Faces of Locksmith Street
There is a commonly missed attraction called Faces of Locksmith Street (Ključavničarska Ulica). This is a narrow alley that you will probably miss if you are not looking for it. I saw it on the first night but did not realize that it was the street. It is not obvious when you walk by; it just looks like a normal small alley, nothing special. The alley is marked with an image of a key for those who could not read and is lined with 700 faces cast in bronze in the cobblestones.
Ljubljana Castle
Our next stop was the funicular for a ride up to the castle that overlooks the city and countryside. We saw the sign to go to the right up an alley to get to the funicular. Within a few minutes, we realized we were on the walking path to the top, not to the funicular. Do we continue up the steep path or turn around? I chose to turn around because I am old and fat. We had actually turned one street too soon; the funicular was around the corner. Once we located the funicular, we bought our tickets and took the next ride up to the castle.
The castle has quite a few museums and areas you can walk through that were part of the audio-guided tour. The castle is a tourist area like most castles in Europe for obvious reasons. Even though it was busy, it did not feel very crowded. The views from the castle were beautiful across the city and countryside. We saw a few areas that were close that we wanted to see and after about 2 hours we took the funicular down to continue looking around.
Nebotičnik
Nebotičnik (Skyscraper) is a building with a rooftop café that has excellent views of the castle and Ljubljana. That was our next stop and was only a 15-20 minute walk from the market area at the bottom of the funicular. The views from Nebotičnik were spectacular in all directions, from Tivoli Park to the castle and over the downtown area. After seeing the views from the castle and Nebotičnik, we walked around to see some of the areas that we had spotted from the castle.
Eventually, we returned to the river for a boat ride. The river is not very large but has beautiful views of the architecture, nature, and several under bridge pubs that you can’t see easily from the street level. The boat trip is not very long, only about 30-45 minutes, but it is worth the 12 euro per person cost. It was the middle of July and there were only 4 people on the boat including us, plus the boat captain. This was a nice change from Venice where the boats were typically packed and almost overflowing.
Looking for food in all the wrong places
It was getting late in the afternoon and we started to look for a place to eat dinner. There were some restaurants near the store where we had bought snacks and drinks. This is away from the downtown scene and less crowded, not that downtown was crowded. Most of the places had pub food; we were not looking for pub food or pizza. We kept walking up this small street and then turned into an area that looked like it had some places to eat; they were either not open or the food selection was not what we wanted.
After about 10 more minutes we were in the middle of a residential area with no restaurants in sight. We had gone too far and needed to either turn back, or cut through the residential area to get back to the river. Our decision was to head back towards the river; there were some restaurants that we had seen from the boat and found one on Google maps that looked interesting.
Best Meal in Ljubljana
We came up to a small restaurant called Gostilna Jakob Franc that had 15-20 people sitting outside; it looked like a pub initially. It wasn’t a pub, it was a great restaurant that served local dishes and pork was one of their specialties. The long walk paid off as it was the best meal we had in Slovenia, if not all of Europe on this trip. Unfortunately, it was a block past the store that we had walked by about 30 minutes before. That turned out to be a good thing; we were only 4 blocks from the apartment. After dinner, we took a short walk along the river and then returned to the apartment to plan the next day. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Ljubljana.
Daytrip – Day 3
We had a couple of options: spend some time close to Ljubljana, or take a day trip to either Lake Bled or to Zagreb, Croatia. Since we were going near Lake Bled on the way to Austria, we decided on a quick trip over to Zagreb for the Sunday. It was a short train ride (with our Eurail passes) and we could see the countryside along the way. I have covered the day trip to Zagreb here.
We returned from Zagreb that evening and took a taxi to the apartment to pack everything and to plan the Lake Bled stop on the way to Austria. Therefore, we had a few things to consider since Lake Bled does not have a train station; the closest station is Lesce-Bled about 20 minutes from Lake Bled by bus. I will cover Lake Bled in another post.
Travel Tips for Ljubljana
If you call a taxi vs grabbing one at the station or on the street it is cheaper. However, it can be challenging if your location is not easy to pronounce for English speakers. You may need to find a landmark to reference.
Stay in the downtown area near the river; it will give you the best experience for walking around. Apartments in the area are quite cheap and offer the most bang for your buck.
We were happy that we had decided to stay in Ljubljana for 3 nights; it was a hidden gem that many people have never seen or heard about.
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