Destination Guide : Ljubljana
When I think of Ljubljana, I always think of our first morning there. We had arrived at night and the next morning when Trent returned from a run, he said to me “You gotta get our there. You’re going to love it!”. He was so right!
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is so easily endearing. It’s very walkable, every building in the town center is beautiful and it’s full of dragons. Dragons on the bridges, manholes, city crest and the list goes on and on. Which makes it also a lovable city for our kids!
Ok, let’s back up because before we planned to visit Ljubljana, I honestly couldn’t tell you where in the world it was located. Slovenia is bordered by Austria, Italy, Croatia and Hungary. Ljubljana is located in the center of the country. Slovenia is small! About 20 thousand square kilometers. That’s about 12 times smaller than the UK. For as small as it is, it’s full of beautiful sights, which I can’t wait to share later during our post about our 10 day camping trip around western Slovenia.
Slovenia has such a rich history. From the Roman Empire and Barbarian invasions to centuries under Habsburg rule and then decades as a part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia has only had 28 years as an independent country.
We loved learning about Ljubljana’s history. It’s famous 19th century poet, Presern, who’s poem became the nation’s national anthem. Slovenia’s love and protection of their language is powerful. Through their history of different empires and leaders, the one thing that remained was their language. So it’s fitting that a poet’s statue sits in the town’s center. We also learned about their famous architect, Plecnik. His designs fill the city and he also contributed to the Art Nouveau style in Vienna, Belgrade and Prague.
When we weren’t soaking up all of the history, you could find us enjoying Ljubljana’s amazing food!
EAT
Ljubljana is a huge university town and all of our servers were young students. They were so warm and welcoming which only added to our enjoyment of the city!
Vino & Ribe - this is our favorite restaurant in Ljubljana! Delicious seafood in a cute space.
Pop’s Burgers - very good burgers with seating along the river. We ate here twice and loved their craft beers.
Pizza Foculous - a popular pizza restaurant with a huge selection of pizza and a great craft beer. Are you catching on? Craft beer is big in Slovenia! Of course, we love this country.
Le Petite Cafe - a cute cafe that wraps around a big corner with lots of outdoor seating. We celebrated Olivia’s birthday there and the breakfast was great. Casual, French inspired food.
Vigo and Cacao - two popular gelato shops in town. Cacao is our favorite!
DO
This small city has many different activities to enjoy. Just walking around town is great. For the kids, we created our own Dragon Hunt to make wondering more fun! They had to find 20 dragons to get a prize. It made us look at so many details of the city, buildings, manholes.
LJUBLJANA CASTLE - Located on top of a hill, Ljubljana Castle is almost visible from any place in town. We visited twice during our 6 days in Ljubljana. On one visit, we hiked up to the top. The hike was fairly easy and took us about 40 minutes with two little kids. On the second trip, we took the funicular up. I would definitely recommend hiking up, if possible, as it saves money.
We got audio guides and the kids loved them. For a few Euro more, it definitely helps us all get more interested in any museum or castle. They take their audio guides very seriously and we cannot miss a listening point!
On both visits, we ate at the castle’s cafe. The food and drinks were good, especially a cheesecake that we enjoyed on Olivia’s birthday. Below the cafe is a beautiful, cave-like venue where they hold jazz nights. Definitely a spot that we would visit if we had been traveling without the kids.
Included in the ticket is a children’s scavenger hunt (there’s also an adult version) which T loved. Between the audio guide and the scavenger hunt, we spent over 3 hours at the castle.
FREE WALKING TOUR - I took a solo trip to join the Ljubljana Free Tour The tour started at 11 and lasted for two hours. It was amazing there were about 200 people on the tour. They broken us up into groups of 30. I got the guide (Daniel) that I wanted and he was so great! A professor who was born and raised on Ljubljana. He was funny and so passionate. There were so many teachers on the tour. I met and spent time with a teacher from Argentina. She spent two years in Europe (Barcelona and Poland) to continue her studies in chemistry. We spoke is English and shared about our travels. It was so fun! I also met a woman from Munich who hiked part of Triglav with her cousin and wants to hike in the US one day.
BOAT RIDE - Then we took an impromptu boat ride and it just happened to be the wooden boat. The one I wanted to go on! There’s only one and it was built in lake bled.
CENTRAL MARKET - Great produce finds and so many local, handmade goods. Perfect place for a souvenir.
TIVOLI PARK - If Ljubljana wasn’t green enough, this large park adds so much beauty and nature to the city. They have a wonderful playground, cafe and lots of running trails.
Enjoy!
