By capital city standards, Ljubljana is tiny. Slovenia’s biggest city only has 287,000 residents (about the same size as Newcastle in the UK) and you can walk from one side of its historic centre to the other in around 15 minutes. But in this case, small really is beautiful – or as they say in Ljubljana, ‘small by surface area, large by quality of life’. Yes you could probably whizz around the city’s sights in a day if you really wanted to, but it’s more of a place to slow down, relax and let yourself fall in love – so here are five reasons you should visit Ljubljana in Slovenia.
Read more: The green waters of Slovenia’s Vintgar Gorge
Why visit Ljubljana?

Ljubljana’s historic centre
1. The beautiful old town
There’s no denying that Ljubljana is one of Europe’s prettiest capitals. The old town is an atmospheric web of cobbled streets with pastel-coloured buildings topped with terracotta tiled roofs. Church spires and a castle perched on a hilltop look down on you. And flowing through the middle is the emerald green River Ljubljanica, with its tree-lined banks and pavement cafés.
Some of the city’s buildings are Baroque and others Viennese Secession style. But the credit for a lot of its beauty has to go to architect Jože Plečnik. After working in Prague and Paris he came back to his home town in the 1920s and set about transforming it. As well as designing the city’s major buildings he added the features that make Ljubljana so special – the parks and plazas, the open air market, the riverside walkways and the ornate bridges.
The River Ljubljanica is criss-crossed by 17 bridges, including the Triple Bridge. It was built in 1842 but Plečnik added two other side bridges for pedestrians in the 1930s to create something completely unique. There’s also the Art Nouveau-style Dragon Bridge, dedicated to the symbol of the city – the dragon and one of the most famous of Ljubjana’s landmarks. Keep your eye out for more dragons too, there are metal dragon sculptures dotted around the city.

The River Ljubljanica
2. The relaxed feel
On a sunny Sunday lunchtime, it felt like the whole of the city was out on Ljubljana’s streets. There were boats of sightseers drifting along the Ljubljanica. People lazily browsing stalls piled high with crafts and antiques at the riverside weekend market. The hum of people chatting and glasses clinking as they toasted another sunny spring day in a waterside café. It was pretty much a perfect Sunday – and in Ljubljana every day feels a bit like a Sunday.
Ljubljana isn’t one of those cities bursting with must-see sights where you end up scurrying around manically to try and tick them all off. Instead you can happily lose a day or two soaking up the atmosphere, admiring the views and hopping from café to bar to restaurant. There are museums, churches and castles to visit if you want to learn more, and plenty of interesting day trips from Ljubljana, like Lake Bled, the Vintgar Gorge or the the mountains of Kranjska Gora. But it’s also one of those places where you don’t feel bad for not doing a lot.

Sunday market along the riverside
3. The history
Legend has it Ljubljana was founded by Jason and the Argonauts, who stopped here on their way back to Greece with the stolen Golden Fleece. Or maybe it started life as a Roman fort, became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then a province of Yugoslavia, was occupied by the Italians in WWII and finally gained its independence in 1991. Whichever you want to believe, this is a city with a fascinating history. You can get a crash course in its past at the City Museum, or for an insight into more recent history try the National Museum of Contemporary History.
The city’s top historic site – towering over everything else – is its castle. It was built in the 15th century on the site of an earlier medieval castle and has been a fortress, prison and house over the years. Today you can climb the hill (or take the funicular) for the city’s best view from the castle tower with the city stretching out into the distance below you. The castle’s been restored and is surprisingly modern inside, with exhibitions plus a great restaurant and café.

Looking down from Ljubljana castle
4. The greenness
In most capital cities space is at a premium and the buildings are packed in tightly. But looking down from the castle tower I was surprised at just how green Ljubljana is. Parks, gardens and trees seemed to fill every patch of spare space. It hasn’t always been that way though. Ten years ago the streets along Ljubljana’s riverside were polluted and clogged with traffic.
Since then the whole historic centre has been pedestrianised, and now the only wheels allowed in are buses and bikes. It was controversial at the time, but it’s been such so successful that Ljubljana was named the European Green Capital in 2016. Five new parks have been built and 2000 trees planted, as well as setting up recycling and bike hire schemes. So you don’t have to go far to find a patch of green in Ljubljana – follow the grassy riverside path out of the centre, head west to the huge Tivoli Park and have a picnic on the lawns or cycle out into the forests.

Greenery around the castle
5. The culture
Ljubljana is a young city, both in terms of its age and its people – students make up 13% of the population. It’s not a place that’s stuck in the past but somewhere that’s still developing and finding its identity. And it definitely knows how to have a good time. There are plenty of bars and restaurants in the city centre, so whether you fancy a cosy cellar or waterside terrace you won’t have much trouble finding a perfect spot for a cold Union beer or glass of local wine.
The city has an edgier side too – away from the historic centre is the Metelkova district, a military barracks turned squat that’s now the place to go for nightlife. Ljubljana’s also a festival hotspot, with a mind-blowing 10,000 events held there every year. Biggest of all is the Ljubljana Festival in the summer, with music, opera, ballet and theatre performances. But there are also festivals dedicated to food, literature and film – this city has something to love for everyone.

The streets of Ljubljana’s old town
Pin it
This article contains affiliate links, where I get a small commission at no extra cost to you – thanks.
42 Comments
Richard
May 26, 2016 at 1:01 pmI agree with everything you say – gorgeous city and one that wasn’t overrun with tourists when I was there. But Union beer? Nah – the
Laško was much nicer!
Lucy
May 26, 2016 at 2:53 pmI will bow to your superior knowledge on that – no beer for me sadly since it’s all got gluten in (blame the husband’s beer choices!)
Mrs Ayla's Adventures
May 26, 2016 at 3:52 pmI desperately want to visit Ljubljana and Lake Bled! Looks like such a beautiful little European spot 🙂
Lucy
May 27, 2016 at 2:02 pmIt is gorgeous, the country’s pretty compact too so it’s easy to go out and explore even on a short trip.
Katja Činč
June 2, 2016 at 4:47 pmI am from Ljubljana and I really love my city, it truly is beautiful. 🙂 If you want a free tour by a local, feel free to contact me, I love meeting new people that share the same passion for travel. 🙂
Lucy
June 2, 2016 at 10:02 pmThat’s great thanks! Will definitely get in touch when I come back to Ljubljana.
Katja Činč
June 10, 2016 at 6:57 amYou are welcome! I love your post about it. 🙂
Erika DeNoronha
June 14, 2016 at 4:14 pmHi Katja, we are a group of friends planning to visit Ljubljana in July for around 4 days! Do you think we could get in touch?
Bidforester
May 26, 2016 at 9:14 pmAbout ten years ago we drove to Slovenia in July. We had not booked anything but midweek found a very nice seaside hotel in Portoroz, which was lovely and was full at the weekend as we expected.Then we went to Ljubljana for a long weekend. We went for a business hotel as we thought it would offer good deals at the weekend. It did and we had a sumptuous room for Friday and Saturday night BUT I am not sure of the hotel-I think it was The Grand Hotel Union. There seemed to be Art Deco everywhere.
At the time easy jet had started flying there so there were a few British people there but the city seemed mainly unappreciated. I am glad it has become a weekend destination, but hope it is not spoilt by stag/hen parties.
How many British tourists did you come across?
Lucy
May 27, 2016 at 2:03 pmSounds lovely. I’d heard that it was a bit of a hotspot for stag/hen parties but we didn’t see that many and not a huge number of British tourists either. There was quite a mix with a lot of Germans and French in camper vans. Would love to go back and explore the coast and head down into the Istrian Peninsula sometime.
bevchen
May 27, 2016 at 8:56 amDRAGONS!! I’ve had Ljubljana on my list for a while because of the caves that are on my 35 before 35 list, but the dragons have just bumped it up in my priorities. I love dragons!
Lucy
May 27, 2016 at 2:01 pmIf you love dragons you definitely need to visit Slovenia! As well as the bridge there was a blacksmith in Bled Castle who makes beautiful dragon sculptures (of all sizes so easy to take home!).
Kate
May 27, 2016 at 9:53 amLjubljana looks amazing! If there’s only one place I can visit this summer, I want it to be Ljubljana!
Kate | http://www.petiteadventures.org/
Lucy
May 27, 2016 at 2:00 pmI would recommend a trip, it’s a lovely place!
Vesna
May 27, 2016 at 1:17 pmLjubljana is stunning and a great base to explore other parts of Slovenia (Kamnik-Savinja Alps, Soca valley, Vipava valley, Brda region, Karst region and the coast, etc.) Endless opportunities!
Lucy
May 27, 2016 at 2:00 pmSo many places to see! I will definitely be back to explore more of the country.
lexklein
May 27, 2016 at 2:33 pmI’m in agreement with all your points (although I will echo Richard and say the Laško was the beer to love in Ljubljana!). I adored this city and have been working to get the rest of my family there since then.
Lucy
May 29, 2016 at 11:39 amIt’s a lovely place, I hope to get back ans explore more of the country sometime too.
Ladies what...travel (@LadiesWhat)
May 27, 2016 at 3:32 pmVisited Ljubljana probably almost a decade ago for a work trip to the Gorenje factory no less! Thankfully I spent more time exploring the city that wandering the shop floor and I thought it was very beautiful. I’d love to go back to see how much it’s changed, if at all!
Lucy
May 29, 2016 at 11:40 amNot the usual tourist itinerary there! It is a lovely place, I think a lot of the Green Ljubljana stuff is fairly new so you might well notice a difference.
Suzanne Jones
May 28, 2016 at 9:03 pmI really need to get that trip to Slovenia booked sooner rather than later. It looks gorgeous 🙂
Lucy
May 29, 2016 at 11:29 amYou do! Such a gorgeous country, and so much packed into a fairly small space.
MummyTravels
May 29, 2016 at 8:14 amI loved Ljubljana – such a gorgeous city and definitely underrated/overlooked. The dragons were great and just strolling along the riverside by the bars. I did a couple of great tours too including a fun food one.
Lucy
May 29, 2016 at 11:29 amIt’s definitely not as well known as it should be – the tours sound good, I’d like to go back sometime and would be interesting to find out more about local food.
Anže
May 31, 2016 at 1:08 pmIf you’re in Ljubljana, you drink Union. There is nothing else. You want Laško, drink it elsewhere. Want really good beer? Don’t drink either, both are kind of bad when comparing to foreign beer, especially Czech beer. But hey, this artcle isn’t about beer so let’s leave that topic 😀
I must say, this is one of the better articles I’ve read about my hometown, and probably one of the rare ones that actually has no factual errors. Really nice job!
Okay, I said I will leave the topic, but I must add that The Union Brewery has a really cool pub called “Pivnica Union” with A LOT of different kinds of really top quality beverages (including non-alcoholic stuff like juice and water) made by both Union and Laško as well as great food. So it’s pretty much a must for any tourist visiting Ljubljana. The pub is near to Tivoli Park.
Lucy
June 20, 2016 at 9:46 amThanks Anže, really glad you liked the article – and thanks for sorting out the beer debate!
Vlad
June 1, 2016 at 5:37 amYou’re the third person I know who has been to Ljubljana lately and after seeing your beautiful photos, I’m convinced I need to included on my itinerary next year. 😀
Lucy
June 20, 2016 at 9:45 amSomeone’s trying to tell you something – must be a sign you should plan a trip out there!
Aggy (@dewtraveller)
June 3, 2016 at 2:20 pmLooks like my kind of place! That view from the castle looks spectacular. Never knew this place is awesome, I’ve heard of how small it is but never expected it to be this gorgeous. Would love to visit it!
Lucy
June 20, 2016 at 9:44 amSuch great views – hope you get to visit someday!
Packing my Suitcase
June 6, 2016 at 11:01 amI couldn’t agree more with you Lucy! This small town has definitely lots to offer despite its size, I often recommend people to go there, it’s incredible that many never heard of it and yet it’s a place totally worth visiting! Love your photos 😀
Lucy
June 20, 2016 at 9:43 amThanks, I really loved it there an hope it encourages lots of people to visit!
Greta
June 14, 2016 at 10:41 amI was in Ljubljana last summer, and I fell in love with it! Small bars and shops, bookshops standing close to amazingly smelling vegan restaurants and bars with live DJ sets, impossible not to like it!
Definitely agree with you on recommending it!
Have a great day,
Greta
Lucy
June 20, 2016 at 9:40 amThanks Greta, it’s such a great city!
emmajayneknapp
August 16, 2016 at 5:54 pmLjubljana looks beautiful! I’m hoping to make it there later in the year, hopefully it’s still just as beautiful in winter (I’m sure it is!).
Emma x
Lucy
August 17, 2016 at 6:29 pmI bet it’s lovely in winter, especially if there’s some snow! Have a great trip x
Charles
September 22, 2016 at 10:27 amThanks. I’ll be there all of this October.
Lucy
September 22, 2016 at 11:28 amHope you have a great time!
Ella Jones
December 6, 2019 at 3:35 pmI visted Ljubliana this Summer and I completely agree that it’s so relaxed feeling whilst walking around
Lucy
December 12, 2019 at 9:34 amIt’s a lovely place isn’t it!
Pricebye
June 17, 2020 at 9:51 amThank you for the introduction to Ljubljana. Great photos!
Lucy Dodsworth
June 17, 2020 at 5:35 pmYou’re welcome!