Great Cities for Family Travel: Ljubljana, Slovenia

When we told people we were planning a trip to Slovenia, the reaction for the most part was, “Where?” Which is a shame because this small central European country “on the sunny side of the alps” and its capital city Ljubljana are the perfect place for an active family vacation.

Slovenia is a country of soaring, snow-capped mountains, fairy-tale medieval castles, rolling hills carpeted with vineyards, and amazing natural wonders like alpine river gorges, vast subterranean caverns, sparkling mountain lakes, a dramatic Adriatic coastline, and dragons, where the adjective “fairy-tale” is really not a misnomer. There’s so much here for families, and from Ljubljana it’s a short trip to the Julian Alps, the Adriatic coast, the Bela Krajina or Karst wine country, and countless other incredible destinations. Read about some of our favorite day trips for families from Ljubljana.

Slovenia is a modern, clean, safe, and welcoming country whose people take great pride in it and love to show it off to visitors. We were consistently impressed at how well organized and efficient everything was, especially at the major tourist sites. What you won’t find here are the massive summertime crowds you’ll experience in other European hot-spots. Sure, it can get busy, but compared to other tourist destinations Slovenia is pretty uncrowded and unspoiled. It’s also known as one of Europe’s green capitals, so expect clean air, lakes, rivers, and forests, plenty of open space and nature, and sustainable food practices.

Slovenia’s Compact & Charming Capital

Ljubljana is Slovenia’s capital and largest city, and it’s a perfect home base for exploring the rest of the country. Ljubljana’s historic old city is sited on the banks of the Ljubljanica River, all overlooked by an ancient castle on a wooded hill. The old city oozes Hapsburg-era charm and it’s compact enough where you can easily walk its length in a short amount of time.

Explore the streets and bridges take in the amazing architecture, ranging from a medieval castle and baroque churches to beaux-arts and art nouveau buildings to bridges and public spaces designed by Slovenia’s favorite architect, Jože Plečnik, whose unique signature style is something you’ll find everywhere throughout the city.

The old city is mostly pedestrians-only, so you can walk or bike to your heart’s content. Within it, you’ll find countless shops, restaurants, and cafes, most of which offer outdoor dining on the old town’s cobbled streets or along the riverbank.

Remember the dragons I mentioned earlier? The dragon is Ljubljana’s iconic symbol, allegedly dating back to an incident in ancient times involving Greek hero Jason and the Argonauts. You’ll see it on the city’s coat of arms and flag, on buildings, and on the iconic Dragon Bridge (Zmajski Most) which features famous dragon sculptures. You might even run into Ljubljana’s friendly dragon mascot, Ljubo, and toy versions of the character are available at many shops.

It’s fun to explore the narrow streets of the old city and its numerous parks and squares, and there’s always something going on like street fairs, a bustling farmer’s market (where the vendors are happy to hand out samples), live music, and more. When we first arrived in Ljubljana and were walking from the train station to our hotel, we were greeted by an open-air symphony performance in Congress Square. With the castle in the background and the skies clearing after a brief rainstorm, it was a magical welcome to Slovenia.

What to Visit in Ljubljana

We highly recommend purchasing a Ljubljana Card, which gets you admission into a wide variety of the city’s attractions, from Ljubljana Castle and its museums to the Ljubljana Zoo to the National Museum of Slovenia. Plus, you can use your card for bike rentals and for unlimited travel on Ljubljana’s clean, efficient, and convenient bus service. You can purchase one online, through the Urbana app on your mobile device, or in person at a Tourist Information Center.

• A visit to Ljubljana Castle (Ljubljanski grad), which dates from the 11th century, is the ideal place for a family adventure. Board the funicular in Krkov Square and take a ride up the hill to the castle, which boasts sweeping views of the city, a cafe, wine bar, and restaurant.
• Make sure to tour the historic rooms of the castle and the fascinating Museum of Puppetry (Lutkovni muzej), which features fun interactive exhibits. Special events take place throughout the year at the castle, from living history to live music.

• The National Museum of Slovenia (Narodnji muzej Slovenije) traces the history of the country and displays relics from the Ljubljana’s Roman past, when it was known as Emona, and unique artifacts like the world’s oldest musical instrument, a 16,000-year-old bone flute made by neanderthals.
• The Slovenian Museum of Natural History (Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije) shares the same building with the National Museum, and is small but really interesting, especially the interactive wooly mammoth exhibit.

• The Ljubljana Zoo, located nearby in the city’s sprawling Tivoli Park, is included in the Ljubljana card and well worth a visit. It features open, naturalistic habitats, interesting animals like capybaras and red pandas, miles of paths and trails, a restaurant, and some awesome kids’ play areas.
• Other museums to visit include the City Museum of Ljubljana, the National Gallery of Slovenia, the Plečnik House, the open-air Emona Archaeological Park, and the Slovenian Railway Museum.

Since Ljubljana is so compact, you and your family can probably take in most of these sights in two or three days. You can use the city as the perfect home base for some incredible adventurous day trips that you can read about here.

What to Eat & Drink in Ljubljana

Slovenian has its own traditional cuisine, which, given its location, has a lot of influences from neighbors like Austria, Italy, and Croatia. Like most central European cuisines, it’s big on meat, dairy, and carbs, usually in the form of potatoes or dumplings, but with a farm-to-table emphasis on fresh local ingredients. Desserts are renowned here, and you should try famous specialties like Bled cream cake, potica, and gibanica. Wine is also a big deal in Slovenia, with each region producing its own unique, high quality varieties, few of which are available in the USA.

Of course if you’re hungry for something other than Slovenian food, Ljubljana offers a seemingly endless variety of cuisines, from burgers and pizza to Thai and Bosnian street food.

Here are a few of the family friendly places we enjoyed:

• Try Klobasarna for bargain traditional Slovenian fare in the old city. This order-at-the-counter place specializes in the local Carniolan sausage (kranjska klobasa) which is served sliced with a crusty roll, horseradish, and mustard. They offer traditional soups and dumplings, too, as well as wine and beer. Klobasarna has limited indoor seating but you can take your food outside where there’s plenty of shaded tables.
• Pop’s Pizza in the old city near the Cobblers’ Bridge (Šuštarski most) makes authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas from organic ingredients. It’s probably the best pizza in Ljubljana — in fact it’s some of the best we’ve ever had! Run by a California expat, Pop’s is lively and fun and a little noisy at times but it’s perfect for outdoor dining by the river on a nice night. Pop also runs the Pop’s Place Burger Bar on the other side of the river for burgers and BBQ. 

• Das Ist Valter is a local chain of Bosnian restaurants specializing in grilled kebabs called ćevapi, Balkan sausages, and flatbread. It’s named after a 1970s Yugoslavian World War II movie which plays continually on TVs.
• On Friday evenings from March through October, Open Kitchen (Odprta Kuhna) brings dozens of amazing gourmet food stalls to Pogačar Square near the cathedral. Open Kitchen literally has something for everyone, which you can enjoy outdoors along the river.
• If you simply must, there are a few McDonald’s locations in Ljubljana and elsewhere. It’s pretty much what you’d expect, but they have a few unique menu items and the food seems to be overall fresher and better quality than what you get in the states. Order at a touch-screen kiosk and robots will bring your food to your table. Make sure you try the hazelnut (lešnik) soft-serve!

Where to Stay in Ljubljana

You’ll find a wide variety of lodging options in Ljubljana, from vacation rental apartments to five-star hotels. It’s a good idea to stay close to the city center, which is where all the fun is. Keep in mind, if you stay in the old city you probably won’t be able to drive or take a taxi to directly to your hotel or rental apartment and will have to carry your luggage there.

We opted to stay at the Penzion Pod Lipo, housed in a historic 1820 building near the city center and about a 10-minute walk from the old city. This family-run guest house has larger rooms that are perfect for families, and guests have access to kitchen facilities, either in-room or in the common area, so you can make your own meals if you want. Free coffee, tea, and fruit are provided.

It’s comfortable and clean and hosts Marjan and Florijan are kind, helpful, and speak fluent English. They’re happy to offer suggestions for activities around town as well as tips for visiting other parts of the country. It was the perfect home base for our adventures. The central Ljubljana location of the Das Ist Valter Bosnian restaurant is on the ground floor.

How to Get Around in Ljubljana

If you’re sticking around the Ljubljana city center, a car is really not necessary. Parking is challenging since street parking is paid and has a two-hour maximum, although it’s free Saturday evenings and all day on Sunday. Some hotels have garages or parking lots, but keep in mind that those in the old town will not have any direct parking access 

The city itself is pretty compact and many of the central district streets are off-limits to motor vehicles, so walking is a convenient and safe way to get around. Bicycling is also really popular in Ljubljana and you’ll find numerous bike rental stands and shops. It’s an inexpensive and fun way to explore the city.

If you (or more likely your kids) get tired of walking you can grab a free ride on the cute Kavalir electric shuttles, which will take you anywhere you want to go in the pedestrianized zone. There’s also an electric-powered Urban train that follows a fixed route through the city center.

While you can take a train or bus to many of the destinations throughout Slovenia, driving is really the way to go. The highway network is efficient and modern, and since Slovenia is such a small country, you’re no more than a two-hour drive or so from Ljubljana to any other destination.

We opted to rent a car from the locally owned ATET car rental company since they had really competitive rates compared to some of the other big-name rental outfits. ATET’s Ljubljana location was a short bus ride from the city center, and our car was new and spotlessly clean. The free upgrade to a small SUV was appreciated, too. Note that to drive in Slovenia you must have an international driving permit, which we got at AAA before our trip.

Tips for Families Visiting Ljubljana & Slovenia

We were a little concerned about the language barrier, since Slovenian is a notoriously difficult language to learn, but here was nothing to worry about since nearly everyone we interacted with, especially younger people, spoke English.

Knowing a few words in Slovenian — like ja/ne (“yes/no”), prosim (“please"), hvala (“thank you”), dober dan (“good day/hello”), živjo ("Hi/Hello"), dobro jutro ("Good morning") — is really helpful for conversing with the locals. The University of Ljubljana has a great free website for learning Slovenian if you want to learn a bit before you go.

Unlike a lot of other European cities, Ljubljana takes pride in its clean and great tasting tap water. In fact, they discourage buying bottled water and you can refill your water bottle for free at over 40 fountains throughout the city (as well as in other places like Lake Bled). You can even download an app that maps public drinking fountain locations.

Most public restrooms charge a nominal fee, so make sure you're prepared and have plenty of €0.50 coins in your pocket at all times. Public restrooms are overall clean and plentiful and we didn't mind paying a bit to use them (not that we had a choice).

When it comes to souvenirs, we were really impressed with what Ljubljana and Slovenia had to offer. There’s a real emphasis on handcrafted goods, artisan food products, and nicely designed mementos, all perfect for commemorating your trip or bringing back as gifts.

• We really liked the Zakladi Slovenije (Slovenia's Treasures) shop in the old city (Ciril-Metodov trg 2). They didn’t have the cheapest prices, but they had great service and an amazing selection ranging from toys, T-shirts, postcards, art prints and refrigerator magnets to honey, olive oil, candy, and wine.
• The Dragon Shop (down the street at Ciril-Metodov trg 10) has … wait for it … all things dragon-related and more. It’s a great place for a souvenir featuring Ljubljana’s mythical mascot.
• Slovenia is known as the center of European beekeeping, so honey is a big deal here. Most shops sell a variety of honeys and honey related products. One of the coolest souvenirs we bought was a reproduction 19th-century beehive cover painted with Slovenian folk art.
• Skip the souvenir shops when buying food products to bring home and head to the Mercator supermarket, which you’ll find all over Slovenia. Here you can purchase locally made products like wine and beer from all over the country, pumpkin seed oil, olive oil, baked goods, candy, and more, all at really low prices.

How to Get to Ljubljana

Ljubljana is serviced by Jože Pučnik International Airport, with connecting flights from most European air travel hubs like London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It’s also accessible by train from Austria and Italy. Ljubljana’s main train station and bus station  is close to the city center and a short walk or taxi ride from most hotels and vacation rentals.

If you’re driving into Slovenia in a car rented in another country, make sure you get a Slovenian highway vignette from the rental car company or purchase one before you enter the country.

How to Learn More About Ljubljana & Slovenia

Obviously our short guide here can only scratch the surface of all the activities and attractions that Ljubljana and Slovenia have in store for visiting families. Slovenia is really making an effort to brand itself as an ecologically minded destination for outdoor activities and adventure sports, so if you’re into hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, rock climbing, river rafting, and zip-lining, then this is your place.

We found the Visit Ljubljana and the Slovenian Tourist Board’s websites really helpful in planning our visit. We also found ourselves relying a lot on Lonely Planet’s Slovenia travel guide, which we kept in a backpack with us at all times.