Traveling Slovenia Mini Guide

Europe

October 25, 2021

sLOVEnia

Are you planning to travel to Slovenia or keep hearing about the magic of a castle that sits in the middle of Lake Bled?

Nestled between Austria and Italy on one side and bordered with Hungary and Croatia on the other , sits a country that many tourists overlook-Slovenia.

When I mentioned I was heading to Slovenia, a few friends did a double take, and said “Where is Slovenia?” It’s easy to pass over when you are heading to more ‘well known’ places such as Zagreb, Croatia or on your way to Austria, but Slovenia has ‘it all’ when you want a little bit of everything on a short amount of time.

Info	Slovenia
Capital:	Ljubljana
Language:	Slovene
Currency:	Euros
Internet:	Great (minus some mountain areas)
Hello in Slovenian:	Dober Dan (formal)
Thank you in Slovenian:	Hvala

Fun Story: There is this cute little “hike” in Postojna, where you can take a nice 20 minute walk up to the top and see ‘haunted’ castle ruins (I swear is haunted), any who on my way down I ran into a deer! Well this deer was pretty close and I didn’t know a lot about deer’s, and I swore he was following me, so I went running down the hill and back to my hostel. I ran across a couple locals on my way down the hill, and frantically was like “oh my god there’s a deer!”

Destinations I’ve been:

I recommend staying a few days in each place, you can also base yourself and do day trips out.

Lake Bohinj: Easily bypassed over by its more infamous cousin, Lake Bled (the one with castle in the middle of the lake), however the waters are crystal clear and the fish eat your feet. I stayed only a night here just to check out the lake and go for a quick swim. There are many outdoor water activities to do from, kayaking, SUP (stand up paddle boarding) and canoeing. Add in some hiking or cable car trips and you have a couple days worth of activities, with less tourists.

Kranj: I love this small city, for a couple days I was using this as my base as I took the bus out to Triglav National Park. There is a cute little hill to hike, tunnels under the streets to explore, and a river canyon to stroll along after you eat some yummy local dishes, such as Slovenian style dumplings (I do not know the correct translation for these dumplings).

Mojstrana: This is a small little village and a great place to start your journey up Mount Triglav. You have trails leading you through the Alpine valleys, it’s home to the Slovenian Alpine Museum, great bike trails (actually all of Slovenia has great bike trails). and you can start here to head to the highest peak, Mt. Triglav.

Postojna: This is another small town that many stop through to check out the infamous caves that was said to be home of dragons. There are baby dragons though-the Olm, an aquatic salamander.

Ljubljana: Now this a cool capital, and out of all the countries I’ve seen its my favorite. Castle on the hill, complete with a city center free of cars, many bike paths, greenery galore, and a dragon bridge. I’ve enjoyed hanging out in the capital many times, just strolling through hanging at the parks and watching beavers have their breakfast in the river.

Triglav National Park: If you start in Mojstrana to hike through Triglav National Park, there is the Waterfall Pericnik, its an accessible hike for the whole family. There are two levels, and if you are keen on a further hike there is an ‘unmarked’ trail that will take you to a little bridge (pictured below) and a couple hours in, you can come across a cool little restaurant area (you can also drive up to this area).

I can’t read Slovene, but the menu was pretty easy to figure out. It does help one of the employees speaks fluent English, but if you put two and two together you can figure out that “ricet” means ‘like rice’, it was Barely, same family of foods.

Getting Around Slovenia:

Slovenia a small country, so it’s easy to navigate by bus, train, car, or actually cycle! Some people actually hike a lot of Slovenia, as there is a hiking path that will lead you through different cities. One of them is called the “Walk of Peace”. https://www.slovenia.info/en/stories/the-most-beautiful-hiking-trails

There is also some amazing bike lanes, and its definitely one of the top cycling countries of Europe.

Cool fun fact: train and bus rides are like 75% off around the country. I’m sure this is done to encourage citizens and tourists to travel throughout the country!

I navigated mainly through bus and train, and it was incredibly easy. Anytime I even almost got lost, I wasn’t for long.

My Budget:

Where I stayed	What I paid
Cabin Hostel Ljubljana	22 USD
Most Hostel Ljubljana	13 USD
Austria Trend Hotel *Ljubljana*	98 USD
Hostel Jozl Mosjtrana (Triglav)	13 USD
House Budkovic Lake Bohinj	31 USD
Youth Hostel Proteus Postojna	23 USD
Hostel Cukrarna Kranj	21 USD

*There is a really cool hostel in Ljubljana called Hostel Celica which was an old military prison converted into a hostel it gets raves reviews.

Cabin Hostel: Capsule hostel, about a 10 minute walk outside of the city center of Ljubljana. I enjoy capsule hostels after spending a lot of time in Japan, its a cool concept. Could make the shared area a bit more homely though.

Most Hostel: Literally right next to the dragon bridge in the city center of Ljubljana. There is another hostel that’s related to it, which I think is worth a visit has it seemed to have better rooms or at least private rooms. This is a pretty basic hostel, no cooking, and just a small mini fridge. It was affordable though, if you just want to rest your head.

Austria Trend Hotel: I would never walk out here again from the city center, it took me 40 minutes of a walk. HOWEVER, this hotel is pretty lit and right next to the highway if you are driving. Their buffet breakfast is divine and one of the best buffets I’ve had through my travels. When I was there, the minibar in the room was zero because of Covid, so you can just get at the front desk-they let me know this the moment I checked in, clearly I look like someone who uses the whole minibar (and I do).

Hostel Jozl: This is a hostel if you just want to rest your head for the night. It’s in a superb location, with a trail that leads right to the Sava River. Be prepared to bring your own towels. The coffee is just one euro at the bar, so stack up on that in the morning.

House Budkovic: If you want to cook some meals while you are in Slovenia, this is the hostel to do it, the kitchen is very beautiful. Well placed right next to the bakery where there is a shuttle that will take you to Lake Bohinj. They also offer activities such as zip lining, cave exploring, and bike rentals.

Youth Hostel Proteus: Now this is a decked out hostel complete with 3 beds (not bunks) to a room, laundry, free computers to use, play area for the children, lounge area, did I mention laundry, free towels, and really cool employees. I’m really downplaying how comfy this hostel was, it was super comfy.

Hostel Cukrarna: If you are looking for a homely family atmosphere, this is the hostel! Situated right there in old town Kranj, a few steps away from the river canyon, and delicious dumpling style breakfast for 5 dollars complete with coffee. The views of the forests are astounding and very interesting travelers pass through here.

Destinations I will visit my next time in Slovenia:

Human Review:

“Why are you so calm?” -my friends would ask, upon my return home from my trip to Slovenia or “wow I loved how you handled that argument!”. I would tell them, I learned this in Slovenia! I found Slovenians to be incredibly kind, calm, and very diplomatic (I can’t speak for all of them, but the many I came across embodied these attributes).

When I say diplomatic, I found the way I watched a couple people, including myself, handle or get handled upon disagreements, FASCINATING. Once again, I can’t speak for everyone, but those locals I came across were quite incredible.

English is widely spoken here, so you shouldn’t have much trouble getting around.

Country Review:

When I walked into Slovenia, I had no idea what to expect. I came here on a whim, just to get away from a long summer in Italy and get a new perspective. It was only a four hour bus ride from Bologna, Italy (and like 30 minute bus ride to Trieste, Italy) and when I got off the bus, I did a double take because I was shocked how amazing the design was of the city. The capital is stress free, and there’s bike lanes EVERYWHERE- the co-existing among the pedestrians, cyclists, and car drivers was impressive. So much greenery, I thought many times, ‘maybe I should just move to Slovenia.’

The diversity of food in the capital is quite impressive. I drank bubble tea, amazing Korean bibimbap, delicious hot & sour soup, among other things. When I say the hot & sour soup, I had was some of the best I tried in my life, and I lived in Asia (twice), this is saying a lot.

Of course the local food was delicious, hello the ‘dumplings’ pictured above, and a sausage dish (menu pictured below, quite sure ‘petka’ just referred to the number of sausages I got in my bread), and a good afternoon serving of goulash.

**found in Kranj, next to the bridge literally**

Wrapping it up

Oh the great debate, among many travelers I met: Is Slovenia, Central or Eastern Europe??I’m quite sure this has to do with the fact that Slovenia was once apart of Yugoslavia, which some people automatically contribute to Eastern Europe due to communism or the fact Slovenians speak a Slavic language. But, whatever, the only people who really care are the history nerds.

Geographically, Slovenia is considered Central Europe and its part of the EU (European Union), so no need to change visas if you are traveling through from one EU country to the next.

53.6 percent of Slovenia is protected land, that’s the second highest (after Venezuela) on Planet Earth, plus a lot of people are beekeepers here-it’s a big deal.

One last fun fact: When saying bye, you can just say CIAO!