Best towns and cities to visit in Slovenia

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Slovenia may be best known for its epic mountain wildscapes and glorious green spaces, but this bijou charmer packs an impressive urban punch too. Those world-class landscapes provide a spectacular backdrop to its towns and cities, where mankind has made impressive, intriguing imprints of its own.

Being at such a febrile fault line of history, Slovenia’s population centres are like a smorgasbord of European history, culture and architecture with Venetian and Roman influences woven in alongside a taste of the Balkans and the unmistakable stamp of communism. After breaking away from Yugoslavia to become an independent country in 1991, and joyfully joining the European Union in 2004, Slovenia’s towns and cities are strutting with renewed confidence, investment and positivity. They are the perfect foil to the glorious tentacles of Mother Nature, which still manage to wrap themselves into the urban parks and rivers. Increasingly the capital of Ljubljana is celebrated as one of Europe’s great city breaks, but it is not the only town where tourists can enjoy a culture-filled urban adventure in Slovenia.

The Slovenian capital is like a greatest hits of European architecture and culture. Wander by Italianate churches sharing streets with secessionist art nouveau flourishes and Austro-Habsburg drama. Then cross the lifeblood Ljubljanica River into an old town alive with baroque and medieval architecture. Ljubljana is sometimes lazily dubbed a ‘mini Prague’. The locals know it’s the other way round – Unesco-recognised Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik dramatically revamped Ljubljana, but also worked his magic in Prague.

Ljubljana today is alive with bars, cafes and restaurants reflecting the same eclectic influences. They are sprinkled around a core built for people to savour and enjoy life in, with much of it pedestrianised. There are castles, Roman ruins, verdant parks, swathes of museums and galleries, and myriad day trips too. You could come for a weekend, but you would only leave frustrated, so try to give Ljubljana more time.

The Grand Union is a luxurious art nouveau wonder in the centre; book a room with a castle view.

Read more: Green journey to a green city – all aboard the sleeper train to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s charming capital

Slovenia’s stately second city is no longer content to play second fiddle. It is home to the world’s oldest vine, though it seems you need to be royalty or the pope to taste the fruits of the hallowed harvest. Mere mortals can enjoy a wine tasting in one of the wine cellars. Then wander through the old town to the even older Lent quarter, exploring the patchwork of historical buildings. The Maribor Regional Museum takes a deep dive into the city’s heritage; the vibrant and large student community imbues Maribor with energy today.

Strolls along the River Drava are de rigueur, with a sprinkling of pavement cafes and restaurants to savour. The local cuisine may not be as eclectic as Ljubljana, but paprika-tinged influences from Hungary across the border swirl deliciously in. There are Michelin-recommended gastronomic temples, too. In winter there is skiing right on the city’s fringes in the country’s biggest ski resort on the Mariborsko Pohorje; it’s a mountain biking and hiking playground in summer.

The comfortable four-star Hotel City Maribor lies across the river with great views back to the city, especially from the terrace restaurant.

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You could say there is no Slovenian town more overshadowed by its setting than Bled, but that would be to miss the point. Bled is inexorably bound with landmark Lake Bled, one of Europe’s finest Alpine lakes, a picture postcard wonder. You will spend a lot of your time just gazing at this improbable island-kissed, mountain-framed wonder, or puttering around on it in a rowing boat. Swimming in summer is glorious.

But Bled is about more than its lake. In winter, this resort town has its own ski run; in summer it’s a great base for hiking. Then there is the charm of its older buildings, which you can appreciate on the mandatory walk around the lake. And, of course, vaulting Bled Castle, which swirls back the centuries to set the scene for a town with a history beyond tourism. Inevitably, all things do come back to that lake in Bled, but that is no bad thing – especially if you’re savouring it with a slice of kremna rezina, the gorgeous cream cake that is Bled’s finest creation.

The luxurious Vila Bled once hosted Yugoslav dictator Tito. Enjoy the same epic views he would have gazed over from the lavish grounds.

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Stroll under the vaulting campanile of St George’s Church with the ghosts of the Venetians around a chocolate box pretty town that spent half a millennia caressed by the architectural finesse of the Divine Republic. Piran swoons with all the orange roofed tile, Adriatic-washed charm of the more celebrated Venetian towns next door in Croatia. The strains of celebrated local composer Giuseppe Tartini echo around his eponymous square in a town it’s hard not to feel romantic in.

There is not an endless list of sights to work through, so just enjoy the bijou galleries, admire the views from the town walls and hike that campanile to look out for St Mark’s across the water in Venice. Then ease into the crystal clear waters for a dip, before enjoying a boat-fresh locally-landed seafood platter in one of the waterfront restaurants that burst into life as the sun spectacularly melts into the Adriatic.

At Hotel Piran choose a sea-facing room where your balcony is wafted by an Adriatic breeze. It has a decent restaurant, too.

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An easy day trip from Ljubljana, the city of Kranj – capital of and gateway to the mountainous Gorenjska region – is worth a wee trip in its own right. Mountains frame a city the River Sava cuts through that is blessed with lashings of history and culture. This unfurls in one of the most charming old cores in the country, which is an easily navigable affair. Wander the narrow lanes and ease as far back as the medieval days, with the large student population ensuring the bars, cafes and restaurants remain more contemporary. And great value.

Kranj’s most famous inhabitant is France Preseren, a seminal poet and author of the Slovenian national anthem. He is to Slovenia what Robert Burns is to Scotland: a national icon and breathless romantic whose life was bathed in tragedy and unfulfilled dreams. At the Preseren House, where he spent the last years of his life, delve deeper, then impress your new Slovenian friends with your knowledge of their national poet. The Preseren Theatre is another cultural hub dedicated to the poet.

Layer’s Art Residences is a handy central bolthole in a 19th-century building near all the sights.

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Source: independent.co.uk