A Friend of mine really wants to go there and, having recently read that Ljubljana is the ‘new Berlin’, I’m intrigued.
Has anyone ever been to Slovenia? We’re thinking of going for 8 days - Saturday 'til Sunday. Is that enough time for Ljubljana and to travel round the country?
Cheers.
Yep. We did Ljubljana, Bled, Bohinj and Piran. I personally wouldn’t bother with Bled but I loved Bohinj and Piran.
Did Ljubljana last year, it was excellent (although new Berlin, lol no). Very pretty, plenty to do and CHEAP. People were extremely friendly, too.
8 days would be plenty; it’s quite a small country. Lake Bled is really pretty, but can be busy in the summer. Ljubljana is nice, enough, but it’s really not the new Berlin. Don’t bother with the castle. Also second what someone said above about the Slovenians being really friendly.
I quite liked the castle actually. It had the world’s oldest wheel on display, you don’t see shit like that every day.
Thanks for all the replies, guys!
Out of interest, how is train travel in Slovenia?
We love travelling by train but on recent trips - Albania and Georgia - train travel was patchy/unfeasible and we’d really like to travel round Slovenia by train as opposed to buses.
I went to Ljubjana about 5 years ago and stayed here:
http://www.hostelcelica.com/en
The whole area around there was very vibrant and alternative. I would recommend it if you want to party, although that might mean a bit of recovery time. I remember going to the castle feeling absolutely shocking.
if it goes where you want to, it’s great, nice modern central european trains. Don’t think it’s got the widest coverage though - you can get to the caves on the train from Ljubljana easily enough, but I think Bohinj needs bus or car.
We loved going up the castle in Bled and having a drink looking out over the lake, but the town itself didn’t look appealing. Logarska Dolina was amazing, but probably only possible if renting a car (pretty cheap and roads are great if you stay out of the mountains). Celica hostel and the nearby ex-squat complex (bunch of hipster bars and clubs when we went) was really good fun in Ljubljana, and the centre is really nice to walk around, particularly drinks by the old riverfront. We went for my 30th birthday, so stayed in Otocec castle for a night, which was amazing - old castle on its own island in a river, fantastic food and drink, natural spa nearby.
I loved Ljubljana. Super walkable, cheap, pretty, loads of good museums, good park. Lake Bled was great, but you should get there early to avoid the heat/crowds.
Played a small venue called Channel Zero in Ljubljana last year. Was fun, maybe check what’s on when you go.
It’s a beautiful city, definetly not the new Berlin (Apparantly that title goes to Lisbon) but a place I’d recommend anyone to go
Went to Slovenia about a decade ago. I can’t remember much about it beyond going to a wine bar and trying a load of Slovenian wines (which were great!). As everyone says, Lake Bled is well worth a visit.
I went to Lisbon for the first time this year and, although there is a thriving art/graffiti scene due to low rents and disused buildings, it’s no Berlin.
Word is that Leipzig is the ‘new Berlin’.
Yeah, I saw that. Coupled with my friend’s desire to go there, that has sort of inspired me as well.
The Zurich episode made me laugh in that Richard Ayoade and Frank Skinner spent the second 24 hours outside of Zurich in the mountains. Yep, that’s Zurich. Can pretty much be done in one day.
there’s a lot of confusion over the pronunciation online - it’s actually “Ler-jubble-JAH-na”, five syllables; hard Js.
