72 Hours In Ljubljana

Do you have any traditions?

We have a couple of little ones like drinking Champagne when putting up the Christmas tree or buying a Christmas bauble every time we travel to a new holiday destination but our favourite once-a-year tradition is jetting off for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary.

And this year, we popped over to Ljubljana! (You can read about some of our other trips here.)

Now, I would love to tell you about all of the fabulous things we did while we were there but, if I’m completely honest, we probably spent a bit too much time relaxing. Not that you can really blame us given that it rained most of the time we were there! Whoops!

The city centre of Ljubljana is quite compact with both the new and old town in easy walking distance, which is a good thing given that the city centre is completely pedestrianised and car-free!

Although it was too cold and wet to sit in one of the cafes or bars along the river which flows through the city centre, it was easy to imagine how vibrant and lovely it would be to sit there in the sun with a glass of something thirst quenching.

One of my favourite parts of the city was the Metelkova quarter. We got absolutely drenched wandering around it (as clearly evident in my rattailesque hair) but still managed to have a lovely time admiring the sometimes really weird and very bizarre street art.

For most of the trip though, we just aimlessly (in a good way) wandered around the city, ate lots of food, drank too much wine and took in the sights like the triple bridge and Ljubljana castle from which you have a great view over the old and new town of the city – even if it was rather misty when we were there.

One a random sidenote, I have to admit that I really struggled with the way the castle had been ‘restored’. For me, it was a textbook example of how not to restore a building!

Because Ljubljana is located right in the middle of Slovenia there are countless day trips you can do not only to some of the fantastic Slovenian sights but also to Italy, Croatia and Austria.

Whilst we didn’t pop over to another country, we couldn’t resist heading out to the iconic Lake Bled. It was easily my favourite part of the trip.

It’s just so stunning and my photos really don’t do it justice. Even the sun came out for a couple of hours!

It honestly feels like you’ve dropped into a fairytale. Even the boat ride on the traditional wooden boat called a Pletna felt kind of mystical with the fog rolling in from the surrounding mountains.

According to local legend (and our tour guide), the area which is now Lake Bled was once a lush green valley with a rock in the middle known as the hill of fairies.

Much to the annoyance of the fairies, the farmers in the region allowed their sheep to graze in the fields surrounding their hill. The farmers ignored the fairies wishes and warnings to keep their sheep away and when the animals had eaten almost all of the grass, the faires were sad that they could no longer play in the green fields. So, one night, the fairies flooded the valley around the hill to protect their home.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Ljubljana and we think is a perfect long-weekend city break destination and we’d love to visit again in the summer!

Have you visited Slovenia? Do you have any traditions? What’s your favourite city to visit? Do you have any recommendations for our next anniversary city trip?