Central Slovenia, Ljubljana and the country around it

Ljubljana, the heart of the region

Ljubljana logged 1,392,728 tourist arrivals in 2025, far ahead of anywhere else in Slovenia. The tourist board lists its titles, European Green Capital 2016 and UNESCO City of Literature, and one striking figure, more than 542 m² of public green space per resident, nearly half of it woodland. The centre is closed to traffic, the Ljubljanica river runs through it and the townscape bears the stamp of Jože Plečnik, whose works joined the UNESCO list in 2021. It deserves at least two days, and it has its own guide.

What to see in Central Slovenia beyond Ljubljana

To the north, Kamnik is a medieval town with two castles, a monastery with a Franciscan library of around 10,000 books and a street of workshops. The tourist board puts it 23 km from the capital and claims it has more microbreweries per head than any town in the world. Above it is Velika planina, one of the few Alpine herders’ settlements still standing in Europe, with wooden huts, soured milk and trnič cheese. Between Ljubljana and Kamnik, Volčji Potok Arboretum is a cultural monument of national importance.

Kamnik’s three castles are worth the climb in their own right. Zaprice houses the Kamnik Intermunicipal Museum, the Little Castle on its rock carries the legend of Countess Veronika, and the ruins of the Old Castle on the hill above give views across the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karawanks and the Julian Alps, according to the tourist board.

To the south spread the Ljubljana Marshes, a landscape park where the Ig pile dwellings were found, World Heritage since 2011, along with a 5,200-year-old wooden wheel and axle. In the middle of that flat landscape stands the Church of St Michael, another Plečnik work on the World Heritage List. Vrhnika, to the west, was Roman Nauportus.

To the east, Bogenšperk Castle in Šmartno pri Litiji preserves the memory of Valvasor, the polymath who described 17th-century Carniola. And near Grosuplje, Županova jama cave was a set for the Winnetou and Kekec films.

Kamnik and the mountains nearby

The region is not all flatland. Above Kamnik, the Kamniška Bistrica valley has the Veliki and Mali Predaselj gorges and the source of the river, and the tourist board recommends the Polhov Gradec Hills west of the capital, with green summits dotted with small churches and isolated farms. If Ljubljana is your only base, they are the quickest way to see rural Slovenia.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Ljubljana for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

The municipalities few people look at

Most of the region’s 25 municipalities never appear in a guidebook, though some have a reason to. Domžale, the second most populous with 38,326 people, keeps its straw-hat tradition alive in its own museum. Kamnik also has Terme Snovik, the first tourist business in the country to earn the EU Ecolabel. By the marshes, Lake Podpeč is one of the swimming spots the tourist board mentions. And at the other end of the table is Trzin, just 8.6 km² and a single settlement, the region’s smallest.

Grosuplje, Vrhnika, Ig, Medvode, Mengeš, Brezovica and Logatec each have their own page in this guide, covering what each really offers. I would not travel for any of them alone, but several fit nicely into a free afternoon from Ljubljana.

Eating in Central Slovenia

In Ljubljana, the two fixtures are Plečnik’s central market and the Friday street-food market, Odprta kuhna. The tourist board also points to leteči žganci, the capital’s «flying žganci», the Ljubljana Quality label and, in Kamnik, ice cream made with trnič, the cheese of the Velika planina herders.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Ljubljana for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Getting around Central Slovenia

Intercity buses run from Ljubljana to almost every village, with tickets sold at the larger stations or by the driver. For Velika planina, the marshes or Bogenšperk, a car gives far more freedom. In the capital, LPP city buses do not take cash, so get an Urbana card or pay by contactless bank card.