Novo mesto, the town of the situlae on a bend of the Krka

Exploring the old town in the loop

The heart is Glavni trg, a long square lined with arcades that recall its trading past, with the town hall on one side. Above it rise the bell towers of St Nicholas’s Cathedral and St Leonard’s Church, which together with the Franciscan friary form the town’s skyline. The cathedral holds an altar painting by Tintoretto, and the Franciscan library keeps incunabula. On the square, the Kette fountain is inscribed with lines from the poem «Na trgu».

Novo mesto’s postcard view is the Breg, a row of colourful houses on the edge of the cliff above the river. It’s best seen from Kandija Bridge or from the water, and between the bends of the river lie two town woods, Ragov log and Portoval, the latter with a river beach.

Up the bell tower and on Trška Gora

To get your bearings, climb the cathedral bell tower. It’s 126 steps to a platform 53 m up, the highest accessible point in the centre, with views over the Krka, Marof, Trška Gora and, in the distance, the Gorjanci.

Trška Gora is the wine hill. It rises to 428 m, has the Church of the Nativity of Mary and lime trees over 400 years old at the top, and the local tourist office claims it has the highest density of vineyard cottages in the world. This is where Cviček, the wine of Dolenjska, is made, and some zidanice can be rented with the key to the cellar thrown in.

What are the Novo mesto situlae?

They are Iron Age bronze buckets decorated with figures, and Novo mesto has produced nine, nearly a quarter of all found anywhere. The town’s tourist office calls Marof hill Europe’s largest site for situlae and glass beads of that period.

To see them, head to the Dolenjska Museum. Its archaeology display, in the Križatija building since 2008, covers the region from the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages, with situlae from the Kandija and Kapiteljska njiva cemeteries, Greek bronze helmets, amber necklaces and multicoloured glass beads. For me it’s the highlight of the town, and the museum itself ranks this early Iron Age material among Europe’s most valuable heritage.

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The Krka, by paddle or raft

The river is the other half of a visit. The Rudolf and Nika rafts float through the centre beneath the Breg and the friary rock, and you can also take a kayak, canoe or paddleboard. If you fancy a change of river, the Temenica has its own guided river safari. Further upstream the Krka river forms tufa barriers found on no other river in Slovenia.

Dolenjska’s main town in figures

SURS counts 24,741 people in the town and 38,678 in the municipality on 1 January 2026. In 2025 it logged 37,715 tourist arrivals and 71,919 overnight stays, modest numbers for the centre of a whole region. It’s also an industrial town, home to Renault’s Revoz car plant, and the tourist board awards it the bronze green destination label and the Entente Florale prize.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Novo mesto and pick one that fits your day.

Otočec, the Gorjanci and where to stay

A few minutes away is Otočec, whose island castle in the Krka is now a five-star hotel. To the south rise the Gorjanci, topped by Trdinov vrh at 1,178 m, and among the waymarked routes is the 150 km Trdina Trail. If you fancy thermal water, Dolenjske Toplice is close by, and Bela krajina begins 27 km away. I’d sleep in the old town for dinner by the river, and if the budget stretches, spend a night at Otočec. On the way to Ljubljana, Trebnje is worth a stop for its naive art gallery.

For food, look for millet groats with dried prunes, an old Dolenjska dish that local restaurants still serve. Other ideas from the tourist board include the 150-year-old Matjaž homestead, with buckwheat bread, cheese and a lesson in Cviček, Struga Castle, where costumed characters bring five centuries of Carniolan life to life, and an apiary on the edge of Krakovo forest where you can lie on a bed above the hives.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Novo mesto on Booking.com and filter by area before price.