Škofja Loka Castle and its museum of the town

Eight centuries of bishops on a hill

The museum’s collections tell the story, past and present, of the land along the Selška Sora and Poljanska Sora, which made up the Škofja Loka dominion. The bishops of Freising in Bavaria ruled it from 973 to 1803, and the museum sets that history in its Slovenian and European context. There are archaeology, history, cultural history, art, ethnology, natural history and sports collections, the Castle Gallery for temporary shows and an open-air museum in the garden.

What to see: the crafts room

The ethnology collection is the part I wouldn’t miss. The tourist board singles it out because it shows how Škofja Loka’s people earned a living, through hat-making, comb-making, bobbin lace, sieves, painting and printing on cloth, artificial flowers and the little Loka bread, a decorated honey bread that’s now the area’s typical souvenir. If you want to take one home, see what to buy in Slovenia.

The museum also has an exhibition on the Škofja Loka Passion Play and its history, useful if you’re not here in a year when it’s staged in the streets. The last performances were in spring 2026.

Opening hours and tickets

The museum keeps longer hours in the high season, from May to October, than in winter, and opens on extra days in midsummer. It closes on a handful of public holidays and shuts early on the last days of December. It’s all in the tables above, along with the prices for each ticket type, including a family ticket and one just for the Castle Gallery. Guided tours are booked separately by emailing the museum in advance. I’d go first thing, when the old town and the castle are at their quietest. The castle also has a café, and the museum uses the arcades for seasonal shows, such as an autumn display of the mushrooms that grow in the surrounding woods.

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Beyond the castle: Škofja Loka old town

The Loka Museum has other venues. In town, the Ivan Grohar Gallery on Mestni trg is free, and the France Mihelič Gallery, in a former granary on Spodnji trg, is visited with a guide. Out of town, its collections are shown at Visoko Manor, the Cankar Battalion house in Dražgoše and the beekeepers’ house at Brode. Up the valleys, the museums in Železniki and Žiri round off a visit to the area. If castles are your thing, I compare the country’s best in castles in Slovenia.

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

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