Things to do in Ljubljana, from the unmissable to the optional

Start with the river and Plečnik

If you only do one thing, walk along the Ljubljanica river from Trnovo to the Dragon Bridge. Its embankments and bridges joined the World Heritage list in 2021 along with Plečnik’s other works, and in a couple of hours you cross the Hradecky Bridge, the Cobblers’ Bridge, the Triple Bridge and the Butchers’ Bridge. The Triple Bridge in particular is where the two axes Plečnik used to organise the city intersect.

The same walk takes in the central market, with its colonnades along the water, and the National and University Library, his largest building. On weekdays the library is free, and on Saturday afternoons, for €5, you get into the great reading room.

The castle and the old town

The castle gives you the overview. The viewing tower stands 400 m above sea level, and inside are two museums, the Museum of Puppetry and one on Slovenian history. The ticket with the funicular costs €19 and without it €15, which is why I walk up from the market. Everything is in Ljubljana Castle.

Below it, Ljubljana Old Town is three long squares, Mestni trg, Stari trg and Gornji trg, with the copy of the Robba fountain outside the town hall. An hour is enough, and you will pass through it a dozen times anyway.

Museums, if you have time

For a single museum, the National Gallery of Slovenia, with the country’s largest art collection and the original Robba fountain; it costs €10, though the first Sunday of each month is free. To understand Plečnik, his house in Trnovo, with a guided tour for €12. For prehistory, the National Museum, with the Divje babe flute and the Vače situla. The rest are in Ljubljana museums.

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The green and the alternative

Tivoli Park is the gateway to 459 protected hectares, with paths up to Rožnik, and starts next to the National Gallery. Metelkova, the barracks occupied in 1993 and now an autonomous cultural centre, is the city’s other face; by day you can wander in for free, and at night there are gigs.

One or two days in Ljubljana

With one day, river, market, old town and castle, set out hour by hour in Ljubljana in a day. With two, add museums, Tivoli and Metelkova. And if you are travelling in December or summer, check the calendar, because the Christmas market and the Ljubljana Festival change the city a great deal.

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