Ljubljana related
As the STA reported yesterday, so far this year there has been a sharp rise in road deaths compared to 2018, with 15 lives lost in the first month and a half of 2019, in contrast to just five the year before. However, these fatalities are just the tip of the iceberg with regard to poor driving, representing the worst outcome, with police reporting a total of 1,165 traffic accidents for the year to date. The same story also notes that the most common traffic violations are speeding, using a phone while driving, not wearing a seat belt, violations committed by pedestrians, and drink driving, with the latter accounting over 10% of accidents.
Related: What's on in Ljubljana this week
So while this article will show you where to find the speed traps in Ljubljana, it should in no way be taken as an endorsement of speeding, but more an informative text that gives you something to look out for as you motor safely around the town and country, sober and with your phone out of your hands.
Ljubljana has seven roadside cabinets that are able to contain a radar to catch speeding drivers, although the city only owns two such radars, which are thus moved around town. The newspaper Dnevnik reports that in 2018 these were in operation for around 10,000 hours and caught 17,900 drivers moving in excess of the speed limit, while the city’s two mobile radars were able to catch a further 12,502, producing a total of 30,402 speeding tickets for the year.
The road with the most offenders was Roška cesta, with a total of 5,723 who were caught in just 66 days of radar use. In contrast, Dolenjska cesta, in the #2 spot with 5,196 tickets issued, required 121 days to reach this figure. The full report, in Slovene, can be read at Dnevnik.
STA, 31 January 2019 - The Ljubljana District Court heard Gratel owner Jurij Krč back Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovič on Thursday in a case in which the mayor stands accused of taking a bribe to the benefit of the city. Much like Janković last week, Krč said the donation to Ljubljana Castle was no bribe but a payment in line with the contract.
The indictment says that soon after becoming mayor in late 2006, Jankovič demanded that Gratel pay a donation of half a million euro to the municipality to be allowed to continue digging roads to install optic cables for telecommunications company T2.
The prosecution argues Jankovič had unjustifiably revoked the permit for temporary road closures Gratel had received from his predecessor just before the 2006 local elections and then made a new contract with the company.
But he added a damages clause, thereby assuming powers of the city's traffic department, which is in charge of issuing permits for road closures, according to the prosecution.
Janković told the court last week he had annulled the permit signed by his predecessor Danica Simčič because it was illegal, as it should have been issued by the city's traffic department. He said legal expert Rajko Pirnat confirmed this.
"We had an agreement on how to come to the site, whom to inform, who must be present. The deal also had a provision on damages for making a spatial intervention that exceeds the one outlined in the permit for temporary road closures," Krč said today.
"We had an agreement with the mayor to pay the damages and we did," he added.
According to Krč, Janković did not set the donation as a condition for the continuation of works. As Gratel owner Krč said he did not feel there was something wrong with the payment because it was in line with the contract. "We would have to pay one way or another," he said.
Janković said the deal was that the company either pays damages or makes a donation. The money was allocated to the same purpose any way, he said.
Former T2 adviser Miran Kramberger also took the stand today, saying that T2 was in the middle of negotiations for a loan with a consortium of banks at the time and that any interruptions in the construction works would have affected the process.
All our stories on Mayor Janković can be found here
The City of Ljubljana’s efforts to make the capital a friendlier, more welcoming and liveable place are not restricted to its award-winning environmental initiatives or support for a packed programme of cultural activities to keep the streets alive. As noted last year with the launch of the Ljubljana by Wheelchair app, and emphasised in our interview with the man behind it, the municipality is also working to make sure the city is more accessible to those with limited mobility. To the ramps, Eurokey bathrooms, disabled access buses and Kavalir electric vehicles we can now add another service – free rental of electric attachments for wheelchairs that convert an ordinary, manually powered wheelchair into a vehicle capable of moving faster and further.
V STIC Ljubljana si gibalno ovirane osebe lahko izposodijo SPEED3X priklop za invalidski voziček. Danes ga je preizkusil prvi uporabnik in bil s storitvijo zadovoljen. ? #dostopnost pic.twitter.com/QMygoDWuhn
— Turizem Ljubljana (@TurizemLJ) January 24, 2019
As Ljubljana Tourism stated in a press release:
The SPEED3X attachment enables people on wheelchairs easier and faster movement and overcoming longer distances. It simply attaches to the wheelchair and the linking element can be adjusted in height and width, making it compatible for practically any wheelchair without any specific adaptation. A full battery has a reach of 40 km, which means a person on a wheelchair can join their friends and family on bicycles or on foot while exploring the city. The user must present their personal document and a deposit, which is returned to them after they bring back the attachment in one piece and without any damage.
At present only two attachments are available for use, and they can be picked up at the Slovenian Tourist Information Centre (STIC) located at Krekov Trg 10 – the first tourist centre in Europe to offer such devices. If you’d like to email or call to ensure one is available, the details are T: +386 (0)1 306 45 83 E: info(at)visitljubljana.si
STA, 30 January 2019 - Ment Ljubljana, a three-day tour de force featuring some of the most promising acts of Europe's independent music scene, gets under way in the capital tonight. As many as 75 up-and-coming acts will perform at multiple venues, while the conference segment of the festival holds a lot of promise as well.
The fifth edition of the showcase festival will kick off with a programme-packed night at Kino Šiška, an expected highlight being the concert by Iranian-Dutch performer Sevdaliza, whose debut album has has won her widespread acclaim.
Ment will expand to a total of nine venues in the city on Thursday and Friday, an element that has helped it create quite a splash in the capital in the past years.
The venues include multiple clubs at the Metelkova Mesto alternative arts centre, Orto Bar, the Old Power Plant and K4.
MENT has arranged a 68-track video playlist to show you the artists in action, which starts autoplaying above
What the organisers labelled the "winter festival of music creativity" also provides a welcome promotional platform for Slovenian acts and DJs, with as many as 21 featured this year.
The list includes the "dream trip-hoppers" JUNEsHELEN, electro rockers Kontradikshn, the Canyon Observer, labelled as doom and black metal, and the experimental electro act Warrego Valles.
Ment also invests a lot of effort in providing networking opportunities and in the conference segment of the festival.
The schedule includes a panel entitled How to Escape the Showcase Bubble, which will question the role of showcase festivals, their many focuses, and especially the role of creators in this increasingly popular event discipline.
The full schedule can be found here, while all the details of all the artists can be found here, with videos just another click or tap away. The festival is also on Facebook, and has both Android and IoS apps
STA, 28 January 2019 - The Ljubljana municipality plans to increase the prices of several services provided by its companies, including public transport, parking fees in the city centre, and cemetery fees.
A single bus ticket would go up by 10 cents to 1.30 euro, Mayor Zoran Janković said at the city's news conference on Monday.
The city also intends to introduce an annual public transport pass, which would cost 365 euro, and an annual pass for pensioners, to cost 220 euro.
If the new prices are endorsed by the city council in February, they would take effect in April or May, the mayor said.
Peter Horvat, director of the city's public transport company LPP, said the goal was not to increase prices but the number of public transport users and the number of bus pass holders, from 70% at the moment to 90%.
Javni Holding Ljubljana director Zdenka Grozde said the services provided by Ljubljana's companies were of very high quality, comparable to other European cities.
"To attain such top quality services, investments into development, technology and infrastructure are needed," she said, thus revealing the reason for the price rises.
She said LPP had bought 168 new buses since 2007, which cost it 42 million euro, but had not changed ticket prices for eight years.
A rise in parking fees for parking lots in the city centre (zone one and two) by 10 centres per hour and in car parks operated by Ljubljana is also planned.
The hourly parking fee for the car park below Congress Square and for the Kozolec car park is to rise to 1.50 euro.
According to David Polutnik from the city's economy and transport department, this is to reduce the number of commuters in the city centre.
Mateja Duhovnik, who heads the company running the city's parking spaces, said parking fees in others zones would not change nor would they change for Ljubljana residents in car parks.
Meanwhile, the fee for a grave at Ljubljana's main cemetery is to rise by 10%.
Žale director Robert Martinčič said the city had intensively invested into expanding its cemeteries over the past few years, "which means we'll have new grave areas which will need maintenance".
STA, 23 January 2019 - Conventa 2019, the 11th exhibition for convention tourism in SE Europe, got under way at Ljubljana's Gospodarsko Razstavišče fairgrounds on Wednesday. The two-day meeting features 125 exhibitors from 15 countries and 178 invited guests from 44 countries.
Miha Kovačič, one of the chief organisers, told the press that Conventa's focus was on countries in Eastern and SE Europe. These are considered as developing and exotic destinations and are in high demand among the organisers of business trips.
He said that the meeting had become a must for many operators in the region, while the idea is also to attract as many new clients as possible each year so that new ties can be forged. As many as 90% of the foreign organisers of business meetings are new to Conventa this year.
The biggest increase was recorded among exhibitors from the Western Balkans, which is a result of a stabilisation of the region, Conventa co-founder Gorazd Čad also noted.
Meanwhile, Karmen Novarlič of the Slovenian Tourist Board highlighted the major potential that congress tourism holds for Slovenia.
An average convention guest spends at least three-times as much as a holiday guests, with a 2018 survey for Ljubljana for instance putting the average daily expenditure of convention guests at EUR 511.
The other key advantage of convention tourism is that it is not tied to the main tourism season. Two thirds of such guests come to Slovenia in periods other than the summer season.
Novarlič expects the industry to continue growing in Europe, with Slovenia having worked in recent years on being discovered as a convention destination.
Presenting a challenge in Ljubljana for example are conference as well as hospitality capabilities, as well as the capabilities of the Ljubljana airport.
The capital can presently host events with around 2,000 participants, provided that venues and hotels operate in a coordinated fashion, Jan Oršič of the Ljubljana Congress Office illustrated.
There’s a new look to what’s on… this week, as we’ve added a table of contents and hyperlinks to make the whole thing more user friendly, and finally gotten rid of some long-standing, well-loved typos, while adding some new ones for eagle-eyed readers to spot. You can see all the editions of these guides here, and all our stories tagged Ljubljana here.
As ever, clicking on the venue names in the sections below should get you more details with regard to the time, price and location, as well as other events on at this place in whatever week you're here. Finally, if there's something you want to promote in a future edition of What's on in Ljubljana please get in touch with me at flanner(at)total-slovenia-news.com
- Cinemas and films
- Clubbing
- Live music
- Opera, theatre and dance
- Harm reduction and drug testing
- Some fun facts about the city and its castle…
- Things to do with children
- LGBT+ Ljubljana
- Museums and galleries
- Other things to do in Ljubljana
- Daytrips
- Getting around
Cinemas and films
You can read about all the cinemas in town here, while a selection of what’s playing this week is below, and note that kid’s movies tend to be shown in dubbed versions, so do check before driving out to a multiplex and dropping off the young ones if they can't understand Slovene. Parents should also pay attention to Kinobalon, which is Kinodvor's regular weekend series of film screenings and events for children, from babies on up, with special parent/child events, "first time in a cinema" screenings, and babysitting. Learn more about it here, and see the current schedule here.
Kinodvor – The arts cinema not far from the train station is showing, among other features, The Children Act, Women at War, The Favourite, Maria by Callas and Climax.
Kinoteka – This revival cinema isn’t far from Kinodvor, at the train station end of Miklošičeva, is showing Von Trier’s Europa, two from Bertolucci, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers, and Fucking Åmål from Lukas Moodysson.
Kolosej - The multiplex out at BTC City Mall is playing all the big movies, which this week include The multiplex out at BTC City Mall is playing all the big movies, which this week include The Grinch (with both subbed and dubbed versions), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Bohemian Rhapsody, Robin Hood, Johnny English 3, A Star is Born, dubbed and subbed versions of Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Aquaman, Bumblebee, a dubbed version of Asterix: Le secret de la potion magique, Second Act, Južni veter, Mary Poppins Returns, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, The Old Man & the Gun, The Favourite and The Upside. New this week are Mary Queen of Scots, Glass, and The Mule, with Serenity starting on Wednesday.
Komuna – The cinema in a basement behind Nama department store is showing Bohemian Rhapsody, Mary Queen of Scots, and The Mule.
Clubbing
Compared to some European capitals it can seem that nightlife in Ljubljana ends rather early, especially along the river, but there are still bars that stay open late and clubs were you can dance until dawn, and perhaps the best place to stumble across something interesting is the legendary Metelkova. Be aware it's a grungy kind of place and not for all tastes, but also that there's considerable variety to found within the various clubs there, from death metal to electropop, gay cabaret to art noise. You can read "the rules" of the place here.
Channel Zero – Monday night is Dub Lab, and this week it’s Domaćica - Open Mic, with a music policy of reggae, dub, riddim, dancehall and rap instrumental. Friday it’s SUBØ: Tigerbalm w. Moleskin and support.
Klub Cirkus – Friday it’s Crazy Cirkus ft. CHRNS (Armada, Proximity, LW) playing dance anthems & party hits, while Saturday night there’s Best of RNB.
Klub K4 – The klub for kool kids that’s not in Metelkova has two events this week. Friday there’s SOLVD w/ Andrey Pushkarev playing house and techno, while on Saturday klubbers can enjoy Techno Golden Oldies with DJs Dojaja, Plotz, Lazy and Djane Gaby.
Klub Gromka – Friday night is Darkland, playing new wave, dark wave, industrial, death rock, goth rock, and more.
Live music
Gala Hala – Tuesday there’s live music from Strange Cages and China Traffic. Thursday ŠKM banda will be presenting their new album. Friday it’s hip hop from Rapetek 145 with MCs Kandžija and Mirko Grozny, with DJ support from K'POW and NBGT. The week then ends of Sunday with punk rock from No Fun At All
Kino Šiška – Wednesday night you can see Stray Dogg and Eine, as seen below. The concert is being tied to the upcoming MENT festival, which starts January 30, with details here.
Klub Gromka – Thursday evening there’s a double-bill of trip hop and groove metal, with Blu.Sine and Paragoria.
Ljubljana Castle – Friday night is jazz night at the Castle, and this week the sounds will be provided by Big Band - Bend It!.
Orto Bar – Friday there seem to be two loud events at this guitar-based venue, with Drunk in Public presenting Gužva u Bajt, Spunk on Toast, Sereš, and Brez Vprašanj, along with Kadilnica of Death presenting MetalRock Akademija. Saturday there’s blues punkabilly/psychobilly with Knocksville and Clockwork Psycho.
Slovenska filharmonija – Monday there’s modern music with a programme of Vito Žuraj: Top spin, Nina Šenk: Baca (2018), Edgard Varèse: Ionisation, Andrej Makor: Silence (2018), Darijan Božič: Pop art III, and Enno Poppe: Schrauben (2018).
Opera, theatre and dance
Cankerjev dom – Tuesday it’s ballet from SNG Maribor, with a performance of Mahler’s Death in Venice. Puccini’s opera Turandot will be staged by SNG Maribor on Friday, January 25.
Gledališče IGLU - IGLU Theatre – Saturday night this group is usually putting on an English improv show somewhere in town, but it’s generally promoted after this is written, so check the Facebook before putting on your shoes.
Klub Gromka – A fairytale for adults, in Slovene, will be staged here Wednesday, 20:00, while on Friday, same time, it’s Za crknt: klovnski fjuzikl, a clown cabaret.
Mini Teater Ljubljana – The English schedule of varied performances for the month is here.
SNG Opera and Ballet – Thursday and Friday there’s Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, while on Saturday there’s Verdi’s La Traviata.
Pocket Teater Studio – Tuesday evening there's theatre with Golobi plešejo tango, then on Friday there's flamenco with Noches de TablaoNote that the number of seats is very limited, and thus you should make a reservation via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 070 325 522. The price of ticket is 20€ or 15€ for students, and includes wine throughout the evening.
Harm reduction and drug testing
Drogart is an organization that aims to minimise harm on the party scene, and offers drug-testing services and reports on their webpage. It’s in Slovene, but you can Google translate it or work things out yourself, and our story on the group is here. They recently published a story warning about three pills with very high contents of MDMA, with details (in Slovene) here. Also be aware that all the usual drugs are illegal in Slovenia.
Some fun facts about the city and its castle…
Enhance your stay in the city and impress or annoy your friends and companions by learning some obscure facts about the city here, and the castle here.
The Puppet Museum can be found in the Castle. Photo: JL Flanner
Things to do with children
You can find our Top 12 list of things to do with kids in Ljubljana here. If want to read more about the philosophy behind the wonderful House of Experiments look here, while our trip to the Museum of Illusions is documented here, and there’s always riverside walks, pizza and ice cream. With regard to the latter, take a look at our guide to six places that serve good ice cream in winter.
Mini Teater Ljubljana – The season sees a lot of puppet performances for children, in Slovene, at this theatre not far from Križanke. The English schedule for the month is here.
Ljubljana Puppet Theatre - The puppet theatre near the Central Market and next to the Castle funicular has a full programme or shows, for children and adults, with the schedule here.
LGBT+ Ljubljana
If you want to learn more about Ljubljana Pride, then take a look at our interview with its president here. If you're looking for more general links on "gay Slovenia", including a history of the scene and various projects, then you can find that here, while our stories about the community can be found here.
Klub Monokel – This lesbian bar in Metelkova is open every Friday, and this week it's Nani Mo, a club night with R36 + Volk + Estera + Torkar & Liara T'Soni.
Klub Tiffany – And the gay bar next door is also open on Fridays, while every Monday until June 2019 there's tango at 18:00. On Thursday, 20:00, there's Kavarniški večer: kviz z Milojko.
Pritličje – This seems to be the only "always open" LGBT-friendly cafe / bar / events space in town, and perhaps the country, so it's a good thing it's such a good one, open from morning to night, and with fliers and posters letting you know what's happening outside the narrow confines of, say, a general interest online what's on... guide.
Museums and galleries
Most public galleries and museums are closed on Mondays, although not the National Museum.
Plečnik's desk. Photo: JL Flanner
Plečnik’s House is worth a visit if you want to learn more about the architect who gave Ljubljana much of its character. Read about our guided tour here.
Cankerjev dom – Running until the end of February 2019 is an exhibition titled Ivan Cankar and Europe: Between Shakespeare and Kafka. This is “An examination of Cankar’s art through an analysis of influences and interpretations, and juxtaposition with contemporary European writers. The visually elaborate architectural and graphic layout, supported by audio-visual media, installation art and diverse visual highlights, offers a vivid account of Cankar’s excellence, his comprehensively exquisite aesthetic and artistic vision.”
City Museum – The Museum in French Revolution Square has an exhibition on the writer Ivan Cankar that’s on until the end of February 2019, with pictures, books and manuscripts, all presented in Slovene and English. It also has a very interesting permanent exhibition on the history of Ljubljana, from prehistoric times to the present day, with many artefacts, models and so on that bring the story alive.You can read about my visit here. Until March 2019 there's a show highlighting the work Elza Kastl Obereigner (1884-1973), a pioneer Slovenian sculptress, with an example of her work shown below.
Photo: M Paternoster
The Faces of Ljubljana in the City Museum. Photo: JL Flanner
Galerija Jakopič – On until March 3 is Over My Eyes (Na moje oči), an exhibition of photographs from Iraq taken by Iraqi photographers.
International Centre of Graphic Arts – Running from Friday until March 3 2019 there will be a show of posters from Milton Glaser, while paintings, drawings, prints and from Nathalie Du Pasquier in a show called Fair Game. The latter is being promoted with the following image.
Ljubljana Exhibition & Convention Centre – Just outside the centre of town, at Dunajska cesta 18, you can see a lot of plasticized bodies at the Body Worlds Vital show, running from October 20 until January 20 2019.
Photo: Body Works Vital
MAO – The Museum of Architecture and Design has much of what you'd expect, and until March 25, 2019, has a show on Ljubljana and it's relation with water. Until February 24 visitors can enjoy Toasted Furniture, which presents some experiments with the reuse of plastic waste, and until February 28 there's a show on Oskar Kogoj and his chairs.
Moderna galerija – The main branch of this gallery, to be found near the entrance to Tivoli Park, has a good collection of modern art, as well a nice café in the basement.
National Gallery – The country’s main gallery has “the best” of what’s on offer from the Middle Ages to non-contemporary modern visual arts, and is in a great location for exploring other areas, just by Tivoli Park and opposite the main branch of the Moderna galerija. Running until February 10 2019 is a show called Ivana Kobilca (1861-1926): But Of Course, Painting Is Something Beautiful!, featuring works like the one below. You can read about our visit to the room containing sacred art from the Middle Ages here, and see a picture from our trip after the two girls.
JL Flanner
National Museum of Slovenia – There’s plenty to see in the permanent collection here, from Roman times, Egypt and more, with the big draw this season being the exhibition of over 140 items of gold from Ming Dyntasy China, as reported here, and with an example below. This runs until February 15th.
Photo: Wang Wei Chang
Meanwhile, the museum's Metelkova branch, located between one branch of the Moderna galerija and the Ethnographic Museum has some rooms on Church art, furniture and weapons, with the latter including more guns than you'll see anywhere else in town, and quite a thrill if coming from a nation where such objects are not household items.
Natural History Museum – On until the end of June 2019 is Our Little Big Sea, which takes a look at the oceans.
Škuc Gallery - You can find this in the old town, and until January 20 there;s an interesting and often moving show called Kids that you can see for just 1 euro, with works by Johanna Billing, Matic Brumen, Andreja Džakušič, Priscila Fernandes, Eden Mitsenmacher, Franc Purg, and Pilvi Takala.
Slovene Ethnographic Museum – The museum currently has a temporary show on Bees and Beekeeping, on until June 16 2019, as well two permanent exhibitions. One of these is called Between Nature and Culture, and has a great collection of objects from Slovenia and around the world, well worth the trip up to the third floor to see it (as recounted here). This place is located near the newer branch of the Moderna galerija and Metelkova.
Union is "the Ljubljana beer", but now both it and Laško are owned by Heineken. There are many local brews on offer around town, though, if you want to explore IPAs, stouts, wheatbeers, sours and so on Photo: JL Flanner
Union Experience – The Ljubljana-based brewer has a museum showing the history of the company, with the ticket also including access to part of the factory and a few samples of the product. You can read about our visit here.
It's not a formal museum, but if you're interested in "Yugo-stalgia" then you'll enjoy a trip to Verba, a small, privately run space that's crammed with objects and pop culture items from the era, and is conveniently located at the start of one of the short walks to the castle. It's also a great place to take pictures, if you leave a donation, and you can read more about it here.
Verba. Photo: JL Flanner
Alternative Ljubljana isn't a museum or gallery, as such, but instead turns the city streets into a museum and gallery. Learn more about their tours of street art, history and LGBT Ljubljana here.
Photo: JL Flanner
Other things to do in Ljubljana
If you'd like to spend an evening painting with others, then take a look at Design with Wine, which organises painting parties on Trubarjeva cesta,
If you want to see some antiques, then check out the wonderful Antika Carniola, as discussed here. The man behind it, Jaka Prijatelj, has a fine eye for life on this street, as you can see on his Facebook account.
Photo: JL Flanner
If you’re in town and want to go jogging or walking in nature, why not take another look at the Castle, with a brief guide to the trails here. If you want something bigger, head to Tivoli Park.
And if you're bored with the Old Town, why not take a walk, cycle or boat ride to nearby Špica and enjoy the riverside life. Learn more about that here.
visitljubjana.si
maxpixel.net, public domain
Want to stretch and breath? Then check out our list of drop-in yoga classes for tourists, visitors and the uncommitted. If you're heading to the coast, check out our interview with a yoga teacher who offers breakfast sessions there, while if you're staying in town (or nearby) and want to try some "family yoga" then you can learn more about that here and maybe get your kids to calm down a moment or two.
There are some golf courses near Ljubljana, but even ones further away are not far, as seen in our list of all the golf courses in Slovenia. Note that these close when the snow starts, if it ever does this year, in which case you might be interested in what's new at Slovenia's ski resorts for 2019, as reported here.
Photo: maxpixel.net, public domain
Daytrips
Most of Slovenia is only a few hours from Ljubljana, and you can easily visit Lake Bled, Lipica Stud Farm, Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle, the coast and other locations, while if you'd like to take a photo of from that bench in Bled, then you can learn how to get there here. If you’re looking for something more ambitious, then check out our recent guide to the 17 members of the Association of Historical Towns of Slovenia
Photo: Google Image Search
Getting around
If you want to get a Ljubljana Tourist Card, which gives you travel on the city buses and entry to a lot of attractions, then you can read more about that here, and if you want to use the bike share system, as useful for visitors as it is for residents, then you can learn more by clicking this. Visitors with reduced mobility will be pleased to find that downtown Ljubljana is generally rated as good with regard to accessibility, and that there’s a free, city-sponsored app called Ljubljana by Wheelchair highlighting cafés, attractions and so on with ramps, disabled bathrooms and Eurokey facilities, which you can read about and download here. If you’re driving into town and don’t know where to part, our guide to how to park in Ljubljana is here.
There aren't many places to eat after midnight, and most of them are by the train station, as reported here.
Photo: JL Flanner
Want / need cigarettes but the stores have closed? Here's an incomplete list of bars downtown that will satisfy your craving for the demon weed. While if you’re having trouble with the ATMs then here’s a guide to the Slovene you’ll see on screen. If you get a hangover then find out where to get paracetamol (and prescription drugs) in Ljubljana here, while details on emergency birth control can be found here.
Ljubljana is a small and relatively safe city, but if need to contact the police then there’s a special number for foreigners, and that’s 113.
Ljubljana isn't a 24-hour city, and you're not going to get fine dining at 3am. You understand these realities, and are aware this is not what you should be doing. That whatever you did to end up here, at this time and in this condition, must have been a significant jolt to the system. And what you need is a place to chill out, a bite to eat and maybe a beer, a person who’s not going to ask what you’ve been doing or why you aren’t in bed, but simply what you’d like to order.
Related: Five places to buy cigarettes at night in Ljubljana
Burek Olimpija is a little hard to find, but not far from the train station or Intercontinental Hotel. Photo: JL Flanner
Whenever the hunger strikes you, at 5 after midnight, 3am or 6, there are just a few places where you be assured of a welcome in Ljubljana, with lights, people and commercial activity focused on the provision of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, seasoned with sugar and salt. Pizza, burek, kebab, burger and fries. Soda, coffee and beer. You know the kind of places.
Baked good and coffee, but no seats, opposite the station. Photo: JL Flanner
The Box Bar looks like the kind of place you can drink 24 hours a day. Photo: JL Flanner
Between midnight and 6am your best options for food in the capital, as a tourist or visitor without access to a kitchen of your own, are mostly clustered around the train station, close enough to each other that you can browse before making a decision.
Fans of fried meat and bread are in for a treat, no matter what the clock says. Photo: JL Flanner
And next door there are kebabs. Photo: JL Flanner
Facing from the station and going from left to right you have a bakery, a café bar (where you can sit and drink till sunrise), a burger place, and a kebab store. Going back a few streets and you can find two burek places. Burek Olimpija has been selling these pastries since 1979, and claims to have been the first such store in the city. Currently it’s slightly hard to find as there’s roadworks obscuring the front of the store, but the bold green signs can still be seen. A rival provider, Nobel Burek, is just a short distance away on Miklošičeva.
On Trubarjeva cesta, next to Dragon bridge, there’s Šeherezada, a fresh, fast Turkish restaurant with kebabs, falafel, salads, and more, and a best option for food well after midnight on the street. Just up the street from this, heading out of the centre, is Abi Falafal, a clean, well-lit place that offers an extensive menu offering Arabian food and open until 01:00 from Thursday to Saturday. (In general, Trubarjeva is the best street for ethnic food, and you can learn more about that here.)
STA, 16 January 2019 - Preparation works have started in Ljubljana's Šiška borough for the construction of what will become the two tallest residential buildings in the country. The two 85-metre towers, expected to be completed by the end of 2020, will feature around 220 apartments.
The project, located opposite the Celovški Dvori housing complex near the northern section of the capital's ring road, is the brainchild of Izet Rastoder, the owner of Slovenia's biggest tropical fruit importer.
Estimated at EUR 40m, the investment is managed by Rastoder's subsidiary Spektra Invest, which is half-owned as of the end of last year by Podgorica's Zetagradnja, the biggest investor and builder in Montentegro.
The two 21-storey buildings will come with a commercial and business section in the ground floor and with a 420-space underground parking garage.
According to the newspaper Delo, Spektra Invest announced last autumn that the prices of the new flats would not exceed current prices of used flats even though they could be classified as prime housing.
The Rastoder group, mostly known for its banana imports, has been engaged in real estate project since 2014, when it bought the site in Ljubljana's city centre later used by Serbia's Delta to build Intercontinental, the country's only five star hotel.
In 2017, Rastoder also bought the still undeveloped commercial section of Ljubljana's Stožice sports complex, as well as Hotel Bellevue, the capital's former landmark hotel that has for a while been in a state of disrepair.
STA, 16 January 2019 - The Slovenian Housing Fund plans to start building two housing complexes in Ljubljana and Maribor this year. In the capital, some 110 apartments for young people will be built, while in Maribor the new complex will offer some 400 apartments with an underground garage.
The fund has already filed for the construction permits and expects construction to start this year.
The youth complex in Ljubljana will be located in the Vič borough, where there are several student facilities already. The new apartments with either one-bed or two-bed rooms will be intended for young people aged between 18 and 29 who want to study or live in Ljubljana.
The 110-room facility will also feature an intergenerational centre, a kitchen with a dining room, a living room, an office, a maintenance room with a separate entrance and an atrium, the Housing Fund said.
According to the fund's head, Črtomir Remec, the construction is to start in the first half of the year.
In the southern part of Maribor, near the city's landmark hill Pekrska Gorca, several two-storey apartment buildings will be constructed in the form of four unfinished squares.
Each building will have a basement, ground floor and two floors, with the complex offering a total of some 400 apartments, 35 to 80 square metres big. Each apartment will also have an underground garage space.
In the first phase, 212 apartments will be built and another 188 in the second, Remec said.
A total of 60 apartments in the complex will be intended for elderly people who need assistance, while the centre will also feature a daycare centre for the elderly, and some shops and offices.
The two projects are in line with the Housing Fund's goal of providing 2,000 new apartments for rent by 2020 and three times as many by 2025 to have a total of 10,000 publicly-owned apartments available for renting.
All our stories on real estate in Slovenia are here, while our “property of the week” stories, showing various properties around the country, can be found here
