In this episode of scrutinizing Slovenia, we will look at some cute towns about an hour from its capital city, perfect enough to take a day trip. Which, to be fair, is most of the country. But I will stick to some places that are 1)Accessible by public transportation, 2) NOT Bled. Lake Bled is stunning, and you should see it, but you don’t need me to tell you that. If you google Lake Bled, the first 3-5 pages of images are almost exclusively Lake Bled.
Kranjske Gora
This town has a special place in my heart mainly because it was the first place I got to see out of Ljubljana in over 3 months. It is also gorgeous. It is not just the town but the whole region that makes it. It is right next to the Italian and the Austrian border. In fact, you can hike to the Dreilaendereck ( three countries corner) point. All kinds of hiking and skiing can be done there. You can also walk around and admire Lake Jasna.
You can take a short drive to Planica and watch ski jumpers as well. If there are no ski jumpers, you can climb up the ski flying hill and sled down. Or you can do what I did and just sit down and slide down on your own behind.
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This is probably the most difficult and limiting with public transportation; it is about 1.5- 2 hours from Ljubljana. Although if you drive, it takes about an hour. Once you are in Kranjska Gora, you can also easily visit the beautiful Soca valley and Triglav National park.
Best way to get there: By Bus for about 5-10 euros if you don’t have a car or feel like hitchhiking.
Lasko
This town is most famous for its beer. Lasko beer is one of the two mainstream beers in Slovenia aside from Union. It is the better of the two, in my opinion, although it does not hold a candle to Czech beer. It is still worth having a pint of it in this town.
There is also a really nice spa you can visit. It’s one of the most famous spas in Slovenia. Some people come for several days for various treatments. They have a nice deal for 5 euro night swimming, and the rest of the spa prices are pretty affordable. You can take a nice hike to the top of the hill as well and get this view.
Best way to get there: By train for 3-5 euros, trains are leaving that direction every 20-30 minutes
Skofja Loka
If you were a goth kid in high school, this is your place. Mostly kidding, although this town sort of reminded me of a place where one of my old friends would have planned her dream wedding. Or a place all of my metalhead friends would love to have a festival. It has a lovely medieval city center and fortress. I only have been in the summer, but I imagine it looks sort of cool around Halloween.
There is a nice swimming area about a 5-10 minutes walk from the main square. You can have a dip, soak in the sun and have a beer, lemonade, or whatever your summer beverage of choice is.
Getting there: This is the easiest day trip from Slovenia. You can take a bus from Ljubljana almost every 15 minutes for 2-3 euros. It is only about 30 minutes away.
Piran
It’s not as widely known that Slovenia does, in fact, have a coast. People know it is there, but it is overlooked and overshadowed by the Italian and Croatian coastlines. This is understandable as there is a greater range of choices. But like the rest of Slovenia, this is another example of quality over quantity. The 46.6 kilometers of coastline that it does have is beautiful.
Of these towns on the coast, Piran makes for the best day trip. It’s the prettiest and quite easy to get there. There is a bus that goes from the main bus station. You can walk along the walls along with the fortress and get some incredible views. The city has a Venetian meets Austrian feel to it. It is like a mini version of Trieste, which is about 50 km down the road. It’s one of the priciest places on the coast, but not as bad as coastal towns in its neighboring countries, especially if you compare it to the Dalmatian coast.
You can dip your toes into the water. The water is clean enough to swim in. The beach there is perfectly alright, but if you want your basic beach fix or dip your toes in. If you want a bonafide beach day, you can go to Mesečev Zaliv Beach in Strujan park, which is really close by. Piran is quite well connected to other parts of the Slovenian coast. I’ll write a more extensive entry about the entire Slovenian coast in my Scrutinizing Slovenian series.
How to get there: Hourly buses are leaving Ljubljana bus station straight to Piran, you can also go to Koper and connect to another bus to Piran. It is about 8 euros.
So these are a few towns that come into my mind when someone as me, ” What are some good day trips from Ljubljana?”. I know I am missing plenty. I know I just wrote about four mainstream places after going on about how Lake Bled is mainstream. I will write a more extensive piece later about the Slovene coast, Soca valley, and the Northwestern part of the country in the future. If you have any suggestions of places in Slovenia to explore, please post them and enlighten me.
Stayed tuned to read more about the cadet’s impressions of Slovenia and everywhere else.