SLOVENIAN RHAPSODY

While Slovenia’s enchanting lakes and mountains never fail to make an impression, there’s an abundance of charm to be discovered in its urban spaces, too

- Robin McKelvie

Slovenia may be best known for its epic mountain wildscapes and glorious green spaces, but this bijou charmer packs an impressive urban punch too. Those world-class landscapes provide a spectacular backdrop to its towns and cities, where mankind has made impressive, intriguing imprints of its own.

Being at such a febrile faultline, Slovenia’s population centres are like a smorgasbord of European history, culture and architecture, with Venetian and Roman influences woven in alongside a taste of the Balkans and the unmistakeable stamp of communism.

Since Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia to become an independent country in 1991, and joyfully joined the European Union in 2004, its towns and cities are strutting with renewed confidence, investment and positivity. They are the perfect foil to the glorious tentacles of Mother Nature, which still manage to wrap themselves into the urban parks and rivers.

Increasingly the capital, Ljubljana, is celebrated as one of Europe’s great city breaks, but it is not the only place where tourists can enjoy a culture-filled urban adventure in Slovenia.

Ljubljana

The Slovenian capital is like a greatest hits of European architecture and culture. Wander by Italianate churches sharing streets with secessionist Art Nouveau flourishes and AustroHabsburg drama, then cross the lifeblood Ljubljanica River into an old town alive with baroque and medieval influences.

Ljubljana is sometimes lazily dubbed a “mini Prague”. The locals know it's the other way round – Unesco-recognised Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik dramatically revamped Ljubljana, but also worked his magic in the Czech capital.