Thinking of heading to Slovenia with kids? Good call. Here’s how much we loved it: within 24 hours of returning from the trip, Chris and I each spent a couple hours trying to figure out if we could buy a vacation/rental property in Slovenia. Within a couple days, Chris was seriously hunting for jobs there. So yeah, we loved it. By the way, you can read about our experiences staying in a treehouse in Lake Bled and about what we did at Lake Bled with kids.

Ljubljana. It’s a city that I could neither identify on a map or pronounce before we started planning this trip. Suffice it to say, the idea of going there had never entered my mind before Chris got interested in visiting the treehouse hotel.

As far as we could tell, it is pronounced something like “Loo-bli-yana,” by the way.

Unspellable name or not, we were thoroughly charmed by Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It had a great, sort of sleepy vibe even though we were there in what you’d expect to be the height of tourist season (early July). While Lake Bled might have been the absolute highlight of our Slovenia with kids trip, I can honestly say that our time in Ljubljana — plus a fabulous day trip from there to Postojna Cave — was very, very close behind. Based on our two days there, I already feel like I could live there (see above, re: Chris job hunting, ha!). At the very least, I’ve been telling everyone that Slovenia is one of the best places to visit in Europe with kids.

Why you need to visit Ljubljana with kids

So, what to do in Ljubljana with kids? I’m glad you asked, because there’s a lot of great options for your Ljubljana itinerary. Options that we, ahem, learned about mostly after arriving because after Scotland, our house drama and playing catch up with work and the kids not having school all led to a pretty hectic few weeks in the lead up to this trip. We saw a lot in the day-and-a-half we got to spend in the city, but there’s definitely a lot more to see — including lots of great free things to do in Ljubljana.

How to get to Ljubljana:

As I’ve mentioned before, we flew into Venice and rented a car. We went to Lake Bled first, but Ljubljana is only a roughly two-and-a-half hour drive from Venice. It also has its own airport.

Where we stayed in Ljubljana with kids: 

Apparently this trip was all about fun accommodations! We stayed in a beer cellar-themed AirBnB only a couple minutes from the Dragon Bridge and the center of town. It was a great location and an amusing place to stay for sure!

Where to eat in Ljubljana:

 Our favorite meal was from Pop’s Place, a great burger joint with outdoor seating by the river. We also enjoyed Tokyo Piknik for ramen one night, and had a quick bite and a drink at Makalonca, a cool restaurant with seating on what seems like a pier in the river.

How we got around in Ljubljana with kids in tow: 

We had a rental car that we street parked, but we walked everywhere! Ljubljana is a very walkable city, but if you like bike riding you might try renting one off the sidewalk.

—

So, with that housekeeping out of the way — onto what we actually did in Ljubljana, and what we recommend. (Spoiler: we recommend everything, ha!)

Slovenia with kids: what to do in Ljubljana 

 1. Visit Ljubljana Castle. 

I’ll be honest, I was worried that our kids were getting a little “castled out.” Even awesome castles on top of a hill, which we’d recently seen at Lake Bled, Edinburgh and Stirling. However, this one turned out to be a home run for us all.

To start, just getting up to the castle was pretty fun because it was a funicular ride up to the top of the castle hill. Always a crowd-pleaser.

Rather than focusing on the structure itself, Ljubljana Castle was more like the backdrop for other cool things housed there. Like a puppet museum, which initially sounded incredibly boring to me BUT the kids ended up spending forever playing there because it was all interactive. They put on little shows with shadow puppets, marionettes and hand puppets in various theatres within the exhibit, and begged to go back before we left.

There was also a 3D video that explained the history of Ljubljana Castle (as told by a dragon), starting from its early days as a Roman settlement called Emona. As a reminder, Slovenia became its own country in 1991.

Another part of the castle explored the history of the dragon, and had a fun interactive exhibit with dragon eggs and a growling dragon. Dragons are basically the symbol of Slovenia, so you see them all over the place.

I think it is funny that we were just in the land of unicorns (Scotland), then hit Dragon World. I guess it is the Year of the Mythical Beasts.

2. Museum of Illusions

This place was just fun! If you are traveling to Slovenia with kids, I’d say it is a must-hit spot in Ljubljana for sure. Owen and Fi absolutely loved it. And it was entertaining for us (alleged) grown-ups too.

This one is a pretty quick visit, you can be in and out within probably 45 minutes. (We spent longer because the kids were obsessed though). Worth it!

3. Cross the Dragon Bridge

Remember what I said about dragons being the symbol of Ljubljana? Well, naturally there’s an iconic Dragon Bridge. Lucky for us, it was a couple minutes from our apartment.

4. Visit the Ljubljana Zoo

We joked a bunch that Ljubljana kept tricking us into exercising, and the zoo was no exception. We hit the zoo on the way out of town because we didn’t have to be in Venice until 6 p.m., and didn’t think Postojna Caves would take that long. While it wasn’t the fanciest or most impressive zoo I’ve ever been to, there was plenty to see and the setting was beautiful. In a lot of ways it was like taking a hike in the woods, except then you’d come up to Jurassic Park-like fences with animals (regrettably not dinosaurs) behind them. And we got to see wolves running around!

Once again, we were surprised by how quiet it was there. I mean, we arrived first thing in the morning on a Tuesday, but still. It was nice!

Naturally, our kids were more interested in the various playgrounds scattered throughout the parks.

5. Walk along the Ljubljanica

We also really enjoyed just strolling along the river Ljubljanica, where the town seemed to be at its most busy and vibrant. There were tons of cafes along the river, and luckil for us we happened to be there during the World Cup. We joined the crowds of people who sat outside at bars to watch the big screens that restaurateurs had all dragged outside for the game. I’m not a big soccer person (though Chris is!) but it was cool to be part of all that energy.

Along the way you’ll pass Prešeren Square, a kind of central meet-up place, as well as the nearby Triple Bridge. As the name suggests, it is literally like three bridges smooshed together — hard to explain but cool to look at.

If you are going, I’d encourage you to stop and soak up the atmosphere at one of the many pretty little cafes and restaurants along the way (we recommend the ones I listed above!). If you pick the right place, your kids can look at the fish and ducks instead of bugging you. That’s win-win for everybody. One caution — watch out for those tiny birds. They look harmless, but one of those tiny bastards literally stole the top bun off of Fiona’s hamburger. Somehow it got off the table, but then couldn’t carry it away so it and like ten of its friends had a feast right in front of us. Like they were taunting us.

I’d also suggest getting ice cream from Cacoa, which was some of the best we’ve had. Sorry, Italy.

6. Visit the Central Market

If you are walking around the city center in Ljubljana, you are bound to run into the Central Market along the way. Be sure to grab some snacks for later! Our kids gorged on berries back at the AirBnB. We’ve learned to have snacks in the house because our crew are doing this fun new thing they do where they act like they are dying on hunger five seconds before bedtime, complete with tears and stomach clutching. Even if you happen to know they literally JUST FINISHED THEIR ICE CREAM FROM CACAO ON THE WAY HOME 10 MINTEUS BEFORE.

….I’m over it, I swear.

There were plenty more sights we could have seen in Ljubljana, but considering we had only about 36 hours in the place, I thought we did very well. If you are headed to Slovenia with kids (or without), I’d definitely suggest stopping here for a couple of days. Given that Slovenia is pretty small, it also make a good jumping-off point for many day trips, which is sort of what we did. So without further ado ….

Day trips from Ljubljana: Postojna Cave

When I try to think of the “must sees” in Slovenia to tell people, I struggle. Because almost everything we saw seems urgently MUST SEE if you are heading to Slovenia. Like for real, don’t miss Lake Bled. And Ljubljana was so chill and fun and cool, you need to see that.

But seriously? Postojna Caves was a must-see. It was EPIC.

It was also the most expensive thing we did in Slovenia (this really isn’t as dramatic as it sounds — Slovenia was very reasonably priced, perhaps definitely another reason we fell hard for it). But trust me when I say it was worth it.

So, the cave is an easy 45 minutes from the city center, making it an excellent day trip from Ljubljana if you base yourself there. Once you arrive, you’ll purchase a ticket based on which experiences you want (read more here). We opted to tour the cave and visit the Vivarium (not a word I’d heard before), which was an exhibit inside the cave where you could learn about soem of the creatures that live there, including olms. These weird white, sightless critters were once believe to be baby dragons, since of course the dragon live in the cave. Unfortunately I don’t have much of a picture because, uh, caves are dark.

To see the cave, you are assigned a time to climb aboard the train that takes you about 3.5 miles into it. It is hard to explain how vast this place is, and what a strange feeling to be there. It is absolutely like being in another world.

The guide was great because she told us a ton of history of the cave, everything from its creation, its discovery and some of the mythology around it.

If you are going to Postojna Cave — DRESS WARM. It is about 50 degrees in there (10 Celsius). I’d also suggest some good walking shoes because, once again, we got tricked into a whole bunch of unexpected walking on this one. (Considering that the morning had been spent at Ljubljana Zoo in the same situation, you are lucky we love you so much, Slovenia!). It was about a mile’s worth of walking and our kids did pretty well, but if you’ve got younger ones I’d definitely suggest bringing a carrier. At the end, you get back on the train to get out of the cave.

Photos can’t even remotely capture how incredible this place was. Our guide told us it isn’t the largest cave in the world, but it is considered the “richest” of its kind in terms of biodiversity. I can’t emphasize enough, it was like nothing any of us have ever seen before. If you have the chance: GO THERE.

Very near the Postojna Cave is Predjama Castle, a cool structure that appears to be basically sticking out of a cave. We ran out of time so we didn’t go there, but if you are already heading to Postojna Cave on a day trip from Ljubljana (or wherever), it might be worth your while to stop there too.

Well, I guess that about does it for our Slovenia with kids round-up! Seriously, I can’t believe how much we loved this place. It is even weirder because I didn’t know much about it at all before we visited, and now? Obsessed.*

Have you ever completely fallen in love with a destination while on vacation? Tell me about it!  

*How obsessed, you ask? Five minutes ago, Chris and I discussed retiring to Slovenia in a few decades. Oh, and here’s Lake Bled again. 

The post Slovenia with kids: Ljubljana and Postojna Cave first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

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Thinking about heading to Lake Bled with kids? Congratulations on having a great idea, and hurry up and book it! Honestly, Chris and I have loved pretty much everywhere we’ve gone as a family, but there was something special about our 2 days at Lake Bled. It was the perfect combination of activities and relaxation for our family of four! 

In a lot of ways, during our 2 days at Lake Bled Chris and I probably looked and sounded a lot like we did when our kids were just born.

Lots of gasps of amazement over the tiniest things. Constant staring because we weren’t quite sure what we  were seeing was real. And, of course, taking about a million almost identical photographs because we just couldn’t help ourselves.

Obviously, we are also now sharing all those almost-the-same-but-different-to-us photos all over everywhere because again, we just can’t help it.

What can we say? It’s love.

What to see and do at Lake Bled with kids

In my last post, I talked about what drew us to Slovenia (our Lake Bled treehouse!) and where we stayed. Now, I want to talk about what else we did beyond sitting around in trees and laughing inappropriately during massages.

We’d really only done some vague research on what, specifically, we wanted to do at Lake Bled. For once though, this didn’t end up biting us in the ass because I still feel like we saw and did a good deal (though, as always, we have some things we need to return to see!).

1. Walk around Lake Bled 

After arriving at our treehouse too late Friday night to go see anything, our first order of business was to set off to see Lake Bled. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it was more beautiful than I could have imagined. Somehow the water was turquoise? teal? some kind of fairy tale-ish color that didn’t seem real even as we looked at it.

Staff at the treehouse told us to expect it to take about 90 minutes to walk around the entire lake. Per usual, it ended up taking us much longer than that because we were dragging the kids, but unlike — ahem — certain other hikes, no one was suffering too much. I’d actually not even qualify it as a hike, it was more a stroll. It was especially helpful that there were excellent, well-maintained paths all around Lake Bled!

Our goal for this trip was to spend more time relaxing, and less time trying to see it all. This walk was great because we frequently stopped to rest, stick our feet in the water or look at the fish you could see everywhere in the crazy clear water.

We also saw a whole bunch of ducks, which inspired this weird pair of moments from our little Fi. When she first saw a solo duck, she said she wished she could grab him. We asked what she do with him if she caught him and her answer was “eat him.” An hour later, we saw a duck family with seven ducklings (dubbed Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny) and she literally cried over how cute they were. Just recording this one for posterity, here.

We spent probably three or four hours walking around Lake Bled, but that included two stops for lunch, dessert and drinks at various points along the way.

2. Wade into Lake Bled

On our walk, we also stopped at a couple of the lake’s swimming spots. In some spots, this was just some stairs where people could walk into the water. In others, there were pebbly beaches and piers where you could jump in. (There were also some trees with swings to fly into the water; we saw one teenager crash back into the tree it was attached to instead after chickening out of dropping).

If you are going, I’d recommend bringing some water shoes because the pebbles don’t feel great on tender feet. But definitely go in — the water chilly, but amazingly clear! We weren’t wearing our bathing suits on this walk, but Fi kept asking if she could just go in the water naked.

3. Try summer sledding at Straza Bled

Riding the summer toboggan at Straza Bled was easily the kids’ favorite activity on this trip, and probably Chris’ too! It would likely have been mine if I didn’t have a panic attack on the chair lift up there. Turns out, I’m not getting over my fear of heights to the extent that I thought I was.

Anyway, this thing — I’ve heard it called summer sledding or alpine slide, and I have no idea what the proper name is — was intense and super fun! We actually went up there having only seen it from a distance and not knowing whether the kids would be old enough to go, as the website hadn’t been super helpful. To our surprise, we found out that pretty much anyone can go, but if they are under 8 they have to ride with a parent. Sold.

I thought that at least one of the kids would freak out when we got to the top, because it was quite steep. Nope. Then I was sure Owen (riding with me) would get scared and want to slow down. Also a NOPE.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Fiona that she spent the entire ride (she went with Chris) laughing hysterically and wanting to go faster. The two of them were FLYING, clocked in at least 10 km faster than Owen and I.

There were several other “adventure” activities at this place, including tubing down a slide onto a jump and literally jumping off a tower onto a big cushion. Fi was too young for those though, so we opted to skip them altogether so she wouldn’t be devastated.

4. Visit Bled Castle

Castles perched on top of tall cliffs seem to be a “thing” for us thing year (remember Stirling and Edinburgh?) and Lake Bled was no exception. We took a quick visit to Castle Bled,  which dates back to 1004.

We didn’t think the inside of the castle was too exciting (though there was a restaurant that looked nice!) but the views were what made it worth a visit.

5. Take a bike ride around the lake

This is an activity that Chris and I were hoping to do as a family, but unfortunately it didn’t work out (despite the staff at our hotel’s best efforts). We haven’t had a place to teach Owen to ride a bike without training wheels, and we couldn’t get our hands on a tagalong bike for him. Thus, a morning bike ride was a Daddy and Fiona adventure. They circled the lake, which is surrounded by a great path. All of Slovenia seemed to be really bike-friendly, which was just another thing we loved about it.

6. Feed the ducks (and swans, and fish)

Owen’s consolation prize for missing the bike ride (other than reading Harry Potter in the spider web together), was to swipe some bread from breakfast and go feed the fish at Lake Bled. We’d seen tons of shockingly large fish right near the shore, so I figured they’d be eager for a snack. We were wrong on that score (maybe they only want meat?!) but we had fun feeding the ducks and then our unexpected guest, Louis the swan.

7. Try the Bled Cream Cake

It seemed like just about every restaurant we stopped in claimed to have the “original” Bled Cream Cake, so naturally we had to give it a whirl. I can’t say which one was the real original, but we liked both of the cakes we tried. (Well, all except Owen. But he doesn’t like anything, so take that with a grain of salt.)

If a place is known for a certain dish, it is basically your duty as a tourist to try it, right? Except when that dish is haggis. I draw the line at haggis. (Chris doesn’t though!). Get a less gross-sounding national dish, Scotland.

Lake Bled with kids: what we missed

If you have already been to Lake Bled, you’ve probably noticed one glaring omission from our list of activities: a boat ride to Bled Island.

We did intend to ride a boat to the island straight off the bat, but didn’t realize we didn’t have enough cash. Then, by the time we’d made it all the way around the lake (the only ATM being back in town!), we were tired and just eager for snacks and downtime. The next day, other plans trumped the boat ride. That said, it is probably the first thing we’ll do when we return to Lake Bled with kids!

 You can either hire someone with a pletna boat to take you to the island in the middle of the lake, or you can rent a boat and row yourself out there. Either looks like it would be fun! Once you get to Bled Island, you want to make your way to the Church of the Mother of God, climb the 99 stairs and ring the bell. If you are newlyweds, the groom is supposed to carry his bride up all 99 stairs for good luck.

There were a ton of other activities I think would be amazing — fishing and horseback riding are two right off the top of my head — but we felt we hit most of the highlights during our 2 days at Lake Bled.

If you are planning a trip to Lake Bled with kids:

Two days is definitely the minimum that I would shoot for! With kids in tow, three days would even be better. It is a small place and you can see a lot in a short time, but I’d suggest trying to leave lots of room for relaxation. We arrived late on a Friday night and left mid-Sunday afternoon, but we could have happily spent twice as long.

Getting there: Lake Bled is only 45 minutes from the capital city of Ljubljana, which has an international airport. However, since decent flights there from Catania were pretty much nonexistent, we opted to fly to Venice and drive the 2 hours and 45 minutes to our resort. Flying into Trieste, Itay, would put you even closer.

Where to stay: We saw plenty of lovely-looking hotels and bed-and-breakfasts all over the place, but if you want to try something different I suggest giving the Garden Village Bled treehouses or glamping a try!

Have you been to Lake Bled with kids (or without?) What did you think of it?

The post 2 days at Lake Bled with kids: A love story first appeared on Babies With Backpacks.

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We just got back from four incredible days in Slovenia with the kids! We could not have loved it more and are already thinking about when we might go back. I’m planning a bunch of posts on our trip, but in the meantime I wanted to share one of our favorite aspects of this trip — our stay in a Lake Bled treehouse resort, the Garden Village Bled.

“Roughing it”: our Lake Bled treehouse experience at Garden Village Bled

More than 18 months ago, my husband read about a Lake Bled treehouse resort in a newspaper and his interest was instantly piqued. Chris loves camping. I do not.

To be clear, I like being outside and hiking and roasting marshmallows. But I don’t see the attraction of sleeping on the hard ground or peeing in the woods or dealing with bugs, not when there are perfectly good beds to be had. And toilets. And wifi. 

So: the Lake Bled treehouse we were interested in was the Garden Village Bled. Aside from just looking awesome, it also seemed to Chris like the closest he could get me to camping. (Accurate). In late 2016 we started to look at booking for the following year, but found out we were too late to get a 2017 stay in one of the six treehouses on the property. Instead, we ended up booking in July 2017 for our end-of-June 2018 stay.

It was worth. the. wait.

We could not possibly have loved our stay at the Garden Village Bled more, seriously. This “eco-lodge” was incredibly beautiful, the staff was wonderful and the food was excellent. Plus, it was only a five minute walk to Lake Bled, a place that looks like it was ripped out of a damn fairy tale. While the Lake Bled treehouse was absolutely a splurge by our standards, we felt it was worth every penny.

Plus, “glamping” is about the only way I was going camping.

The Garden Village Bled treehouse we stayed in was easily the coolest place we ever stayed in. It was basically a tiny house made entirely of wood (including the key!), which included a little living room, a bathroom with shower, a double bed on the first floor and loft with another double bed and what the kids called the “spider web.”

Outside the treehouse, we had a gorgeous view. We spent time on this patio each evening just chilling out.

Our Lake Bled treehouse was right near the river, so we fell asleep to the sound of the water each night!

On top of the cool surroundings, the resort itself was just nice. The staff were extremely helpful — one called around to a bunch of bike shops and even her friends looking for a tagalong bike for Owen — and the food was excellent. We had a great breakfast buffet each morning (included), and a delicious — if slightly pricey — dinner there on Saturday evening.

The kids enjoyed playing on the small playground, where they met a bunch of other kids who were also staying there, as well as swimming in the “biotope.” I’m not entirely sure what that word means, but basically it was a pool/pond that you could swim in.

The resort also offered massages and a sauna; I did the former. It was great, but when I first got on the table for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about  various funny TV scenes (Monica from friends and the waxing scene from the 40 Year Old Virgin, just as examples) and ended up giggling like an insane person for the first few minutes of my massage. Probably shouldn’t have had champagne before I went over there?

Overall, I seriously could not recommend the Garden Village Bled enough! It is by far the coolest hotel we’ve ever stayed at, and we’d love to go back one day.

Plus, I mentioned there was wifi, right?

*Note: as I re-read this, I realize it sounds like I’m being paid to advertise it. Unfortunately (for me!), I’m not. We just loved this place a lot. There are affiliate links in this post, however! 

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