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.

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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.