Slovenia is a European cultural gem, and I would love to share its history, culture, and natural beauty with you on an itinerary hand-crafted just for you. Italy will be busy in its Jubilee Year, so 2025 is a great time to head just east of Italy to Slovenia. Its capital Ljubljana is only a 2.5 hour drive from Venice and borders Trieste, Italy on the Mediterranean coast. Slovenia is nestled between Austria to the north, Hungary to the east, and Croatia to the south. It's a hidden-in-plain-sight country that will provide endless delights to travels looking to find their next new favorite European destination.
Article below by Siobhan Reid from 11/6/2024 can found here.
The country goes big on traditional artisanship. Last year, Ljubljana quietly unveiled Center Rog – Europe’s largest maker space – housed in a heritage-listed, Yugoslav-era bicycle factory on the banks of Slovenia’s Ljubljanica River. The once-abandoned landmark is now a buzzing hive of creative activity, offering members and visitors access to a wide range of crafts, from jewelry making and fashion design to welding and ceramics, all under the guidance of professional artists and makers.
At first glance, the gleaming riverside campus, with its airy, light-filled “production labs,” artist studio spaces, trendy pop-up shops, and plant-based eateries, seems far removed from the country’s past. During my visit, I watched as students huddled around lab tables, experimenting with vegan leather made from pineapple fiber and using a 3D printer to create a life-size model dragon. But director-general Renata Zamida was quick to point out that beneath its sleek exterior and striking innovation, Center Rog remains deeply rooted in Slovenia’s craft heritage, shaped over centuries by Roman, Austro-Hungarian, and Yugoslav influences.
“During socialist times, many Slovenians practiced traditional crafts at home,” Zamida explained, referencing arts such as willow basketry and intricate Idrija lace, the latter recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage practice. “This hands-on approach to creation and experimentation is very familiar to us and deeply ingrained in our identity.”
Zamida hopes Center Rog will inspire visitors to delve deeper into Slovenia’s rich traditions, not only in Ljubljana – home to a thriving network of artisan-owned ateliers, from the nation’s last silversmith to a porcelain shop whose pieces Queen Elizabeth II adored – but also in the country’s agrarian heart, where many of these practices were born.
In the medieval town of Radovljica, just 45 minutes from the capital, travelers can explore Slovenia’s beekeeping heritage at the Museum of Apiculture, home to bee-centric exhibitions in honor of the country’s more than 11,000 beekeepers – the highest per capita concentration in the world. Slovenia is renowned not just for its native Carniolan honey but for its decorative painted beehive panels, which beekeepers paint with vivid depictions of religious scenes and everyday life. This unique art form, found nowhere else in Europe, has caught the attention of museums as far away as China’s Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts, which have hosted exhibitions celebrating this singular Slovenian craft.
The country’s coastline, while compact (just 29 miles), packs a wealth of Venetian Gothic architecture and craft traditions such as olive-wood carving and mosaic stonework into the seaside towns of Koper, Izola, and Piran. At Piran’s weekly flea market, collectors sell vintage ceramic jugs and pots once designed for olive oil and wine storage, alongside lacework featuring maritime motifs, woven using Slovenia’s distinctive bobbin technique, which entails crossing and twisting multiple threads on special wooden spools known as bobbins. At Sveti Donat, a concept store and gallery in Piran housed in a beautifully restored 700-year-old church, travelers can shop stalls stocked with objects such as locally made gold-bronze jewelry by Slovenian artist Irene Hiebl, who casts fragments of seashells and Mediterranean plants such as silver ragwort into nature-inspired pendants and earrings.
Forests blanket more than half of Slovenia, so it’s no surprise that woodworking craft traditions run deep here. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Ribnica Valley, where the skill has flourished since the fourteenth century, when local farmers were granted special permission by Emperor Frederick III to sell their woodenware across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Visitors to the Ribnica Handicraft Centre can learn about the valley’s past amid displays of fine wooden and wicker tools, and watch as artisans transform locally sourced hazelnut and willow into beautiful, functional baskets, cutting boards, and other daily objects.
Standing in Ribnica’s workshop, surrounded by the scent of wood and the rhythm of artisans at work, a 3D printer – a gift from Center Rog – catches my eye. In Slovenia, tradition and innovation don’t just coexist; they’re interwoven, like two strands of the same thread, stronger together.
Where to Stay in Slovenia
InterContinental Ljubljana: With its sleek glass facade, spacious rooms, and location on the edge of Old Town, the 165-room InterContinental Ljubljana places guests within easy reach of the capital’s top attractions. At its rooftop B-Restaurant, chef Komnen Bakic serves up Slovenian specialties (fuzi pasta with Istrian truffles, for example) alongside cocktails infused with local honey. After a day of sightseeing, relax in the 18th-floor spa’s infinity pool and Finnish sauna, both with views of Ljubljana’s historic center. Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100 dining credit.
Kempinski Palace Portoroz: Opened in 1910, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s heyday, the Kempinski Palace Portoroz remains Slovenia’s grandest seaside hotel, overlooking the sparkling Adriatic. Its 182 bright, airy rooms are split between the original belle epoque building and a modern glass-and-steel wing next door. Days pass with strolls through the manicured gardens, dips in the indoor saltwater pool, or sunbathing on the hotel’s private beach. Breakfast is served in the gilded ballroom, once the site of lavish galas attended by the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy. Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100 dining credit.
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