Lonely Planet’s Slovenia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Discover buzzy Ljubljana, dip a toe in the electric-blue water of Lake Bled, be stunned by natural beauty; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Slovenia and begin your journey now!
Inside Lonely Planet’s Slovenia Travel Guide:
Up-to-date information - all businesses were rechecked before publication to ensure they are still open after 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak
NEW top experiences feature - a visually inspiring collection of [destination’s] best experiences and where to have them
What's NEW feature taps into cultural trends and helps you find fresh ideas and cool new areas
NEW pull-out, passport-size 'Just Landed' card with wi-fi, ATM and transport info - all you need for a smooth journey from airport to hotel
Improved planning tools for family travellers - where to go, how to save money, plus fun stuff just for kids
Colour maps and images throughout
Highlightsand itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
Essential infoat your fingertips - hours of operation, websites, transit tips, prices
Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, cuisine, politics
Over 44 maps
Covers Ljubljana, Skofja Loka, Lake Bled, Bohinj, Kranjska Gora, Triglav National Park, Soca Valley, Vipava Valley, Lipica, Piran, Postojna, Rogaska Slatina, Prekmurje and more
The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet’s Slovenia, our most comprehensive guide to Slovenia, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled.
If you're one of the millions of people who habitually wake up at 3 am and can't get back to sleep because they're so worried about their inability to speak Slovenian, help is at hand. We're going to a language technology conference in Portorož later this spring; with the assistance of a Slovenian Goodreader who modestly wishes to remain anonymous, we have used our web platform to create a little course which we've called Slovenian 101.
We're interested in receiving feedback from people who try it out. I have considerable difficulty pronouncing the words well enough for the app to recognize me - enough so that I wondered if there was some technical problem. But Not, and our Australian friend D, smugly show me that there's nothing to it; they just listen to the recorded voice, imitate it, and the machine knows what they've said. If people want to tell us whether they are Slovenian sheep (Not and D) or goats (yours truly), I'll update the review as data comes in. _________________________
I showed the app to my depressingly multilingual colleague Irene (she is fluent in four spoken and three signed languages). Despite never having heard a word of Slovenian in her life, she sounded quite plausible after a couple of minutes' practice. The machine approved of almost everything she said.
"Try pronouncing it like it was Italian!" she told me encouragingly, when I confessed that I had not had quite the same level of success. Does Slovenian sound like Italian? They belong to different language families, but they've been living next door to each other for a long time. Perhaps that's more important? _________________________
The book is not worth paying for. There's nothing in it that cannot be found on the internet. In addition, the authors' style is somewhat arrogant with jokes like "Ptuj. Its name might sound like a cartoon character spitting, but Ptuj is no joke". Apart from that, the description of the Slovenian cuisine lived me somewhat puzzled: "Squeezed between four different culinary regions - ... - Slovenia has adopted and modified the cooking styles of its neighbours, while adding in the fresh vegetables, herbs, and grains it grows on its own". It's like saying they have nothing to offer of their own, whereas in fact their culinary tradition is rich and authentic. Plus, I found some historical references doubtful. Even though you don't really need them as a casual tourist. Overall, giving it 2 instead of 1 only because at the very end I found a list of famous people of Slovenia, which saved me some googling.
I THINK this is the version I read, but it may be a different edition, as the cover picture is different.
I wanted to learn more about Slovenia, because there's a lot of focus on the UNsuccessful Balkan states, and very little about the successful ones. Travelogues are fascinating treasure troves of trivia. Who knew that the original Karst region was in Slovenia? That the capital, Ljubljana (I'm p sure of that spelling, and isn't it lovely?) comes from a phrase meaning something like 'beautiful city'? Or that one of the main bases of the economy is (or was, I hope their hives haven't collapsed as in some other places) honey production?