Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana, Slovenia

What do I need to know if I’m visiting Ljubljana?

Ever since I saw content on Instagram from a travel blogger I follow, I’ve wanted to visit Ljubljana. It helps that she takes gorgeous photographs! Her description of Ljubljana and the stories she shares each time she visits showed a chilled, beautiful city I really wanted to explore. My trip spending 48 hours in Ljubljana was taken in 2023. This post has been checked and researched properly in February 2026 for accuracy. It can still be relied upon for your planning around visiting Ljubljana.

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Visiting Ljubljana: Key things to know

Ljubljana is known as the city of dragons. You’ll find them all over the city, from the famous Dragon Bridge to drain covers and all sorts of other things. The city mascot is a cuddly dragon called Ljubo, which can be bought in shops all over Ljubljana. If you’d like to take a dragon of your very own home with you, there are plenty of places to get one.

When I visited, it wasn’t easy to get to Ljubljana from the UK. We took a bus from Italy. But at the time of updating this post in January 2026, there are direct flights from both Manchester (starting at £40 return) and London (starting at £50 return). The cheapest month for flights from the UK to Ljubljana is April.

We had no problem using card everywhere we needed to in Ljubljana. As Slovenia uses euros, we made sure we had a bit of emergency cash on us just in case. We knew it would be useful for our whole multi-country trip.

How much will I spend each day visiting Ljubljana?

When we spent 48 hours in Ljubljana, between two of us we spent £120.42 on food and drink. There was also £15.69 spent on transport (including a funicular) and £19.61 on activities (zoo tickets for two of us). I also spent £30.64 on souvenirs.

Overall, £200 would have covered both of us for spending 48 hours in Ljubljana, with change. If you wanted to have a few drinks, then £300 would be a safe estimate. If you also want to add on a day at Lake Bled, budget another £30 for transport. Add in about £20 for one of the famous Bled cream cakes each.

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana: How expensive is travelling to Ljubljana, and accommodation in Ljubljana?

A hotel in Ljubljana starts at £66 for two nights. If you prefer an air b n b, two nights costs from £160. If you’re getting a bus from nearby cities (we took ours from Venice Airport, Zagreb is also well connected to Ljubljana) prices start at £20.99 from Venice and £10.99 from Zagreb. Flights from the UK are from £50 return, per person.

This makes Ljubljana a really cheap city break, especially if there’s two of you. Expect to be paying £200-£250 each for travel and accommodation. A bargain break!

What should I see when spending 48 hours in Ljubljana?

While I was spending 48 hours in Ljubljana, I knew I wanted to really explore the city, seeing as many famous buildings and areas as I could whilst also having some time to just wander. 48 hours in Ljubljana was enough time for me to get a bit of a sense of the city. However, I wouldn’t say it’s long enough to see everything and get to know it well. I’d definitely visit Ljubljana again to do more exploring!

If you’re going to be in the city for a few days and like to cram in lots of museums and attractions, consider the Ljubljana City Card. This costs £38 for 24 hours, £45 for 48 hours and £49 for 72 hours.

Whilst I didn’t use this one, I did buy the Amsterdam City Card and wrote about how to get the most out of it. I do think city cards are worth the money. The Ljubljana City Card gets better value the longer you stay, but you can get value from it even if you’re spending 48 hours in Ljubljana.

I’ve put together an itinerary to help you see as much as possible during a short stay in the city.

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana day 1: Morning and lunch

For your first day in Ljubljana, I’d recommend you start with a walking tour. Yes I know these are a bit of a travel blogger cliche! But a planned tour really is the most efficient way to see a city when you’ve not got a lot of time.

This two-hour Ljubljana tour on GetYourGuide (my preferred site for booking things like this) briefly covers the old town and Ljubljana castle. This means you can see where you want to go back to later. Ljubljana has a free walking tour but these aren’t my preference. The person running the tour only gets paid what you tip. This isn’t an ideal way to support the local economy. In my view, it’s better to pay in advance so they can be paid properly, by booking a paid-for tour.

If you don’t fancy a walking tour, head up to Ljubljana castle under your own steam. Go inside if you want to see the viewing tower, the Museum of Puppetry, and the Slovenian history exhibition. You can get the funicular up the hill. I love a funicular and hate hills, so I really enjoyed the ride up. Tickets for the castle, museum and funicular start from £16.

Once you’ve done your walking tour or seen the castle properly, walk or take the funicular back down the hill and head towards the Ljubljanica river. Eat at a restaurant along the river for lunch, for lovely views and people watching. Take your time over your meal here. We ended up caught in a rain storm while eating, but hopefully you don’t!

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana day 1-Afternoon

Start your afternoon with either a walk, or better still a tour, along the river. Basic boat tours cost from £13. If you’d rather have a drink with your tour, you can book either a craft beer tasting boat tour or a gin tasting boat tour. (I’d go for the gin!)

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana day 1-Evening and drinks

To end your first day, choose somewhere good for tea. We didn’t eat out a lot when visiting Ljubljana as it was the fourth city on a multi-country trip and we really wanted to watch TV and eat on our air b n b’s sofa by that point. But you’ll find recommendations on Visit Ljubljana’s website if you need some help choosing.

Visit Ljubljana also has some recommendations for bars and clubs. As Ljubljana is so compact and walkable it’s a great city if you do fancy a night out. Otherwise, relax wherever you’re staying, enjoy looking through your photos and rest your tired legs with a good night’s sleep.

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana Day 2-Morning and lunch

Start your second day in Ljubljana with a museum or two. The City Museum of Ljubljana tells the city’s history up to the present day. This is a great way to really understand a city. The National Museum of Slovenia covers the history of the whole country, if that’s more your bag. More specialised museums in Ljubljana include the Slovenian Banking Museum and Art Gallery, the Railway Museum and many others.

Fancy something lighter? Ljubljana’s Chocolate Museum is both fun and educational, with cute photo opportunities. You’ll find out a lot of information about how chocolate is made. There’s a slide for adults, as well as children, too. Naturally, lots of yummy tasting opportunities too.

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana Day 2-Afternoon and tea

If there are other museums, art galleries or things you really want to do, your second afternoon is the perfect time for those. But, if you have no specific plans, I highly recommend just wandering around the city for a bit. Whilst doing that, we came across an amazing pop up exhibition of painted bears in Republic Square, and that just shows that aimlessly wandering can find the best things sometimes.

Metelkova is an alternative area of Ljubljana, filled with street art, that I really liked exploring. The old town is also really beautiful.

Spending 48 hours in Ljubljana Day 2-Evening and drinks

End your time in Ljubljana with some of their brutalist architecture, by visiting some or all of Parliment Building, Canker Hall, NLB Tower, TR3. Whilst brutalist isn’t a pretty style, I do really like it, so I wouldn’t skip this part of the city.

I’d definitely end the trip with more food and drinks along the river as well as a last visit to the dragon bridge. Both of those sights are such iconic things to do in Ljubljana.

Don’t miss when visiting Ljubljana…

The beautiful pink Franciscan Church is a must see, and a trip to Ljubljana really needs at least a drink by the river, if not a meal. The views from the Castle are well worth the hill, and street art hunting in Ljubljana is a lot of fun too.

If you have more time when visiting Ljubljana

If you’re lucky enough to have more time in Slovenia, rather than just spending 48 hours in Ljubljana, there’s a few cool things you can do using Ljubljana as a base.

First of all a visit to the iconic Lake Bled is easy to do yourself (we took a public bus) but if you’d prefer an organised tour, this one covers transport to and from the lake, a guided tour, a Bled Castle visit, a delicious Bled cream cake and a boat onto the lake, for under £100. A real bargain in my opinion.

Alternative trips that can easily be booked include a sunset trip to coastal Piran, a day in Soca Valley and the Julian Alps to see more of the countryside of Slovenia. More of a foodie? Consider a half-day Slovenian cooking class or a half–day foraging for mushrooms and other wild food with lunch included.

Love animals? Ljubljana Zoo is one we really enjoyed. The zoo has a wide range of animals to have a look at. Tickets cost from 16.50 euros for an adult and the zoo is open from 9am each day.

Where should I go after visiting Ljubljana?

Ljubljana makes for a great jumping off point into new cities or countries. Lake Bled is an obvious nearby place to visit, with a day trip being manageable, but if you fancy seeing Bled properly you’ll want an overnight there. If you do go to Bled, Italy is then nearby, as is Austria. We chose a bus to Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, after Ljubljana.

If you’re after more information about Ljubljana, you’ll find some great content on Pack the Suitcases, a blog run by Caroline, who is the person who made me aware of the city in the first place. She’s written about 33 things to do in Ljubljana. I got a lot of inspiration from her post when I was planning our trip.