Slovenia has many wonders to discover, and you will soon find out that your accommodation can also be an attraction by itself. It will not only allow you to tour and enjoy the country but also discover several gems in the shape of unique hotels. The accommodations are among the many unexpected highlights of the country that will offer you an unforgettable trip.
The country has an abundance of surprising accommodations that will show you different aspects of Slovenia. Indeed, some of them will remind you of Slovenia’s eventful historical past or its innovation capacity. In contrast, farm stays and treehouse accommodations will reveal more about its authentic countryside.
Here is a review of the eight most pleasing and unusual accommodations that will make your Slovenian experience even more surprising!
1. Celica: A Ex Prison Hostel in Ljubljana
If you are looking for an unusual place to sleep during your stay in the capital, you will find everything you can wish for and even more in Metelkova. This cultural district of Ljubljana houses one of the most exciting options in town. Hostel Celica is indeed more than just a hotel: it is an eventful place with a long story, as well as an artistic masterpiece.
The building was erected in 1882 at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The army chose to establish its barracks in the Metelkova district. For the next hundred years, it was used as a prison by the succession of diverse political regimes.
Its primary function was only abandoned in 1991 when Slovenia became independent and the JNA, or Yugoslav People’s Army, left the country. The future of the building was very incertain at the time. Still, the Network for Metelkova, a collective of Slovenian artists, also known as “Mreža za Metelkovo”, proposed a project: transforming it into a vibrant multicultural center.
The collective did what they could to acquire the place, but the city authorities refused to grant them the needed paperwork and started to demolish the empty army barracks. It led to an occupation of the spaces by the determined artists, and eventually, the city had no other choice than letting them do so, seeing their determination.
Hostel Celica was then established in the former army barracks, while the artistic life continues in full spring. Many artists succeeded in giving a festive and lively atmosphere to the former barracks as each prison cell was turned into an artistic room. This hostel also delivers a powerful message: art can totally transform a place and its history.
Indeed, the place now attracts people from all around the world and helps bring people together instead of dividing them. Hostel Celica is filled with symbols of hope, joy, and freedom, and is an artistic reference also thanks to its gallery, Srečišče. This incredible space features artists of universal renown for free.
There is also a small museum, the Point of Piece, that is built on two former confinement cells, and many cultural and music events that attract locals and tourists from all around the world.
It seems like being a prisoner in this place would not be so bad! For about 16 euros, you can enjoy a night in one of the dormitories. For a shared room, count about 20 euros per person. If you have any questions or special needs, know that the reception desk in Hostel Celica is open all year round 24/7.
Hostel Celica, Metelkova ulica 8, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Contact: info@hostelcelica.com / +386 1 230 97 00 or +386 51 495 599
Website: https://www.hostelcelica.com/en
2. Garden Village in Bled
Hereafter Slovenia’s great cultural and artistic scene, tourists traveling to the country are also looking for its beautiful outdoors and the fantastic experiences they can offer. Then, what could be better than staying right in the heart of nature but with all the comfort you can dream of?
The best glamping experience you can enjoy in Slovenia is perfectly located: you can enjoy it while visiting the country’s critical step, Lake Bled. Right south of the Lake is nestled the Garden Village, a unique eco-resort that will offer you the best blast of fresh air ever. There, you will enjoy the quietness of its gardens after trying Lake Bled’s many water sports and outdoor activities.
In Garden Village, you can choose between a wide range of magical accommodations. All of the sleeping options are surrounded by vegetable and fruit gardens, without being anywhere far from the comfort and the great treats of the bar and restaurant. In these places, you will find the finest Slovenian wines and traditional culinary recipes as well as top quality products.
Your first option is the glamping tent that offers the whole modern equipment package that will make you change your mind on camping. You can also try the traditional treehouse, a lovely private paradise made of Slovene wood. It is a great place to enjoy your honeymoon in a green, warm, and comfortable space.
The pier tents are also made for romantic lovebirds who want to enjoy the quietness of nature and the proximity with water. On the contrary, the tree tent can be found among the treetops and combine the experiences of a treehouse and a tent. Finally, you can choose the luxury apartment, a fully-furnished space with the perfect set up for relaxation and holiday pampering.
Glamping is not the most affordable accommodation you have in Slovenia, but the experience is of one in a lifetime kind and will leave you an unforgettable memory. Prices at their peak can go up to 250 dollars, but you can also enjoy rock bottom prices as low as 100 dollars out of peak season.
Garden Village Bled, Cesta Gorenjskega odreda 16, 4260 Bled
Contact: info@gardenvillagebled.com / 0838 99220
Website: https://www.gardenvillagebled.com/en/
3. A Beehive in the Countryside
Have you ever heard of apitourism? Slovenia is one of the world leaders in this category, as it is a country with a significant tradition of beekeeping and honey-making. If you want to learn more about apitherapy and honey-made products, you will fall in love with this beehive cabin.
Visiting a place like this one is known to be one of the many usual alternative therapy treatments offered by honeybees. Breathing the aerosol from the hive is seen as incredibly helpful. This lovely beehive cabin located near Kobarid happens to provide one of these apitherapy aerosol masks venue.
It comes with the possibility to take a beekeeping tour and enjoy other treatments such as honey wellness massages, and to purchase a wide range of bee products. You will find two masks for inhalation in the actual cabin, a couch, a kitchen (equipped with a table, a fridge, and a sink), and a bathroom.
At the same time, the bees will be buzzing inside the walls without disturbing you. Then, you will be able to enjoy the sound and smell. Knowing this, note that you should not perfume or cook to benefit from the scent at its most.
Location, Contact, and Website: all the information you need is on this Airbnb page: https://fr.airbnb.com/rooms/20796429?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1596785083_aOoRaFVK%2F3OwkBzb&source_impression_id=p3_1599660953_iUYJ3eXonon6lIUR
4. A Sleeping Capsule in Ljubljana
The Central Hostel, a well-established venue located in the center of Ljubljana, has managed to design an unusual and innovative new experience based on a Japanese creation. Indeed, this imported concept allows the guest to try an unexpected sleeping option.
On the 7th floor of the hotel, right next to the restaurant’s rooftop and its amazing views on the castle, you will have the chance to stay on one of the hotel’s ten futuristic sleeping capsules.
Perfect for hipsters and numeric addicts, the capsule is equipped with TV, LED screen, fast WiFi, and air-conditioning, among other modern features. More than that, you can even check-in the hotel room with a mobile application that you will be able to use as a key. As you can guess, it was primarily designed for Millennials and other “urban glampers”.
The price of the room includes bed linen and access to a shared bathroom, but also a private lounge area made especially for the capsules users. It is a unique opportunity in Slovenia, and it remains relatively infrequent in Europe, so go for it if your curiosity was piqued. Moreover, this unusual experience is pretty accessible: count about 26 euros for two people!
Central Hostel, Miklošičeva cesta 9, 1000 Ljubljana
Contact: central@uhcollection.si / (01) 308 43 00
Website: https://www.uhcollection.si/the-fuzzy-log/sleep/capsule-for-2-travellers
5. Skuta and its Futuristic Mountain Hut
This one has an extraordinary amount of upsides, and absolutely no downsides…if you are a little adventurous! If a 3 to 6 hours hike on the Alpine Slovenian mountains does not discourage you, you just found yourself the best accommodation ever in Slovenia! It has the ultimate advantage of being cheap and, more than everything, it is absolutely breathtaking.
The Skuta Alpine Shelter is a marvelous innovative structure that was designed to host up to 8 courageous hikers on a small surface of 12 square meters, but all of it in a distinctive futuristic architecture. The lovely little hut is located in the heart of Mount Skuta, inside Slovenia’s Kamnik Alps. The OFIS agency designed it in order to replace a 50-year-old shelter.
This shelter will offer you the best combination between modernity and proximity with nature, as well as the insurance of knowing that you respect the ecosystem with this environmentally friendly accommodation. It definitely adds even more stamp to the environment.
You will notice that the hut is made of three different parts. The first room includes a kitchen and some storage space, while the second room offers living space and sleeping accommodation. The third module provides additional berths.
The climb, absence of running water, electricity, and bathroom still make the experience worth it, as it allows you to discover a whole new way to see things!
Alpine Shelter Skuta
Website: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/08/slovenian-mountain-cabin-ofis-harvard-students-shelters-climbers-extreme-weather-alps/
6. Vila Bled: Sleep at Tito’s Summer Residence
The four-star Vila Bled, an architectural masterpiece that once belonged to Josip Brod, the former leader of Yugoslavia, is now a comfortable hotel that also features a casino, a sun deck, and a fantastic seasonal outdoor pool. It was renovated with care in 2011.
Vila Bled is located 0.5 kilometers away from the Church of Sv Marika Bozja and 1.5 kilometers from Župnijska cerkev sv. Martina, while the beach is only 950 meters away. It is also close to Bled’s fantastic Dino Park, and you can even easily walk to the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Maria.
This one of its kind accommodation features a free gym and a tennis court to all of its guests and paid services such as on-site steam baths and massage. You can also enjoy the abundance of water sports and diverse activities proposed on the Lake and its surrounding, such as tubing, canoeing, and snow skiing, among many others.
You will find 31 rooms equipped with minibars, heating systems, and climate control in this beautiful hotel. Moreover, Vila Bled is known for providing its guests with a panoramic view of the Lake. There, you can also enjoy an electric kettle, equipment to make coffee and tea, and a fridge, but also various features like hypoallergenic, foam, and feather pillows.
At the property, you can enjoy a great continental and an impressive variety of international dishes at the gourmet restaurant or at the terrace. The place also features several billiards. You will appreciate the proximity with Vila Bled Restaurant, the Cafe Belvedere that makes the best Bled cream cake in town, and the Restaurant Pension Mlino.
This historical place is only 5 minutes’ walk away from the Bled Jezero train station. There are only upsides to this fantastic Vila!
Vila Bled, Cesta Svobode 18, Bled, Slovenia
Contact: reception-vb@brdo.si / 00 386 (0)4 575 37 10
Website: https://vila-bled-hotel.hotel-ds.com/en/
7. A Pod in Podlog
The lovely hamlet of Podlog, located eight kilometers away from Črnomelj, near the Lahinja river in the southeastern part of Slovenia, hosts a fantastic resort called Turizem Malerič. The main highlight of the resort is its cute collection of four modern pods nestled around a natural pool cleaned by microorganisms and wild plants.
You will notice a concern for natural materials and rural inspirations combined with a futuristic style in every pod. You can choose between the “Yellow Sun”, the “Red Flower”, the “Blue Sky”, and the “Green Grass” ones. They all feature additional beds, natural wooden floors, walls, and terraces accessible via floor to ceiling glass sliders.
This stylish complex offers two bedrooms in each apartment, as well as sundecks, WiFi, air-conditioning, and flat-screen TVs. They provide the perfect comfort after an active day of wine tasting, biking, or boating in the heart of the Bela Krajina region. There, you can also fish or hike easily.
After a day of biking, boating, or taking a wine tour (be sure to try regional varieties like Belokranjec and Metliška črnina), you will have the chance to appreciate the fantastic views or a relaxing swim in the natural pool.
The resort includes many other accommodation options, with exciting options such as pet-friendly stays. Still, the pods are definitely the most unusual and surprising ones – I guarantee that you will desperately want to come back!
Glamping Malerič, Podlog 3c, 8343 Dragatuš
Contact: maleric@turizemmaleric.si / +386(0)7 30 57 120 or +386(0)4 03 00 676
Website: http://glamping.turizemmaleric.si/en
8. Otočec Castle Hotel
Who has never dreamt of sleeping in a fairytale castle? Slovenia offers you this fantastic possibility, and not on every other castle! The Otočec Castle Hotel is one of the most beautiful and prestigious accommodations available in Slovenia, as it is a member of the well-known Relais & Châteaux association that maps the best mansions and restaurants in the world.
Located in the middle of the picturesque Krka River, the magnificent boutique hostel is sublimed by the unbelievable emerald color of the water. Overall, the place offers the most luxurious comfort, the deepness of an eventful history, and the wonders of the Slovenian countryside with the castle’s unique green park.
Everything you can possibly imagine will be made to provide you the best way of your life, as the staff is both professional and discreet. Business travelers, gourmets, and even couples that can be getting married in the hotel will spend an unforgettable stay.
From the pampering homemade breakfast to the royal bath and the candlelight dinner will create the most exclusive and prestigious experience with the comfort of modernity business facilities.
For this royal stay, you can count about 200 euros for one night of special treatment. Not so much for a once in a lifetime experience!
Otočec Castle Hotel, Grajska cesta 2, 8222 Otočec
Contact: booking@terme-krka.eu / +386 8 20 50 310
Website: https://www.grad-otocec.com/en/us/accommodation/
Choose a Fantastic Place to Sleep!
Wherever you choose to stay, your Slovenian trip will be a fantastic experience through the many diversified aspects of Slovenia. This undiscovered country has many surprises to offer you, and I guarantee that it is impossible to be disappointed there. Every city, landscape, region, and accommodation has something great to deliver.
So, where do you want to sleep most between these eight fantastic options for your visit to Slovenia in the foreseeable future?
