Slovenia

All of the attractions of Europe—fine wines, beach resorts, cafe-lined city rivers, medieval castles, frescoed churches—in one proud, tiny country

Got your heart is set on Europe but hesitate at of the high prices and weak dollar? Consider a peek behind the old Iron Curtain at the highly underrated country of Slovenia.

Why Slovenia

This northernmost section of the former Yugoslavia is barely larger than New Jersey, yet it is a land filled with baroque cities and Alpine lakes, fine wines and Adriatic resorts, all of it virtually unaffected by Yugoslavia’s civil war in the 1990s. Yet Slovenia is so little known to American tourists that most confuse it with Slovakia—and couldn’t find it on a map either way.

This relative anonymity is a boon, as Slovenia— tucked under the Julian Alps just south of Austria and east of Italy—receives only a fraction of the crowds that drive up the hotel prices and travel costs in its Western neighbors.

Hotels that go for $80 in the capital, Ljubljana, would easily cost twice that just across the borders in Vienna or Venice, and a restaurant meal with multiple courses and a bottle of fine Slovenian tokaj or rizling white wine rarely rings in above $30 per person. Slovenia is a slice of Europe as it was 20 years ago—affordable, accessible, and just waiting to be explored.

Gorizia and the Isonzo Front: A town (and a continent) divided

The most scenic and historical way to ease into Slovenia is to catch a train from the bisected border town of Gorizia (Italy)/Nova Gorica (Slovenia), which was actually divided right down the middle by the Iron Curtain until 1974—in fact, the border sliced right through some people’s houses. After three decades of dealing with folks who complained that their bedrooms were in Italy but their front doors opened into Yugoslavia, the national boundary was moved to the edge of town so that only the eastern suburbs fell into Slovenia.

These days, with Slovenia a full-fledged member of the European Union (they use the Euro and everything), you can stroll across the border at will—but the two country's train lines have yet to link up. You must take a taxi across town from the Italian rail station to the Slovenian one to continue your trip.

The 99-year-old Transalpina rail line travels from Nova Gorica up the gorgeous Soc[v]a River valley. The river’s beauty—waters tinged emerald by calcium carbonate from the surrounding limestone mountains topped with gleaming churches—belies its bloody role in World War I, when more than 1,760,000 soldiers died over three years without either side advancing. If that sounds familiar to Hemingway fans, it’s because Papa set “A Farewell to Arms” here—though he used the Italian name for the river and called it the Isonzo Front.

Lake Bled: Slovenia's fairy tale postcard

Hop off the train in Bled-Jerzero to leave behind mementoes of past wars in favor of the fairy tale scenery of Lake Bled, Slovenia’s premier resort area. The little blue lake (its name, in Slovenian, means simply "lake" as it is the only one in this boutique country) is surrounded by the craggy Julian Alp peaks of Triglav National Park—popular for rafting and mountain biking—and encircled by a jogging path.

Bled’s claims to fame are the 1,000-year-old castle sitting atop a 330-foot cliff at the water’s edge, and the lake’s tiny wooded island spiked with a baroque church steeple. This is the Church of the Assumption, built on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Zhiva, the Slavic goddess of love and fertility. It’s little wonder the church remains an immensely poplar spot for Slovenian weddings.

There’s a modest resort town at one end of the lake, where accommodations range from the Penzion Bledec hostel, with $22-$25 dorm beds (www.mlino.si), to the century-old Penzion Mayer, a family-run hotel with spotless $85 balconied rooms and an excellent restaurant (www.mayer-sp.si).

Ljubljana: So hard to pronounce; so easy to love

It’s a quick train ride from Bled to Ljubljana (sort of: lyoo-blee-YAH-nah), a city blessed with streets lined by baroque and Art Nouveau buildings, a bustling daily market in the square between the cathedral and the café-lined promenades of the Ljubljanica River, and a castle watching over it all from a bluff high above the narrow medieval alleys of the ancient city core.

Lublijana is often touted as an alternative to Prague, and while it does enjoy a similar look and style, that claim is stretching things a bit. This tiny capital lacks Prague’s great museums and superlative sights—but it also lacks Prague’s crowds and hyper-inflated prices.

One of the most popular places to stay is actually the Hostel Celica, converted from a 123-year-old former prison a five-minute walk from the train station. Each cell has been transformed into a unique designer room sleeping two or three people for $23 to $28 each; standard dorms sleeping 14 start at $19 (www.hostelcelica.com). If you prefer something a bit less colorful and more central, rates at the City Hotel Turist (www.cityhotel.si) start at $140 for a modern business-style room in the heart of the shopping district between the train station and the main Pres[v] eren Square with its delightful trio of bridges over the river.

Istria: Tiny Slovenia's tiny coastline

From the city, take a daytrip to the Adriatic coast and the tiny ancient port town of Piran on the Istrian Peninsula (most of which is Croatian). The flavor of this overgrown fishing village is decidedly Italian, with pasta and fish on the menus and Venetian architecture on the buildings—little wonder, as Venice controlled this region throughout most of its history, with just a few Austro-Hungarian interruptions.

Pop into the Cantina Klet on Piran’s Prvomajski Square, order a $1 glass of wine or Union beer, breathe the sea air, and get a taste of the Europe that used to be.

Getting to Slovenia

Ljubljana is a mere 3-1/4 hours by train from Trieste in Italy (www.raileurope.com), or a three-hour flight from London (from $76) or 1-1/2 hours from Berlin (from $6.50) aboard the no-frills airline easyJet (www.easyjet.com).