B&B Slamič Review
Close to hotel Lev and tucked away on a little side street, you find the small and charming Bed and Breakfast Slamič (promounced Slamich) which dates back to 1932. Even though the B&B has not existed from the start, the Slamič family has run a restaurant / café on this location since 1932. The building has today a stylish modern façade but the interior of the rooms, corridors and the café creates a feel of an older comfortable retreat.
Even though B&B Slamič isn’t a traditional bed and breakfast, in the sense of a family letting out a room of their house, this hotel has a great homely atmosphere and it feel as if you are invited to a large house rather than a hotel.
The Café at B&B Slamič
To the locals in Ljubljana, B&B Slamič is best known for the café ‘KavaČaj’ on the ground floor and with a bigger terrace on the first floor. This café is beautifully decorated in a Viennese coffee house style with a lot of dark red wood furniture, wall panels and a great old style bar.
Every Wednesday, there is live music, mostly jazz, in the café and it is a great evening visited by many locals in Ljubljana. However, you will not be disturbed as a B&B guest as they always finish early (and possibly too early for the music lovers) guaranteeing you an early night if you wish.
These jazz evenings are not advertised on their website but you can normally find out who is playing on B&B Slamič’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/BB-Slami%C4%8D/264301230275104
Rooms at B&B Slamič
The rooms are decorated in a similar style to the café with beautiful wooden floors and red solid wood furniture. It creates a wonderful comfortable feeling and you are likely to feel at home here.
The rooms vary in size and some have bath tubs and some have showers. If you’re booking early, it is a good idea to ask for your preferred bathroom features to ensure you get your perfect room.
All rooms have air conditioner, cable TV, telephone, free WIFI internet access, mini bar, safe and a hair dryer.
The Breakfast
It is fairly obvious that the breakfast is included in the price. However, one major advantage to B&B Slamič is that you are able to go out on the terrace in the summer and enjoy your breakfast in the sunshine.
Free Parking at B&B Slamič
Free parking is available in the courtyard but you need to ask in advance to reserve a place. We recommend you to do so at the time of your reservation so you don’t miss out on the free places.
To all of you who are looking for a small Ljubljana hotel with charm and character, we recommend you to consider B&B Slamič. Even though there are Ljubljana hotels which are more central, it is rare to find accommodation with great location and character together with breakfast, outside terrace and free parking etc.
Central Hotel Ljubljana, Cafe review
In our series of Ljubljana hotel cafe reviews, we visited Hotel Central cafe which goes under the name Franky’s Bar.
From the street, Ljubljana Hotel Central’s cafe looks like a separate bar with the name Franky’s bar next door to the hotel. However, the cafe is connected with the hotel lobby so this perception is most likely only felt by the by-passers in the street. Franky’s bar is a less pretentious café with a homely Austrian coffee house feel to it with the red carpet and and clothed chairs.
At this time of the year, it is not a surprise that there were few people outside but to my surprise, I was greeted by a packed room cafe inside and I was lucky to get a seat. The guests were a mixture of locals and hotel guests and best described as a cosy cafe far away from the trendy bars in Ljubljana where the youth are likely to hang out.
The prices at Central Hotel Ljubljana’s cafe were average and Wifi internet access was available although this wasn’t advertised at the entrance. Wifi wasn’t free and you have to pay with either credit card or mobile phone via the NEO network or Skype access.
All in all, the café reflects the feel of this cheaper of the 3 Union hotels. It is friendly, affordable and with a good service.
Ljubljana City Hotel Café Review
City hotel Ljubljana is a very modern, spacious and light hotel located in the centre of Ljubljana. Situated on the corner of a busy one way street makes it great for access to the hotel but it doesn’t give a first impression of having a great café. However, a sign outside the entrance caught my eye the other day and I decided to come and visit the City Hotel Café.
The sign on the picture invites customers from the street with good offers of morning coffee with a croissant or toast. As you walk in to City Hotel you are greeted by a bright and spacious hotel lobby with a café to the right. Next to the café is a little internet corner with computers and a wi-fi are even though the wi-fi also reaches the rest of the café. Wi-fi is free even though my phone labelled it as Hotspot which implied a paid service. All you need to do is to accept their terms and conditions and you get access to the free hotel Wi-fi.
The hotel lobby has got a very relaxing calm atmosphere and I’m impressed by the modern colourful décor. The prices at the café are reasonable even though this is not the café or bar you go for a bargain drink in the evening. However, the coffee comes at a great price, only €1.20 for an espresso.
In the summer, the City Hotel Café might not look as welcoming in the summer unless it’s an air-conditioned space you’re after. Even though it is bright, you are inside the hotel and it is more of a place to recover instead of enjoying a coffee in the sunshine. However, I was mistaken as Ljubljana City Hotel has come up with a great solution to give their guests a place to relax in the sun as well…
Bar Terrace at Ljubljana City Hotel
Visible from the street Komenskega, you can see the small terrace on the first floor of the hotel. It is only accessible from inside the hotel and the Bar Terrace has got view over the Ljubljana castle from some of the seats. This is a great place to lap up the morning sun as you’re high enough not to be bothered by the cars on the street. The Terrace gets shaded in the afternoon which on a hot summer day can be a blessing. Then again, you’re only a few steps from the perfectly air-conditioned hotel if the heat gets too much.
The atmosphere at the café in the hotel lobby sums up the feel of City hotel as a modern, calm, spacious and perfectly air-conditioned hotel. If you are looking for a good modern hotel in the Ljubljana center, the City hotel is a great choice for you.
Ljubljana Hotel Park – Outside Terrace & Cafe Review
Hotel Park Ljubljana has got a great little outside cafe and bar with a small children’s playground beside it. In order to review the hotel cafe and the playground properly I decided to bring along my two year old daughter who played to he heart’s content.
Ljubljana Hotel Park is a large 3 star hotel located within 10 minutes walk from the absolute Ljubljana centre but the walk in to the Triple bridge goes via Trubarjeva cesta which is an old and mostly pedestrian street with many small little shops, restaurant and cafes. The hotel’s outside cafe area is nicely shaded by big trees and there are no streets with cars next to it which makes it very peaceful.
The Hotel Cafe and Bar
Ljubljana Hotel Park’s cafe and bar is not a luxury place but it has a nice and clam atmosphere to it. The prices are very reasonable and the coffee was good too. A black coffee or espresso cost €1.30 and if you want a beer, 0.5l of the local Lasko or Union costs only €2.40. The outside terrace has got a wooden roof so you don’t have to worry about rain and they even serve cocktails and food.
The Children’s Playground
The playground isn’t very big but it has got a tall slide, a see-saw and a large sandpit. My 2 year old daughter needed help to get up the big slide but she thoroughly enjoyed going down on her own. It goes without saying that she couldn’t enjoy the see-saw on her own but she was happily playing with a bucket and spade in the sandpit while we were enjoying a cup of coffee.
The play area is also located far away from busy streets and there are open areas between Ljubljana Hotel Park and the other buildings. Here she had lots of fun running around and kicking a ball we brought with us. If you are staying at the hotel or not, this is a great place to take your young children and have a coffee but make sure you are at least two people so you can take in turns to look after the children. My daughter put her stamp of approval on this playground with her big smile and lots of laughter.
There are not many Ljubljana Hotels in the center that have a children’s play area so if you are visiting Ljubljana with your children, Ljubljana Hotel Park is one of the best places you can stay. The room prices are also very reasonable so as long as you don’t need luxury, this is the Ljubljana hotel for you.
Ljubljana Penzion Pod Lipo – Restaurant Review
This first article in the series of Ljubljana Hotel Restaurant Reviews we decided to for lunch at the locally famous Gostilna at the Ljubljana Penzion Pod Lipo. As it was a warm and nice Friday afternoon, their outside garden was a perfect place to sit on this warm summer day. The name Pod Lipo means ‘under the lime tree’ in Slovene but this old tree is not the only tree in the garden. There are several trees creating a beautiful leaf-roof shading us from the hot summer sun and it is a really cosy and relaxing place, despite having smaller city streets around it.
The Lunch at Ljubljana Penzion Pod Lipo
The lunch was a good non-pretentious offering which turned out to be great value for money. Most restaurants in Slovenia offers a choice of around 3 daily lunch offers (kosilo) and they are normally made up of a soup for starters, main meal and a small desert. Today’s main meals in the daily lunch were fish with potato salad, meat with macarones and a mushroom risotto. I chose the fish which you can see in the photo to the right. The lunch cost €8 which wasn’t bad for both good quality and the big portions as you can see in the photo.
The Atmosphere at Ljubljana Penzion Pod Lipo
The garden has a wonderful calm and relaxed feel to it with the trees and the friendly waiters. It seems to be popular among the local business people and students which gives it a nice local feel to the restaurant. If you stay at this Ljubljana Penzion, this garden would be perfect place to sit for everything from breakfast to drinks in the evenings. The old style lamps hanging in the tree also suggests that there is an even better atmosphere here in the evening which I have to come back and sample shortly.
All in all, if you are looking for a relaxed Ljubljana Penzion in the center, Pod Lipo is a great choice and it will be a nice retreat from the busier bars and restaurants along the river in Ljubljana. Then again, they’re only 5-10 minutes walk from this Ljubljana Penzion so you won’t miss out on anything by staying here.
Kavarna Grand Hotel Union, Ljubljana
To get a taste of the atmosphere at the Grand Hotel Union hotel in Ljubljana, I decided to visit its ‘Kavarna’ and of course to enjoy a coffee while doing the hard research. You can see the large Kavarna sign from the Preseren square which is the most central part of Ljubljana and often the busiest too. Despite this, I have never got the feeling that it’s a busy hoel cafe and my guess was confirmed when I walked in.
The entrance is proudly displaying pictures and letters from famous people who’s stayed at the Grand Hotel Union Executive in the past and there were also adverts for chamber music and tango. Once you’ve walked in through the corridor, the Kavarna is a very big open hall with small chandeliers in the ceiling and large paintings on the wall. There is also a stage which at the time had tables but at other times is the place for the , tango, chamber music, folk music concerts and variety shows for which there is a programme provided on the tables and in the corridor. The programme also shows when the Ljubljana bridge club is meeting here in this Ljubljana hotel’s cafe. Kavrna Union also has a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KavarnaUnion
The cafe has a feeling of a very grand Austrian coffee and cake shop and it is also very quiet in here today which is a contrast to the busy streets and cafes outside. It’s a perfect place to come to collect your thoughts or work on your laptop. It is not the best place for a private business discussion even if it was only two older ladies and the waitress that would have over heard my conversation today.
Internet is locked to the hotel guests with a hotspot service from Ruckus Wireless but when I asked the waitress, she kindly without hesitation went and got me a code so that I could connect easily. The speed of the internet allowed me to easily have a skype call and watch videos so the wifi was very good.
The prices are fairly high as expected but for a coffee it is not too bad. It is after all a grand kavarna so the prices reflects the atmosphere and together it is creating a feeling of being in a very exclusive place. All in all, it’s a great Ljubljana hotel cafe which I highly recommend you to visit.
Finally to the most important information from my visit, the coffee was very good so you won’t be disappointed even if you are a coffee connoisseur.
Ljubljana Hotel Café Reviews: Hotel Slon Lounge
In our first post about the Ljubljana hotel cafés we take a look at the most famous café to the locals of Ljubljana, the Slon Lounge.
Our aim with this blog series is to portray a picture of what it is really like to visit the hotel cafes compared to the often glossy pictures shown on the hotel websites. Many of these posts will be updated at a later stage as we get more information from our visits.
Hotel Slon’s Café / Lounge is the only café inside a hotel that I have personally often visited over the years and I don’t seem to be the only non hotel guest to visit this hotel café. Hotel Slon is also the only hotel that has hosted the famous Friday Night Drinks in Ljubljana which makes it the most known café among at least the international community in Ljubljana. The entrance to the café is also perfectly located on the corner to the busiest shopping street in Ljubljana and you don’t even need to go in to the hotel lobby to get to the café.
All this makes for a perfect place to stop for a coffee even though it is mostly known as a place for business people to meet. This could be because of Zvezda which is one of the most well known café and cake shop in Ljubljana is located at the other corner of the hotel. Zvezda is however a café chain which we shouldn’t class as the hotel café.
The café itself which is named the Slon Lounge by the hotel is a stylish place with large glass windows overlooking the busy pedestrian street Copova and Slovenska cesta. They offer much more than just coffee and wine, whiskeys and cocktails are popular. The snack list on the website lists marinated asparagus, dried tomatoes, steak and club sandwiches, caviar and cakes deserts and ice creams. We will shortly be down to take some photos of the latest menus and more so please check this post in a few days to see the menu and more.
Fri 4 May
Wed 2 May
Tue 17 Apr
Mon 16 Apr
Sat 14 Apr