June 25, 2026
Day One: Dragons, Castles, and the City That Surprised Me
“Ljubljana ended up being much smaller than I expected, but somehow that made it feel even more magical. Every bridge, river walk, and side street felt close enough to wander without a plan.”
🗺️ Today’s Plan
- Dragon Bridge
- Ljubljana Castle
- Franciscan Church of the Annunciation
- Triple Bridge
- Old Town & Prešeren Square
- Central Market
- Church of St. Nicholas
- Walk along the Ljubljanica River
- Nebotičnik
- Congress Square
- Robba Fountain
- Plečnik House
- Try burek
✈️ The Traveler
Hi there!
What Actually Happened
🐉 Dragon Bridge
Cute! Nice to walk by the dragon statues. Not crowded at all and I got there at 10:00. I love getting morning time to just walk around and explore the sights, free of crowds.
My favorite thing about this city is how pedestrian friendly it is- in public squares, cars have to bypass turnstiles to get through, so you’re never afraid of some rando running you down like in the states!
🏰 Ljubljana Castle
Overall: This was unexpectedly great! I actually enjoyed the little exhibits like the museum of puppetry, the 4d castle history (I went in thinking it was goofy, and it was, but reminded me so much of the Witcher game w the graphics and was really historically informative!! It’s 4d because they sprayed water at you and rumbled the seats), the “video mapping” which was just hand drawn cartoon art displayed on big walls with sound (def meant for kids, but nice to sit in a dark air conditioned room!)
To start, I went with the regular Ljubljana Castle ticket. It was €13.50 to not go up with the funicular. It’s €3.60 more for the audio guide. Honestly, I’m glad I did not go with the audio guide. I just wanted to wander and see what I wanted to see. There was also a “Time Machine” guided tour available (where actors dress in costumes and explain the history to you) at certain times for €3.60 more as well.
I almost wish I got the escape room ticket for €5.50 more- I would have done that if I went with other people. It did look really cute. I actually saw the actors! A guy dressed as a Roman gladiator and a girl dressed in a Roman toga walked by me at one point after their lunch break and everyone around took pictures of them. There’s even a part 2 of the escape room for those who have already completed the first one called “Redeem the Witch.” How cute! I love that things like escape rooms and Dungeons and Dragons and stuff are getting more popular. Embrace whimsy, people!
Now, as far as the funicular goes: the walk up was only like 10–15 minutes, but it was really exhausting. I will say I’m pretty fit, but I was really tired/jet lagged as this was my first day. It was also really hot, and I didn’t have any food or coffee beforehand. If I had eaten breakfast, I would’ve been totally fine, but running on no caffeine and no breakfast, I was exhausted. The way back down is easy sauce, of course, but most of the advanced tickets offer a “free” funicular ride back down anyways.
I beelined straight to the café, which was sadly really understaffed. I felt badly for the workers, but it took a while to get food. Which is fine, but you know when you’re tired, you really don’t want to wait.
Da Food
The food was pretty all right! I got a matcha smoothie, mostly just for the slight caffeine. It had spinach in it, so hey, I got my cup of veggies! It also had pineapple and was pretty good. It was not amazing, not super sweet, but it was good.
Then I had this Ham and Swiss sandwich for €6.50. That’s crazy. I feel like that’s way too expensive for a single sandwich, especially one that had three slices of bread. It was bread, cheese, more bread than ham, more bread, cheese, and bread. What an insane bread sandwich. They served it with the tiniest cup of chips you’ve ever seen in your life. The guy back there probably opened one of those tiny bags of chips, poured in like a quarter of the bag, and served it with tomatoes, a little mini wooden fork, and ketchup. I have no idea what I was supposed to do with the ketchup. Was I supposed to dip the sandwich in it? I put a little ketchup on the sandwich and it was fine. It was just bizarre. What do you put on a ham and Swiss sandwich- ketchup??
It’s funny going to different cultures. You expect completely wildly different foods, but actually they just use the same ingredients everyone else uses, just in weird ways. At least in Europe anyway.
Overall though, 10/10 castle experience. They had free tap water with water fountains everywhere, just like they do all around Ljubljana, which I absolutely loved.
I especially enjoyed the Museum of Puppetry (one pictured left… Listen your honor, I love him). The little virtual 4D experience about the castle was actually surprisingly really fun. It reminded me of The Witcher with the graphics, and it also taught me a lot of history. Some of it was somewhat similar to Bran castle’s Romanian history about {Vlad the Impaler}.
I also enjoyed the virtual mapping room, which was just a bunch of hand-drawn cartoons projected all over the walls that moved around. It was definitely made for kids. Honestly, so much of the castle was made for kids. In fact, a ton of Ljubljana in general feels made for kids and families. It’s really cute. The city feels incredibly family friendly.
Dragons are everywhere in this city! I tried taking a picture of all that I saw, but there’s no way I could get them all.
In Ljubljana, I learned that the dragon is important because it is a blend of several different myths. One is of St. George and the dragon, to which the the chapel in Ljubljana Castle is dedicated (you can also get your name written in calligraphy by this cool guy with a fountain pen in there for a small donation!!). Historians think the city’s dragon symbol may have been influenced by St. George’s dragon-slaying imagery, and over time, the dragon itself became more important than the saint and evolved into Ljubljana’s symbol and protector.
Local legends also tie it to Jason and the Argonauts from Greek mythology, who supposedly fought a dragon near the Ljubljana Marshes (this was brought up in a lot of museums), as well as older Slavic dragon-slayer myths associated with water, fertility, and defeating chaos (this is more mentioned in the Karst region of Slovenia). ANYWAYS, dragons are cool!
I wanted to take the funicular back down, but it was €6 and I wanted to see the Bastille, so I walked in that direction instead. I ended up walking all the way down out of the castle, so I think the Bastille was the only part I didn’t get to see. But honestly, I’m fine with that. I saw literally every single thing in the castle and enjoyed it.
🌉 Triple Bridge
Neat, quick stop, literally right around the corner to the Dragon Bridge. Famous architect Jože Plečnik designed this and the Central Market, which I’ll talk about later, and we’ll even visit this dude’s house today!
🏘️ Old Town & Prešeren Square
Right after the triple bridge. Neat, quick stop, these are all right near each other and visiting them all in one day helps me realize how small Ljubljana proper really is. Very doable, walkable city.
This is Prešeren Square, specifically the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation. It wasn’t open, but I was able to {go back later on} and visit the inside!
There’s also a nice little water fountain feature thing that sprays water at children who run around it. Nice on a hot day I’d imagine!
🥕 Central Market
Smaller than expected, but tasty looking fruits and veggies!
🌊 Walk Along the Ljubljanica River
(Your notes.)
🥐 Burek
(Your notes.)
⛪ Church of St. Nicholas
(Your notes.)
🌳 Congress Square
(Your notes.)
⛲ Robba Fountain
(Your notes.)
🏡 Plečnik House
(Your notes.)
🧭 The Guide
Travel Tips
💧 Water
(Your Ljubljana water fountain notes.)
🎟️ Ljubljana Castle
- Ticket prices
- Audio guide thoughts
- Escape room thoughts
- Walking vs. funicular
- Café notes
🍽️ Food
- Try burek for breakfast.
- Castle café observations.
🚶 Walking
Ljubljana is much smaller than it looks on a map.
Most major sights can comfortably be visited on foot.
🌇 Nebotičnik
(Leave your original planning notes here.)
📸 Traveler’s Notes
Favorite moment
Kindest interaction
Best food
Biggest surprise
Favorite photo
Favorite quote from today
💡 Turtle Dove Travel Tips
- Go to the castle hungry only if you enjoy expensive bread.
- Skip the audio guide.
- Free water fountains are everywhere.
- Wear good walking shoes.
- Ljubljana is much smaller than it looks on a map.
- The castle is surprisingly family-friendly.
💶 Expenses
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Castle ticket | €10.50 |
| Church | €3 |
| Burek | €3 |
| Sandwich | €6.50 |
| Matcha smoothie | ____ |
⭐ Overall Rating
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Walkability | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Food | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ |
| Value | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Crowds | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Would I return? | Absolutely. |
📝 Blog Ideas
(Leave blank while traveling.)
🌿 Notes for Future Me
(Leave blank while traveling.)
