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The northernmost republic of what was once Yugoslavia, Slovenia currently appears the most stable,
prosperous and welcoming of all Europe's erstwhile communist countries. It was always the richest and
most westernized of the Yugoslav federation, and apart from the Ten-Day War which brought it independence
in 1991, it has avoided the strife which has plagued the republics to the south. For centuries, Slovenia was
administered by German-speaking overlords and was, until 1918, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The
Slovenes absorbed the culture of their captors during this period while managing to retain a strong sense of
ethnic identity through the Slav-rooted Slovene language, a close relation of Czech, Serbo-Croat and Slovak.
Slovenia's landscape is as varied as it is beautiful: along the Austrian border the Julian Alps provide stunning
mountain scenery, most accessibly at Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj ; further south, the brittle karst scenery is
riddled with spectacular caves like those at Postojna . Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana , is easily the best of the
cities, a vital, youthful place, manageably small and cluttered with Baroque and Habsburg buildings, while the
short stretch of Slovenian coast, along the northern edge of the Istrian peninsula, is punctuated by a couple of
towns that were among the most attractive resorts of the former Yugoslavia - Piran and Portoroz - not to mention
the port of Koper , with its appealingly ancient centre. Despite its relative isolation in the eastern part of the country,
the attractively preserved town of Ptuj is also well worth a visit.
Read the full travel guide about travelling to Slovenia here
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