Image by Union.SLO

If you would take a part of Amsterdam and transform it into a Habsburg city mixing Mediterranean atmosphere, you would get Gallus bank. It has narrow houses like Amsterdam, Baroque architecture like Vienna and a part of feeling you get in Italian cities with the outside cafés.

The bank is located in the centre of Ljubljana, South of the Cobblers Bridge. Here you can relax, buy some gifts for you and your friends in great shops with old vinyl, CDs with ethno, funk, jazzy music, wooden toys etc. There are also some nice places where you can eat, from pancakes to steaks, sit down and order a cappuccino or just buy a beer and go down the stairs to Ljubljanica river.

The whole area is reserved for the pedestrians, except for the most southern part of the bank which is a parking space of the residents. You don’t have to worry to get hit by a car; just be careful if there are any cyclists near you.

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Gallusovo nabrezje | Art & culture, Bars, Shopping
Gallusovo nabrezje | Center
24 hours daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jost Derlink

France Preseren’s art and cultural center is one of the most important locations of Ljubljana alternative scene. It is located in Trnovo, near Plecnik museum and Trnovo church. In the building of this center you will find a gallery, a bar and a stage.

KUD also houses the studio of Radio Student. On the stage of the center there are a lot of different events going on throughout the whole year, for example improv theater, different concerts, workshops and movies.

Since the summer of 1992, KUD France Preseren hosts the international Trnfest festival on the courtyard of the center in August. It’s the main event in Ljubljana in that month. There, a lot of bands and theatre groups from Slovenia and abroad, are performing.

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KUD France Preseren | Art & culture, Bars, Music | Beer € 2.00
Karunova ulica 14 | Vic | +38612832288
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 01:00, Sun 14:00 – 01:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jost Derlink

When I was in high school, we went practically every day for our morning coffee or afternoon groaning in Bar Cinkole (named after the owner), because it was one of the closest places.

Some say that they have the best coffee in Ljubljana and some just like the atmosphere.

Inside there are a lot of smaller rooms, all of them decorated with pictures of Marylyn Monroe, James Dean etc. The best room is the last one, with 4 famous pictures of Monroe done by Andy Warhol, colorful walls and a sofa. They also have a lot of tables outside.

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Cinkole | Bars, Coffee & tea | Coffee with milk € 1.20
Poljanska cesta 17 | Center
Mon – Fri 07:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 08:00 – 23:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jost Derlink

What do you get if you combine location in the undiscovered part of old town, cool furniture, tables made of timber, a library with books in Serbo-Croatian and lots of cocktails with absinth? You get one of the greatest places to hang out in Ljubljana – a cozy living-room feeling café at daytime and a great party place at nighttime! You are going to worship their cocktails based on absinth.

Don’t get scared when you come to the bar and see their doors. They make you think the bar has been closed since the last millennium. Just open it and order a Supreme tonic .

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Pri Zelenem zajcu | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Supreme tonic € 4.00
Rožna ulica 3 | Center
Mon – Wed 09:00 – 00:00, Thu – Sat 09:00 – 01:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jost Derlink

Sax pub is located on Eipprova Street. It was the first pub in the street. After that, a lot of other cafes and restaurants opened their doors but despite others you can’t really miss Sax pub. It’s a small house covered with graffiti.

You could call it the second jazz club in Ljubljana as it has a stage smaller than a normal toilet. It’s well known for great atmosphere, especially during the summer, when they have concerts on a stage near Gradascica River, which was made by Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik.

The place is perfect for a break from the center if you don’t have enough time to go somewhere further away. You will find Eipprova Street south of the center in the city part called Trnovo. It is also possible to walk there from Preseren’s square, if you just walk along Ljubljanica River.

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Sax pub | Bars, Music, Snacks | Beer € 2.50
Eipprova ulica 7 | Vic
Mon 12:00 – 01:00, Tue – Sat 10:00 – 01:00, Sun 16:00 – 21:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Union.SLO

This is a unique experience in Ljubljana: drinking coffee on the terrace, 50 meters above the streets, in the first skyscraper in this part of Europe. The café on the top of Nebotičnik finally reopened its doors in 2010.

It was the center of the social life in the past. Each person has its own memory of the place. Older ones think about all that jazz on the top at nights, while younger ones still fancy a strawberry juice with whipped cream. Sadly the place shut down in late 90′s and we almost forgot that this existed in Ljubljana.

I remember the first time I went for a coffee after the renovation. It was cloudy and somewhere in the middle it started to rain, but I didn’t care. The view from the top is spectacular!

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Nebotičnik | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Intern.) | Coffee € 1.60
Štefanova 1 | Center | +38640601787
Cafe Sun – Wed 09:00 – 02:00, Thu – Sat 09:00 – 03:00 | Restaurant Tue – Sat 12:00 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jost Derlink

A few decades ago this was the only café between the Cobblers and the Triple Bridge. Nowadays, you will hardly find a spot on that street without a bar or café, because this is the place to be, where Ljubljana shines in all its glory.

But Maček remains the most popular. That’s why sometimes we have to decide to drink a coffee somewhere else, because getting a table can be a battle.

I’d never sit inside though, for a few reasons: it’s too dark inside, you don’t have the beautiful view inside and because frankly speaking: this is a spot to watch and to be seen .

Also keep in mind that on a weekday there is happy hour (16:00 – 19:00).

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Kavarna Maček | Bars, Coffee & tea | Coffee with milk € 1.60
Krojaška ulica 5 | Center | +38614253791
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 01:00, Sun 09:00 – 23:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Jošt Derlink

Šiška is becoming a better and better place to live and CUK (center urbane kulture / center for urban culture) Kino Šiška earns much of the credits for this. It opened in fall 2009, but already has a huge impact on the Ljubljana scene.

In the last few months it hosted a lot of important musicians from Slovenia and abroad (Josipa Lisac, Lollobrigida, Isis, Pan Sonic, Juno Reactor, Florence and The Machine, New Young Pony Club…). They have mostly music events, but also photo exhibitions, theater and dance events, some workshops…

In the past Kino Šiška was a cinema (kino in Slovene) and was built as a part of the Šiška municipality center. When Ljubljana got a new cinema complex in 2001, the majority of smaller cinemas closed their doors. They wanted to renovate Kino Šiška into a multipurpose hall for different kinds of contemporary events and almost a decade later we finally got it!

My favorite events in Kino Šiška are YU GO! Nights. Each of them presents 3 or 4 bands from ex-Yugoslavia area and can also be tagged as nu yu scene.

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Kino Šiška | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Music, Theaters, Festivals & events
Trg prekomorskih brigad 3 | Siska | +38630310110
Depends

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Tjasa Janovljak

Premier is, like Cafe Promenada, on a less crowded Petkovškovo nabrežje embankment very near Prešernov trg square. It has been here for a while and I am sure it will be here for long since it has really wide selection of beer. Beside local beers there is also tap of Guinness and numerous bottled beers. Like tasteful Czech beers, London Pride, London Porter and others.

Mainly none of them need any extra presentation but there is one that most definitely needs it. That is a local beer called Human Fish Beer after a Slovenian special amphibious, animal that is known as Human Fish (But is not actually a fish!). Tasty beer and cosy atmosphere in this bar will make you wanna come again! 

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Premier Pub | Bars | London Pride € 3.60
Petkovškovo nabrežje 17 | Center | +3864305231
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 01:00, Sun 09:00 – 01:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana

Image by Tjasa Janovljak

This ethno club has brought freshness into Ljubljana when it opened a couple of years ago. One could easily say it is the first ethno club around here. Its name Zlati Zob or Golden Tooth always made me think that this refers to the often seen golden teeth in Gypsy grins. Well, I recently found out it is meant as golden smile, good people, feeling cosy, snacks… A nice environment in short!

The carefully selected decorations are from all over the world and also world ethno music is played here. There is always something going on: dancing performances, concerts, DJ programs, traveler lectures… Dancing lectures of Balkan ‘kolo’ (round dance) are also organized every Tuesday. You should definitely try that, it is unforgettable, believe me.

Another positive thing about that place is that they serve very good Czech draft beer called Bernard and a proper Rakija drink, very well known hard liqueur to any traveler on the Balkans. Quite interesting is also the building itself, which is part of Selo, an 18th century mansion used for different purposes during the history.

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Zlati Zob | Bars, Music, Snacks | Beer € 2.70
Zaloka cesta 69 | Moste | +38659139552
Mon – Thu 19:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 19:00 – 03:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Ljubljana