How much will it cost for a week in Slovenia? -

Let’s backtrack again and look at a budget breakdown for Slovenia. This tiny country is overlooked by many and looking back, it was probably one of my favorite countries to visit in Europe.

Slovenia has a thriving economy thanks to their highly educated workforce and ideal location as a transport hub. The country even boasts a low unemployment rate (6.4% as of 2017). This allows for easy traveling since Slovenia is also on the euro.

What this unfortunately creates for the tourist is higher prices. While the cost will be nowhere comparable to most western European countries, costs will run noticeably higher than their Balkan or Eastern European neighbors. So let’s look how much to expect for your budget.

Category	Expected Cost per Day
Alcohol	$2.00
Entertainment	$2.00
Food	$15.00
Living	$1.00
Lodging	$30.00
Travel	$7.00
Grand Total	$57.00

Table 1. Cost per day varies greatly per category

Alcohol

For the most part, Slovenia boasts pretty standard lagers that will run you 2.5 – 3.5 euro ($2.98 – $4.17) a pint in a bar. The upside is that if you don’t mind buying beer from the grocery store, their generic beers can cost less than 1 euro ($1.20). Mixed drinks and alcohol will usually run you an extra euro or two beyond those beer prices.

Slovenia is a great place to grab a drink and relax throughout the day so a planned $2 a day will allow you a beer a day between the occasional drink in the bar and the grocery store ones. If you head south to Piran in the Istra region, the extensive Italian influence from years past makes the wine worth trying.

Slovenian blueberry liquor!

Entertainment

Entrance fees to Slovenia’s museums and national parks are fairly cheap. The Vintgar Gorge National Park, for example, costs a mere 5 euro ($5.85) for the entrance ticket. You can expect a similar cost for most of their entrance fees.

Attractions like Castle Bled aren’t worth the money and aren’t budgeted for

Food

This is a category Slovenia doesn’t quite thrive in from a budget perspective. While you can find your fair share of budget eats like pizza or burek for 2 euro ($2.34), there’s few meals that you can reasonably eat long term without getting gout.

You may be able to find some decent deals for food, but expect a decent dinner to run around 12 – 20 euro ($14.32 – $23.86) which is quite a bit considering the relative cost of other expenses in the country. This means that the budget mostly accommodates to the occasional mid-range meal, but you’ll have to cook for the most part. Make sure your accommodations have a kitchen!

Fortunately, their coffee will cost between 1.50 – 2.50 euro ($1.79 – $2.98) a cup, which is a fantastic deal for that quality. And if you need some desserts and find yourself south in the Istra region, the repeatedly mentioned Italian influence brought over some great gelato that costs as low as 1.00 – 1.50 euro ($1.19 – $1.79) a scoop.

Its delicious until it never leaves the bottom of your gut

Living

Expect the usual, small costs like the occasional souvenir or perhaps some more toothpaste. Hand wash your clothes, as laundry in most accommodations are pretty expensive.

Lodging

Another category where the costs are disproportionately higher. Tourism in Slovenia has been steadily increasing, but accommodations haven’t quite kept up for some reason. This means in the major tourist areas like Bled and Piran, you can expect costs from 25 – 35 euro ($29.83 – $41.76) a night. In Ljubljana (due to some competition) and smaller towns, cost can be lower and ranges from 20 – 30 euro ($23.86 – $35.80) a night.

Travel

Buses are an easy and cheap way to travel around almost all of Slovenia. The tickets are fairly affordable, going for 6-9 euro ($7.16 – $10.74) for an intercity ticket. There’s little need to budget for transport within a city as most Slovenian towns are so small that all major sites are very walkable.

Unless you want to take the Ljubljana river cruise!

My Costs

Slovenia ended up costing me a little bit above my target goal of $50 a day. I didn’t find the country to be a money sinkhole like Germany or a budget paradise like Poland. It’s an affordable place to travel and I definitely felt like my dollars spent there were worth every penny.