Is Slovenia as Cheap as Everyone Says? (What I Spent in a Weekend)

My friend, Sarah, and I like to do a weekend trip away each year and, where possible, we want to go to less common travel spots to try out. Slovenia was on my list for many reasons, but one of the biggest was because it is classed as ‘Eastern European’ cheap, which is what we were looking for! 

There are areas where we could have saved money during this trip, and we did not scrimp or hold back on things that we wanted to do or buy, but overall, I do think that this trip ended up costing me more than I originally thought it would. Put it this way - I have to add more money into my Revolut account! 

I have broken down what costs I paid for things (based on x2 people!)

Before we left, we had pre-booked the main things, including flights and accommodation. At the last minute, we did decide to add on car hire. We had originally planned to join tours to go out of Ljubljana and to visit different places (like Lake Bled and Predjama Castle) but we found it was a lot cheaper to hire a car to visit them ourselves, which also meant we could be on our own timeframe and not rushed to stick to a deadline. Because of this, we did a last-minute add on an extra night’s accommodation near Lake Bled so we could stay out that way, which added an extra £113 to the trip. The flights weren’t cheap at £320 (for 2) but I felt that for 3 x nights in a big city, £187 (for 2 people) was very reasonable. 

Our biggest expense on our first day was a walking food tour that we decided to do. This took around 3 hours and included 5 dishes plus drinks. Although this was a little pricey at £155 (for 2), it was well worth it. We got to try lots of new food, see the city, get tips and details from a local and, on top of that, we were so full from the food we had that we did not need another meal again that night.

Day two saw us drive out of the city and towards the lakes. I found some things cheap (like some of the parking), but anything relating to Lake Bled or near there definitely hiked up their prices because of the popularity of the lake! 

Day three was again where we spent on tours. The castle and caves was a little pricey, but I enjoyed both and feel it was worth it. 

The last day was basically heading back to the airport and we had to fill up the car before giving it back. We had not put any petrol in at that point and I was pleasantly surprised when the total to till it up (after driving around the country for 3 days) was less than £30! Definitely cheap. We did not have many other costs that day (not including the fact that we accidentally scuffed one of the alloys and got charged £400 when we got home because of this 🙁) 

Whereas I do not think £587 per person for 4 days away is too bad, I do not think it was the dirt cheap experience I was expecting. Slovenia is often called a budget alternative to Switzerland or Italy, and it definitely is cheaper, but just watch out for some things as it can add up!