When in Rome act like the Romans.. so when you visit Green Slovenia, you will see the locals love a nice cup of coffee and a chat!

There are some absolutely stunning cafes around the place for you to find, sit, relax and enjoy the view.. but guess what.. many of them are hidden away and so we thought you might like to know where some of our fave cafes are, so you don't miss out along the way!

And there are a couple of differences to notice about cafes in Slovenia and Slovenians in general and these are 1+2 = 3..

1: It's very tricky to find a cafe here where you can get a decent slice of cake to go with your coffee +2: Locals are generally pretty slim compared to the rest of us! =3: It seems Slovenians are generally not bothered about having a nice slice of Carrot cake with their cappucino!

Despite this we still managed to find a few special cafes along the way that maybe have a fab location or a yummy cake or ice cream option! And there is some more good news as fortunately, you can get ice cream at many cafes.. so you should still have a decent chance of having a gelato with your espresso!

You can see photos of ALL our favourite cafes bottom of page on the gallery slider and here now are some extra special details about just some of the cafes we recommend to our guests to stop off at during their daytrip adventures all around Green Slovenia.. in no particular order!

Tolmin Gorge / Miriam's secret Cafe (also the main photo above)..

Perhaps the ultimate secret cafe in Green Slovenia is "Miriam's", half way up a mountain above the stunning Tolmin Gorge. From the gorge you can walk up the stone steps to Devil's bridge and follow the steep curvy mountain road up to the cave where Dante got his inspiration for the Inferno.. right next to the cave you will find a little sign to the cafe and you go up some beautiful steep forest steps which short cut the long road.

The views as you go up are amazing. On one side you get pointy and curvy green Alpine mountains and down below you see the town of Tolmin and the Soca river. Leave the first forest, cross the road and find more steps bringing even more sensational views and finally to some wonkey donkeys living on the side of the mountain slopes and a deserved rest at Miriams cafe, where you can get fab home made strudel and cheese fresh from the upper village.

The remarkable thing is that although you already feel so high up.. (for many this might be your only mountain hiking experience here in Green Slovenia).. just look out the cafe window on the road side and all you can see are the green trees of yet another mountain.. you would need to step outside to see the peak soaring into the clouds.. It's a special place.

Kanal / Rafaelos..

On the way to Tolmin from the Lodge there is a wonderful cafe to stop off at and admire the breath taking bridge across the Soca river at Kanal.

When you have crossed the bridge and gone around the bend, pull into the car park on the right, just as you leave this small town at Rafaelos, if you overshoot a bit then there is a petrol station before you do leave Kanal, so you could turn around there..

Rafaelo is also the name of the yummy coconut cake they make here, but it is the very very good ice cream you should go for with a have a nice sit down on the terrace outside to suck in the sensational bridge view.. we hope your timing is good so you hear the town clock tower bong each hour!

this is your view of Kanal from Rafaelos cafe.. the ice cream ain't half bad either!!

Lake Bled / Slascicarna Zima (Zima confectionary)..

We thoroughly recommend that you try Slovenia's most famous Crem Schnitta cream cake when visiting lake Bled, but read on as you don't necessarily have to sit on the terrace of that posh looking cafe with a view over the most picturesque Alpine lake in the world to the castle and the little island with the church on it..

There is another cafe & bakers in Bled just a few streets away from the lake, a little into the town towards the bus station, where the locals go for their Crem Schnitta! It's called Slascicarna Zima and it won't be nearly as busy as the lakeside one and the choice of home made cakes is totally yummy..

Actually we think the cakes taste better from here and you will know you are in the right place if you find a really cool spiral staircase leading down to the toilets!

So here's an idea.. why not have a coffee with your messy Crem Schnitta here.. away from the crowds, without the view, but with the local atmosphere.. BUT also buy an extra cake to find a little special bench somewhere quiet around the lake to enjoy your private Slovenian lakeside paradise view in peace.. Delicious!

Vipava / Bar pri Marjanci (this is the best ice cream one folks)!

Just around the corner from the Lodge in stunning Vipava, the prettiest town in the Vipava wine valley, you would never guess that one of the cafes in the town centre also serves the very best ice cream in all Green Slovenia! The only apparent clue is the constant queue of people snaking outside.. local folks come from Ljubljana to try this ice cream, it's so good!

And it really is so good that we have to give crazy advice to our guests to go visit this cafe BEFORE they go out for a meal in one of Vipava's really, really excellent restaurants.. the reason is there is so much demand for the ice cream every day, the cafe just cannot make enough.. so they often run out before the evening shift and we don't want our guests to miss out! Scoopadoodledo! (We have known guests to go back again later in the evening on the off chance and get the last scrapings)!

Apart from being taken aback by how beautiful and Italian the tiny town centre of Vipava looks, you will hardly notice people sitting quite normally at tables chatting and drinking coffee outside bar pri Marjanci and inside locals watch sport on TV.

The glass ice cream counter is right at the front of the main bar, (you will need 2 scoops) and then we highly recommend you head down the picturesque alley right next to this cafe to find a few of the 7 Sources of the Vipava river that gush with crystal clear fresh water from deep within the steep mountain rock and flow into a picturesque little green lake at the back of this lovely little town and then off to the beautiful Vipava river!

Logar Valley / Eagle's Nest cafe..

If you are lucky enough to know about the amazing Logar valley, (Logarska Dolina) then be sure to climb up to the impressive Eagle's Nest cafe for the best view of the 90m high Rinka waterfall and the opportunity of buying a wacky local pointy felt hat! (If you visit this cafe you will see these hats)!

Bar Marjan on the corner at Dutovlje in the TERAN wine region..

Just around the geographical corner from the Lodge and next to the Vipava valley is the Teran Krast wine region and if you want to explore this beautiful place with curvy roads, Italian style houses, little white churches with massive bell towers and vineyards covering every inch of the fertile red soil then there is a lovely little village called Dutovlje in the middle of it all with a little village centre and a cafe on the corner where you can watch the Mediterranean world go by.

This sunny, green, rocky region is just like so many other individual mini regions of Slovenia being so, so, so different to the rest of the country that you almost have to pinch yourself to remember which European country you are in!

So if you need to slow things down a bit to experience the sights and delights of the Kras mini region, then this little cafe on the corner is the perfect spot to do it!

This is one of those typical Slovenian cafes where you will pretty much just get a very good cup of coffee, but there is a restaurant over the road if you want to stay in this fabulous village in the heart of the Teran wine region just a little bit longer!

Velika Planina / Mountain hut cafe..

There are little huts and cabins on top of lots of the Slovenian mountains serving up simple snack options, so consider yourself lucky if get the choice of a local sausage soup or gulasch as these are the perfect energy foods for being up top! 

There is a lovley little wooden cafe very near the summit of Velika Planina, (1,666m), which translates something like Big mountain meadow and is what we call quite simply, Heaven on Earth!

You can rightly assume that being up here on the cafe terrace on a sunny summer day, surrounded by all those other Alpine Kamnik peaks, with fluffy clouds floating past and cute little hobbit log cabins scattered all over the place will certainly tick the "location" box!

If you are lucky you will meet a local Gandalf-like wizardy shepherd man who patrols this mountain with his Lord of the Rings Shepherd's staff and sometimes down below in Kamnik Old town, looking for victims to have photos with.

If you have walked directly up the slopes or the curvy stone road, (which we recommend) from where the cable car drops you off then you will certainly be ready for an ice cream or a bowl of soup at this cafe.. you will be 360 degree surrounded by stunning views, you can even see to our local mountain Nanos (1,313m) and the last mountain in Slovenia.

And you will need a bit more energy to go find and explore the sensational wooden Hobbit village on the other side of the summit!

Ljubljana / Neboticnik tower cafe and Daktari cafe..

We don't often tip specific restaurants or cafes to our guests in places like Piran or Ljubljana as there are so many to choose from it's just so nice to wander around and drift into the best one for you.

Having said that, we do have 2 very special favourites in the lovely capital city! If you would prefer to visit one of the other hundreds or so amazing castles in Green Slovenia, but would still like to see the city skyline view then just go find the scarily named Neboticnik tower, go in the side door, up the lift, marvel at all the marble stuff and amazing huge wooden spiral staircase and then settle down outside on the glass viewing platform for a coffee and a rather good cake too.

We love the view, the cake and the amazing art deco look and feel of this tower cafe that brings us here time and again!

There are lots of lovely cafes all over Ljubljana, but we also particularly love Daktari, which is tucked away almost next to that furnicuar glass thingy that whisks you up to the castle.. just round the corner from the main market place.

This cavern like cafe has an amazing decor inside and we always imagine it in the older Yugo days, where maybe dissidents and intellectuals with pointy beards met here to plan rebellion over a coffee!

We usually try to sit near the door as the bar space is tight and the kitchen is upstairs so they lower and raise stuff outside by a bucket.. we just love it!

Bonus Ljubblyjana Cafes..

Special mention must also go to the "Oper" cafe which is just around the corner from the Opera house and very art deco. Just the sort of place a visitor to Ljubljana can really get the feel of the old grandness of this mini city.

And just across from the main square (big pink church) on the other side of the river and the three bridges, pretty much the first cafe you will find on the right is called Lolita and serves the most amazing selection of cakes.. yummy!

And a final special mention must go to where you can also get a decent cuppa tea in the several of the speciality tea houses just one street behind the main street that lines the other side of the river. So on the other side of the river where all the cafes are, just go one street back and there are some really nice tea houses along there, go for a pot of the local herbal chai, it's great and made from the greenest freshest herbs you can get anywhere in Europe!

Novo Mesto / Carjarna Stari Most..

Staying on the subject of tea, it is very difficult indeed to please a Brit outside the UK when it comes to getting a decent cup of tea! Fed up of being served inferior brews in glass cups with handles so small you can't even get your little finger through and getting hot milk when you ask for milk and even sometimes getting random slices of fruit, usually lemons with your tea order, we had pretty much given up ordering tea anywhere else in the world! 

However there is a mighty fine olde tea shoppe near the "stari most", which means old bridge in the smallish old town at Novo Mesto, which means new town, but is actually very old!! The tea house has a great position, atmosphere and selection of teas and is a fab tip if you want to spend a little time strolling the old town of one of Slovenia's larger towns, next to the beautiful bottle green Krka river.

Otocek / Otocek castle hotel..

Just along the very same Krka river past Novo Mesto, it is well worth stopping off to see a stunning castle that sits on an island in the middle of the green river.

The castle has been transformed into a swish hotel, but don't be put off, you will feel the difference here in Slovenia as even the posh places have a regular, friendly feel to them.

We parked up on the river bank and dropped in and loved the castle so much that we stopped for coffee and cake and wow, the chocolate option was amazing! 

Even if you don't have a meal here or stop for coffee, then you really should at least see this beautiful castle on an island in the middle of the river..

Postojna / Siests Kavarna (cafe)

We only went and found a cafe in our local town of Postojna that offers a choice of several different slices of home made cakes every day and also invented a special local cake called Jakob cake!

This cake is named after the shepherd boy Jakob, from our neighbouring village of St Michel who killed the evil Postojna cave dragon.

The cake is not made from dragon, but from specific local ingredients growing in our mini region, like pears and plums and we think it is a wonderful idea.

You can find this cafe on the corner of the big free car park in the centre of Postojna.. we always try to encourage our guests to park here anyway and walk to the cave if possible to avoid the rip off extra parking charge for the Postojna cave.. why the parking is not included in the cave ticket, we do not know?!

Izola / Slascicarna Jadran pri Ekremu.. (its the one on the corner with the big photo of the Izola cake)!

Another fantastic delicious local cake has been invented in our fave place by the Slovenian seaside, Izola. The cake is called Isolanka and was named by the local kids..

It's a choccy orange kinda cake and you can taste it overlooking the harbour with the warm mediterranean sea just metres away.

The name is quite tricky, but just to be sure, it's the blue cafe on the corner by the promenade and harbour and they also do mighty fine ice cream here to eat in or take away.. so pretty much the perfect seaside cafe.. 

Most na Soci / Bar Morea

If you are lucky enough to know about the most na soci paddle steamer that Cap'n Dejan pilots around this beautiful turquoise lake filled with stunning Soca water on the other side of pretty Tolmin.. then we strongly recommend you have a coffee either waiting for the steamer to dock or after the tour at this cafe overlooking the lake and close to the steamer jetty..

If this bar was in any other country in the world, with this amazing view, then it would surely also be a fab restaurant with such a fantastic location and view over the lake.. but not here in little old Slovenia.. Just coffee or drinks mate!

(Luckily you can get food at the captain's table on the boat, so you won't feel hungry at the cafe)!

But we should repeat.. the view over the lake from this cafe is absolutely breathtaking..

Predjama Castle / Predjamka cafe

Another absolutely stunning view is the one you get sitting on the terrace of the Predjamka cafe overlooking the jousting arena with a view over to the most unique castle in the world, Predjama.

As you sit here and sip on your cappucino, the castle just mezmerises you.. just hanging out of the cliff rock, 70 metres up!

This is the first and best cafe our guests reach when they take the secret path from Lipizzaner Lodge to Predjama castle and they also do a lovely light local lunch here as well.. considering you could spend most of your day at this amazing castle, this is very handy to know!

Apart from being quite taken aback writing this cafe section at how many really, really lovely cafes we know all around Green Slovenia, I have also realised that it is very difficult to spell cappucinno properly.. cheers!