Velenje: Hotels and accommodations

A visit to the Coal Mining Museum of Slovenia takes you 160 metres underground and ends with a ride on an underground railway.

I would like to book a hotel for Velenje and Lake Velenje.

Nature

Lake Velenje was created as a result of coal mining. At Vista Park, a viewing platform offers panoramic views of Lake Velenje. The lakeside stage at Vista Park on Lake Velenje hosts concerts, fairs, educational programmes, festivals and cultural events.

Vista Park includes walking paths, a platform for cyclists, skateboarders and roller skaters, a children's playground and a pier extending 50 metres into the water. At Lake Velenje, children can use the free water park and playgrounds.

Stories of the Lost Villages is a guided walk along the lake beside the renovated Velenje Beach and the lakeside promenade. It explains how coal mining permanently changed the landscape and left the remains of lost villages beneath Lake Velenje.

Culture

The Coal Mining Museum of Slovenia presents 20 scenes and 15 life-size models depicting the lives and work of miners. The museum's outdoor area includes a typical miner's apartment from the 1930s and ten thematic exhibitions on the development of coal mining.

The Velenje Museum presents eleven permanent museum and gallery exhibitions at Velenje Castle. Featured collections include exhibitions on local history, František Foit's African collection, a collection of mastodon remains and contemporary Slovenian art.

Velenje Castle houses a gallery with paintings by Lojze Perko and a permanent exhibition of 20th-century Slovenian applied art. It also features a reconstruction of a shop and an inn from the 1930s.

The Velenje Gallery has exhibition spaces for major exhibitions and projects and is a centre for modern applied art. Fbunker is an exhibition centre for photography and film in the underpass near Vila Bianca, which connects the old and new parts of Velenje.

History

The core of Velenje Castle was built in the 13th century; most of its present appearance dates from three centuries later, in the 16th century. Vila Bianca is a historic building in Velenje's old town. It was built in the second half of the 19th century in the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Gothic styles.

Velenje's modernist urban planning and architecture integrated the city into a park landscape shaped by nature, rather than creating parks solely as separate urban spaces.

Events

Pika's Festival takes place in Velenje every year and is considered Slovenia's largest children's festival. The festival includes theatre, puppet and dance performances, concerts, creative workshops, exhibitions and interactive experiences, including at Tito Square, Pika's Children's Playground, the Red Hall and Pika's Cinema.

Cuisine

The tasting experience at Vila Bianca combines a guided tour of the villa with a tasting of homemade local specialities from the Å alek Valley. The tasting programme includes local chocolate, craft beer, potica, grape products, honey and bee products, agricultural produce, as well as wine and grape juice tastings.

Getting there and orientation

Regular bus services make it possible to travel to Velenje from all parts of Slovenia. Velenje railway station provides access to regional rail connections towards Celje, Ljubljana and Maribor. Lokalc is a free municipal bus service in the Municipality of Velenje with five routes and 43 stops.

The Huda luknja (Å trekna) national cycling route runs through Velenje, connecting it with the Mislinja Valley and onwards with Austria, as does the Drava Cycling Route. TIC Velenje offers electric bicycles, allowing visitors to explore the landscapes of the Å alek Valley sustainably.

TIC Velenje provides information about natural and cultural attractions, events, gastronomy and accommodations in Velenje, as well as the SAÅ A region, and offers guided tours with local guides.

The pages on Topolšica, Velenje, Gorenje and Šoštanj also lead to further destinations.

For the higher-level travel overview: Slovenia.

More destinations

More places within the same destination:

Izola, Novo Mesto, Ljubljana, Jesenice.