Posted by If you are going on holiday abroad, you should always find out about possible public holidays in the destination country before you travel. It can be very annoying to find yourself in front of closed shops, banks or sights.
Slovenia is a country with rather many public holidays. In the state, the majority of shops are closed on Sundays and public holidays. Only a few shopping centres, very large shops and some shops in important tourist destinations are open on Sundays and public holidays, but usually only for a few hours in the morning and early afternoon.
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– Tours and bus trips Ljubljana: click here
Some holidays in Slovenia are so important that even the big shopping centres are closed. The exact days vary from place to place. Often such important holidays are 1 January (New Year), 1 May (Labour Day), 1 November (All Saints’ Day) and 25 December (Christmas Day).
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If public holidays fall on a Sunday, they are usually made up on Monday in Slovenia. There are a total of 9 public holidays and two other days on which schools and most authorities are closed.
Public holidays in Slovenia
1 January. Like almost everywhere in Europe, New Year’s Day is an important public holiday in Slovenia.
8 February: Preseren Day or Culture Day. The day is dedicated to the extremely important poet France Prešeren, who died on 8 February 1849 in Kranj (Carniola).
27 April: Resistance Day in the Second World War. On 27.4.1941 the resistance group “Osvobodilna Fronta” was founded in Ljubljana. The exact date is somewhat disputed, but the holiday is celebrated on 27 April.
1 May: Labour Day. This day is celebrated in very many countries in Europe.
25 June: Independence Day. On 25 June 1991, independence from Yugoslavia was proclaimed in the parliament in Ljubljana. An extremely important holiday for the small country of Slovenia, which has been an independent state for the first time in history since 1991.
Book day tours Slovenia online
You can book many great day trips within Slovenia by bus online.
Many of these tickets are available on the well-known website Getyourguide.com
– Bus tours to the Postojna Caves: click here
– Tours to and from Lake Bled: click here
– Tours and bus trips Ljubljana: click here
31 October: Reformation Day. About 500 years ago, on 31.10.1517, Martin Luther affixes his 95 theses to the castle church of Wittenberg (Germany).
1 November. All Saints’ Day, an important holiday in Slovenia. This means two public holidays in immediate succession, many people take the whole week off. Hotels etc. are often fully booked.
25 December: Christmas, as everywhere in Europe also in Slovenia a very important holiday.
26 December: The 2nd day of Christmas is also a political holiday in Slovenia. Like 25 June, the holiday has to do with independence from Yugoslavia. On 23 December 1990, Slovenia voted on independence in a referendum. Three days later, on 26 December 1990, the result was announced in Ljubljana. About 88% of Slovenians voted for independence. It was the beginning of the end of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, which was finally dissolved in 1992.
Notes
It is noticeable that neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are fully-fledged holidays in Slovenia. However, Easter (Easter Sunday) is also an important festival in Slovenia. This also applies to Whit Monday.
There are, as mentioned above, two more days when schools, banks, many shops and government offices are closed. These are Easter Monday and 15 August (Assumption Day).
Also on Easter (Easter Sunday), many shops that are usually open on Sunday are closed.
On New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve, many shops and shopping centres in Slovenia also close earlier than on a normal working day.