Posted by Tivoli Park is by far the largest city park in Slovenia. The park in the capital Ljubljana has a size of a gigantic 500 hectares. This makes it larger than the largest city park in Germany, the English Garden in Munich. It is also larger than the Tempelhofer Feld (former Tempelhof Airport) in Berlin.
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
Tivoli Park begins in the western centre of the city of Ljubljana. There are many interesting sights in the green area.
These include a castle and other beautiful buildings, various sculptures, a lake, a rose garden, a forest nature trail, a tropical greenhouse and large sports halls.
Our tip: The great Ljubljana Card
Very good city ticket including local transport, castle with cable car, zoo, about 20 museums and more. The Ljubljana Card is available for 24, 48 and 72 hours. One of the best city passes for tourists in Europe. Extensive offer, good price/performance ratio, worthwhile. No more annoying buying of local transport tickets and entrance tickets for the city. Simple smartphone ticket. The Ljubljana Card is almost a must for tourists who want to see the city in a few days.
>>> More info and booking
History and overview Tivoli Park
The city park Tivoli was planned by the architect Jean Blanchard in 1813. At that time, the region belonged to France (Illyrian provinces) for a few years under Napoleon. The famous lake was not artificially built until 1880. Between the two world wars, the architect Joze Plecnik redesigned large parts of Ljubljana. In Tivoli Park he built, among other things, the Jakopic Promenade. It is an imposing, wide path from the city centre to the steps in front of Tivoli Castle. Since 1951, the gigantic city park has also housed the Ljubljana Zoo.
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
Most of the sights are in the front part of the large green area. The back part looks very natural in large parts, visitors can hardly imagine being in a big city. There is also a high hill here (Roznik), and to the south of it is the zoo. Since 1984, Tivoli Park has even been an official nature park and is protected. Some rare bird species nest in the park. You can walk for hours in Tivoli Park. Tivoli is also very popular among joggers. The park is popular with both locals and tourists. Especially in the summer there is a lot going on. A large proportion of park visitors enter Tivoli Park through a pedestrian subway near the National Gallery of Slovenia. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk from the old town to the large park.
The Ljubljana Card
The Ljubljana Card is a great thing for tourists. With the ticket, you can use public transport in Ljubljana for free, have free admission to almost all museums and to the zoo. Also the funicular to the castle, the entrance to the castle, a guided city tour and much more are included.
>>> Link for booking the Ljubljana Card
Tivoli Castle
The castle, not far from the entrance to Tivoli Park from the city centre, was built by the Jesuits at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1852 the Emperor of Austria Franz Josef bought it and gave it to his former commander Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. He is immortalised by the world-famous Radetzky March by Johann Strauss.
At that time, the castle in the still new Tivoli Park was called Schloss Unterthurn in German. Today, the International Art Print Centre is housed in the castle. It is a museum worth seeing for modern graphics from the 20th century. On our last visit in 2019, the entrance fee to the graphics exhibition at Tivoli Castle was €5 for adults. Opening hours: daily except Monday and some public holidays 10am to 6pm.
We liked the statues of the four dogs in front of the castle. They seem to guard the building. Why the artist didn’t give the dogs tongues is still disputed. The dog sculptures are by the Austrian Anton Dominik Fernkorn (1864).
Great city tour of Ljubljana incl. cable car to the castle: More info and booking
Villa Cekin (Palais Cekinov grad)
The Palais Cekin (English: Cekin Mension) is another imposing building in the Tivoli Park in Ljubljana. The building houses the interesting Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia (also called the Museum of Modern History of Slovenia). Opening hours: daily except Monday from 10 am to 6 pm. Villa Cekin is located in the north of the city park.
Tivoli Lake (Tivoli Pond, Tivolski Ribnik)
Lake Tivoli is a small body of water in the south-east of Tivoli City Park. If you walk around the lake, you can stop at a nice cafe. Many fish live in the lake and some rare birds nest around it. But you see mostly the European lake classics swans and mallards.
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Greenhouse
Not far from Lake Tivoli is a greenhouse, admission is free. The temperature and humidity are tropical. In one room, cacti and other plants from deserts are on display. In the other room you can see plants from humid regions of the tropics. Opening hours: From 12 noon, closed on Mondays.
Playgrounds
For decades, the children’s playgrounds in Tivoli Park have been well-known among the residents of Ljubljana. The large playground near Lake Tivoli is considered the biggest and best “Children’s Playground” in Ljubljana.
Ljubljana Zoo
The highlight of the back part of Tivoli Park is the zoo of the capital of Slovenia. You can reach the zoo by walking across Tivoli Park (about 30 minutes) or by bus from the main railway station. Parking is available near the zoo.
A main focus of the Ljubljana Zoo is indigenous animals from Slovenia. These include brown bears, wolves, deer, rams and storks (both white and black). But you can also see “zoo classics” from all continents of the world such as tigers, elephants, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, sea lions, monkeys, flamingos and many more. Relatively new are the squirrel monkeys (Latin America), the alpacas (small camels from South America) and the lesser pandas from Asia. The two lions unfortunately died some years ago. All in all, there are about 120 animal species in Slovenia’s largest zoo.
The name of the zoo in Slovenian: Živalski vrt Ljubljana, but fortunately the simple word “zoo” is also understood in Slovenia.
Entrance fees Ljubljana Zoo: Adults pay an entrance fee of 8 euros. The zoo offers discounts for various groups (children, students, senior citizens, etc.).
Opening hours Ljubljana Zoo: As far as we know, the zoo is open every day from 9 am. In summer you can stay at the zoo until 7 pm. In winter, the zoo closes at 16:30 in case of early darkness.
Address Ljubljana Zoo: Zivalski vrt Ljubljana, Vecna pot 70, 1000 Ljubljana
Sculptures in Tivoli Park
In some places you can see bronze figures in the park. We have already mentioned the famous four dogs in front of the castle above.
The poet Edvard Kocbek (1904-1981) sitting on a park bench is well known. The Slovenian poet was a well-known resistance fighter in the Second World War. In Slovenia, Edvard Kocbek is a national hero. You can find the statue near the Tivoli lake.
Short video about Tivoli Park
The video shows some of the sights in the city park.