December is a month where Ljubljana carries a special festive glow.

Ljubljana’s festive December celebrations get underway at 5.15pm on Saturday 3 December with the ‘People, light a lamp!’ event, where festive lights will be lit across the capital of Slovenia’s city centre.

Traditionally, the December programme includes the St Nicholas Fair, the Holiday Fair, the St Nicholas Procession, the Good Fairy, the five processions of Grandfather Frost and his ensemble, street theatre performances, a Christmas concert, a rich children’s programme, an open-air music programme in squares and open-air firework New Year celebrations.

The full December programme can be found at the following link.

The news this year that we would highlight is:

• A fairytale village in Zvezda Park for the youngest, who will enjoy themselves with puppet shows, the showcases of Ljubljana kindergartens and schools, the creative workshops and skilful games. The fairytale village will also be visited by Father Christmas and Grandfather Frost.
• Children from Ljubljana primary schools will be in charge of the festive hand-made decoration of trees in Zvezda Park.
• The fairytale village is also to play host to a festive book fair. Books are the most beautiful gift, so there is to be the widest selection available from the various Slovenian publishers.
• A choir will perform every evening between 12 and 15 December at the pavilion in Zvezda Park.
• A novelty this year is to be a large stage on Congress Square, which replaces previous years’ stage on Prešeren Square. The big stage is the venue for a wide range of concerts from 26 December to 1 January.
• There is also to be an entertaining music programme in the second half of December on a stage in Novi trg.
• The open air New Year celebrations are to take place in four squares: Congress, Mestni, Pogačarjev and Trg francoske revolucije, French Revolution Square.
• This year, the custom-designed lighting ‘Universal Ljubljana’, ‘the Path of Life’ and ‘the birth of shape’ by creator Zmago Modic are supplemented by ‘Light bearers’ in Prešeren Square.

 

Performers

The stages set up on Novi trg, Congress Square and Pogačarjev trg are to play host to numerous renowned musical performers, such as Kontrabant, Ana Pupedan, the ‘Misije Evrovizije’ finalists, the show to determine who will represent Slovenia in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Siddharta, Tanja Žagar, Tabu, Društvo mrtvih pesnikov (the Dead Poets’ Society), Dan D, Alya, the Pustotnik harmonica orchestra and others.

The New Year entertainment is to be provided by Novi Fosili, Jan Plestenjak and Čuki in Congress Square; Anika Horvat with the Time to Time band and Nina Pušlar with a backing group on Mestni trg; the Canyon Observer, Negligence, Pankrti, Niet, and the Toasters in French Revolution Square. Slovenian party bands will take you into the New Year in Pogačarjev trg.

Festive Fair

From 3 December on, Breg is home to ‘fair houses’, roofed market stalls with a colourful range of presents suitable for Christmas gift-giving. The 31 fair stalls will be supplemented by 5 others from restaurants and bars offering something to warm you up. The ‘hospitality’ available is also assured by five stalls on Cankarjev nabrežje, three in Prešeren Square and four in Congress Square. The market stalls in Pogačarjev trg with their gift and food and drink fare open their doors from 1 December on.

Festive tours around Ljubljana

Special festive tourist guided tours of Ljubljana are available from tourist information centres at Stritarjeva and Krekov trg and at the railway station, even with an option to be led around by Father Christmas. These open on 16 December and cost €10 per person. The sightseeing of Ljubljana with a festive touch is also a nice gift.

A free brochure with all the details about ‘December in Ljubljana ‘ is available from all tourist information centres in Slovene, English, Italian and German.

Ljubljana Tourism