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

During the festive month of December, the atmosphere in Ljubljana is always vibrant, particularly due to a festive street fair and numerous free open-air events held in the beautifully decorated historical city centre.

December events

The festively decorated old city centre will see a range of different events intended for people of all ages and different tastes.

The festival will traditionally begin with the event entitled Let's Turn on the Light, People!, part of which is the turning on of the Christmas street lights. It will culminate on 31 December, in the open-air New Year's Eve celebrations taking place in Ljubljana's central squares.

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

Thursday 27 December is set to be a special day, as between 10am and 4pm under the patronage of the City of Ljubljana, Congress Square is to play host to a charity event organised by RTV Slovenija, intended primarily for children, as special attention is paid to the Botrstvo in Slovenia project.

€108,750 of budget funds have been allocated to co-financing this year’s December event programme, 15% less than last year. Partial funding of the costs of the December event programme has been provided by donors.

A novelty this year is an ice rink, which is to be open on Congress Square every day from 9am to 10pm, and every day there will be three hours of free-of-charge skating. The ice rink’s attractive programme will be supplemented in the closing days of the year by Father Christmas.

Ljubljana’s festive lighting

In December, the city's unique beauty is enhanced by artfully designed Christmas lighting displays, which turn Ljubljana Castle into a colourful, fairy tale-like setting and make the city's squares, churches, bridges and famous creations by the architect Plečnik shine in an all new light.

Zvezda Park is also set to take on a festive air, as it is to be the venue of a Festive Villa, a light sculpture created by children from Ljubljana schools under the tutelage of Andrej Erjavec. There is also a change in the decorative lighting in the city centre, which each year is created by artist Zmago Modic – this year every new element is handmade and environmentally friendly, as they are made of recycled pre-existing materials. This year’s festive lighting carries the title of Feast of Existence.

Around Ljubljana, there are to be installed 64 kilometres of lighting sculptures and light garlands on trees and on seven pines which will be set up on Prešeren Square, near Figovec, on Levstikov trg, pod Trančo, near City Hall and within City Hall and at Ljubljana Castle.

In total, the cost of the decorations runs to the same amount as last year, €166,666 exclusive of VAT, and is funded from the issue of concession contracts for public commercial services managed by the public lighting company.

New Year's Eve celebrations held in city centre squares

The programme of New Year's Eve celebrations held in city centre squares is intended for people of all ages and tastes. A minute after midnight, a fireworks display will set the skies above Ljubljana alight and announce the beginning of a new year.

The full programme of the New Year's Eve celebrations can be found at the following link.

Festive city tours

The regular guided tours of the city organised by Ljubljana Tourism also take on a festive note in December and could be a nice gift for a loved one. You can find out more about these on the Visit Ljubljana website.

Festive Fair

December also brings an extremely festive fair to the city centre, where you can buy Christmas presents for family and friends, something special for yourself and, if the mood takes you, have a glass of mulled wine or hot tea and chat and have a good time with friends and acquaintances.