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Slovenia

Slovenia, officially The Republic of Slovenia is a Mediterranean and a subalpine democratic country in the south of Central Europe in the west bordering with Italy, in the north with Austria, in the northeast with Hungary, in the east and the south with Croatia, and that has on its southwestern side an exit to the Adriatic Sea.

In the economic sense and according to the level of economic development, as well as geographically Slovenia belongs to Central Europe.

General information

Slovenia is a Central European country.

Area:
20 273 km2

Border length:
with Austria 318, with Italy 280, with Hungary 102 and with Croatia 670 km; total 1370 km.

Length of coast:
46.6 km

Regional diversity:
Slovenia is a crossroad of four great European landscapes: the Alps, the Dinaric Mountains, the Mediterranean, and the Pannonic Plains.

Regional units:
Slovenia has eight geographically more or less distinct regions determined historically as well as commonly accepted: Primorska (The Maritime Region), Inner Carniola (Notranjska), Upper Carniola (Gorenjska), Lower Carniola (Dolenjska), Bela krajina (White March), Carinthia (Koroška), Styria (Štajerska), and Prekmurje (Over the River Mura Region).

The highest mountain:
Triglav, 2864 m

Waters:
Slovenia is the land of waters. The total length of waterways, rivers, permanent and flush water tributaries amounts to 26 600 kilometers. In regard to the total quantity of river water per inhabitant is Slovenia among the richest European countries and is four times above the European average.

Average above the sea level:
556.8 m

Share of the forests:
More than half of the area is covered by forest – 1 163 812 hectares (in Europe only Finland and Sweden have a greater share of forests).

Flora and fauna:
Diverse geological composition, variety of relief and the fact that Slovenia spreads over four different bio-geographical areas enabled a plethora of plant and animal species. In Slovenia grow 3000 species of tracheophyte plants and over 50 000 animal species. Animal and plant endemites are also common.

Protection of nature:
Almost 11% of the land area is protected. The largest area is covered by The Triglav National Park (83 807 hectares). With the protection regime enforced there Slovenia reaches a respectable place in regard to European average. Škocjan Caves that possess the largest subterranean canyon in 1986 entered the World Heritage List of UNESCO. The list of wetlands within the framework of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at the moment includes Sečovlje Saltpans (proclaimed in 1993), the Lake of Cerknica – a part of the Karst river basin of Ljubljanica (proclaimed in 2006), and the system of underground wetlands of Škocjan Caves (proclaimed in 1999).

Climate:
alpine, continental, Mediterranean

LANGUAGE
Slovenian is completely developed and internally strongly diversified modern language. The grammatical, lexicographical, and orthographical codification of literary Slovenian has a rich tradition from the 16th century onwards (the first Slovenian book was printed in 1550). In November 2001 the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences published the New Slovenian Orthography, which on more than 1800 pages explains in addition to the orthography also the main grammatical principles, and in the lexicographical part presents more than 130 000 words. The book is already the sixth Slovenian orthography and the first one since the Slovenian independence. The preparation of the orthographical dictionary took more than ten years.

Travelling

How to reach Slovenia?


BY PLANE (Departures/arrivals of flights)
The Slovenian flight-carrier is through regular lines connecting the main European cities and Ljubljana is thus connected to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Paris, London, Dublin, Manchester, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Moscow, Split, Sarajevo, Skopje, Ohrid, Tirana, Tel Aviv, Podgorica, Prishtina, and Constantinople.



BY CAR
The best way to travel the country is by car. The roads and the signs along them are good. Alongside the roads you will find resting areas, restaurants, and hotels for overnight.



BY TRAIN (Train timetable)
With modern and comfortable trains you can reach almost all the important tourist locations of Slovenia. The connections with foreign countries are also good: you can reach Slovenia with direct trains from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Macedonia. Tran transports are comfortable and cheap.



BY SHIP
The ships arriving to the Slovenian territorial sea are permitted to land only along the piers of international border crossings in Koper and Piran, as well as in Izola (during the season). After mooring the ship the ship, the crew, and the passengers have to be reported to the border authorities. To do this the following documents are required: a document on the ownership of the vessel, a document on the qualification of the leader to drive the boat, and personal identification papers of the vessel passengers.



BY BUS (Bus timetable)
Slovenia can be reached from the neighboring countries also by bus. The local bus transit is well organized and relatively cheap. The timetable and all the information are available at the website.


BORDER FORMALITIES

Money

Slovenians introduced the Euro (€) on the 1st of January 2007 and were thus the fist new member-state that joined the countries in the Euro zone.

Health

In Slovenia you will find a health facility in every major place with opening hours on working days between 07:00 to 19:00.

Important phone numbers

POLICE: 113
AMBULANCE: 112

URL links

Slovenia

• Slovenščina za turiste

• Wikipedia