Ljubljana's old town is walkable in an afternoon and the river is lined with cafés. Most of what you will remember was designed or redesigned by one architect, Jože Plečnik. Allow three days if you like museums, and they're quite helpfully clustered in most cases (By the Park, by the bus station and by the south end of the river). Ljubljana also makes a good base for day trips to Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle and the coast at Piran as well as the famous Lake Bled.
Two things stand out about Slovenes. They love dogs and they love smoking, often at the same café table. English is spoken extremely well, to the point where you will rarely need anything beyond hvala.
Sights & Culture
Ljubljana Castle
The funicular up from the old town opened in 2006. The ride is short, about a minute, but it saves a steep walk, and one ticket covers the funicular, the castle and the attractions inside it, so doing the walk isn't a cost saving.
The castle's own story is that it stands where St George fought the dragon, which, once killed, sank into a sudden cave. The guide who took us to the cave and castle has the dragon killed by Jason and the Argonauts instead, on their way back to the Adriatic. Looking into it, the city's own account offers both, plus a third in which the dragon is the Slavic god Veles. The St George version is the one that casts the dragon as pre-Christian belief, defeated by Christianity, which reads very much like a church overwriting the pagan history of the hill. Pick your myth; the dragon loses either way.
Virtual Castle. A 12-minute film showing the history of the castle, animated in a few styles. The fourth dimension comes from some rumbling and a water spray from the ceiling when it rains. I had a panicked moment covering my camera when that happened the first time.
Viewing tower. A long climb up a red spiral staircase rewards you with a beautiful view over the city. Well worth the effort, even on a cloudy day.
Animations hall. A hall of projection-mapped videos, with a Peter Rabbit vibe.
Museum of Puppetry. Lots of interactive puppets. Not large, but interesting. I seem to visit a lot of puppet museums, including Lisbon and Fribourg.
Slovenian History Museum A small museum, showing some of the finds and history of the castle. Not worth a visit on its own as the National Museum gives a better outline, but worth calling in if you're already at the castle.
Dragon Bridge
Dragon statues on every corner. That's all there is to say about this bridge except according to local legends, when a virgin crosses the bridge, the dragons will wag their tails.
Triple Bridge (Tromostovje)
Something of a unique marvel, the triple bridge is three bridges across the river linked to each other. Dating to the 13th century, it was redesigned by Jože Plečnik.
Cobblers' Bridge
Also known as the Shoemaker's Bridge. It is decorated by two kinds of pillars, the Corinthian pillars which form the shape of the bridge itself and the Ionic pillars as lamp-bearers. It was designed by Jože Plečnik.
National and University Library
A cool-looking building, and the windows look like books. Plečnik designed it in the early 1930s and it was built between 1936 and 1941.
Križanke
Originally a monastery of the Teutonic Knights, with work believed to have begun in 1228. Plečnik converted it into an open-air festival venue in the 1950s, and it is now a music venue for the Ljubljana Festival and others. Beautiful architecture.
Trnovo Bridge
Plečnik's Trnovo Bridge is very cool and is effectively part of the square in front of the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, which is a pretty church in its own right.
Museums & Galleries
Computer History Museum
Probably the best museum in Ljubljana. It is out of the centre, on Celovška cesta, and the opening hours are odd (afternoons on Thursday and Friday, daytime on Saturday at the time of writing), but it is well worth working around them. It was almost empty; and we were only the second visitors that day.
The ground floor has working versions of all sorts of computers and operating systems, and you can sit down and use them. I set the high score on Bubble Bobble and got the joy of hearing the screeching sounds of a ZX Spectrum reading a tape, something I'd not heard in perhaps 35 years. Upstairs was a temporary exhibition called Hackers – Cyber (in)Security.
National Museum of Slovenia and Slovenian Museum of Natural History
Two museums sharing one building. The thing to find is the Divje Babe bone flute, which despite being the major draw for this museum is a bit hidden. It is a cave-bear thigh bone with holes in it, around 50,000 to 60,000 years old, and the museum labels it a Neanderthal flute, the oldest musical instrument in the world. That claim is contested: several archaeologists argue the holes were made by a carnivore chewing the bone, not by anyone wanting a tune. The museum is confident; the debate is not settled. Either way, it is worth seeking out.
National Museum of Contemporary History
In Tivoli Park. Not a huge museum, but good. Coverage of the break-up of Yugoslavia is thinner than I expected given that it is the defining event of their modern state, but the WW2 section is excellent. There is a section on gifts to the nation, which is a very odd selection of objects. Apparently nations gift each other like a grandmother at Christmas.
National Gallery of Slovenia
There was a mix-up over tickets: no temporary exhibition was on, which we had paid for, and we got a refund. The permanent collection is very religious, well laid out and not huge. It would be better value with a temporary exhibition running.
Museum of Modern Art
Modern art, but focused largely on one artist, Gregor Perušek. A Slovenian-American whose perspectives changed on a visit to Slovenia. It could do more with the space. Suffers a little from the fact there is a second larger Modern Art Museum on the opposite side of town.
Ljubljana City Museum
History upstairs, archaeology downstairs. It felt pitched more at children than adults.
Plečnik House
Advertised to us as free on Google Maps, but it was €12 when we got there, so we skipped it. By this point in the trip, we'd seen a great deal of Plečnik. For the record, the official price is €12 with the guided tour of his home, which is the only way to see it, or €8 for the exhibition alone.
Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova
Three floors, but not as spacious as you'd think, this museum is much more the modern art museum you'd expect compared to the Museum of Modern Art near the Tivoli park. The piece that stuck with me was the mechanical music machine, that reflected a city and the countryside.
Slovene Ethnographic Museum
An incredibly detailed museum over three floors. The narrative was a little jumpy, a section on belief and gods facing some boxing gloves. The most interesting to me was the section on the costumes Slovenia dresses up in for their local 'halloween' equivalent.
Parks & Gardens
Tivoli Park
The city's main park, and the place to see Ljubljana's dogs, which are remarkably well behaved.
Restaurants & Bars
Good Morning Vietnam
Vietnamese lunch. Good and huge portions.
Marley & Me
A nice lunch. We sat in the window, which seemed to bring customers in after us, so consider it payment for the free advertising. The dish I had has its own Reddit thread
Piazza
Pizza and ribeye steak. The inside is done up like a piazza, hence the name. Good ambience, good service and big portions.
Coffee & Cocktails
A great café with good coffee.
The Artisan
Great coffee, served in a glass jug with cups.
Pekarna Pečjak
A bakery with coffee. The coffee was fine, it kept us out of the rain, and there is plenty of local produce on sale.
Gig Bar & Burger
In the Supernova mall. I had the Philly cheesesteak, which was pretty good for a mall restaurant.
Kavarna SEM
The lounge bar at the Ethnographic Museum. Very hipster, with high quality coffee as you'd expect.
Das ist Walter
Sarajevo restaurant and homage to the film "Walter Defends Sarajevo" which is on a loop on the wall. The food was great, and far too much for me to finish at lunchtime. I had the Pol, 5 čevapov and a sausage.
Shopping
Central Market
Clothes on one side, vegetables on the other.
Supernova Ljubljana Rudnik
A big shopping mall of normal chain stores, heavily over-served on shoes. The Cineplexx inside is where we saw The Odyssey (review on SnarkFlix).