212 Slovenian municipalities in August 2026 – Dr Jam Travels

Slovenia has 212 municipalities as of 2011. In Yugoslavia, there were 62 municipalities until 1991, and then this number more than tripled in 20 years. Today, the smallest municipality by population, Osilnica, has only 326 inhabitants, and the smallest municipality by area, Odranci, has only 6.9 km2. The whole situation is somewhat ridiculous. The most fragmented municipalities are in Prekmurje and Štajerska.

Since I have already visited more than 100 countries, I once joked with Monika about visiting all the municipalities in Slovenia. For a while, it remained just an idea. But when I started thinking about it this year, I liked the idea more and more, and some other factors caught on. Now I had to decide what counts as visiting a municipality, do I visit municipalities that I have already seen, do I have some time constraints…

The rules are as follows:

• I have to visit all Slovenian municipalities in the shortest possible time (even those I have already visited). At the beginning, I thought I would do it in one year, then in one month, and finally in the shortest possible time. It took me less than 16 days to complete the challenge, it must be some kind of record (Matjaž Hribljan did 13 days by bike for charity – congratulations; I did 16 days by car, but in between I worked, returning to the starting point – double kilometers and less hours per day, alone).
• I make at least a short stop/walk in each municipality (photo and/or video). Here too, at the beginning, the idea was to spend a certain period of time in each municipality, but the difference in the municipalities is too great.

Below is a list of what I visited by day (the link to the day opens a page with a list of municipalities visited that day and the attached video and pictures), and the link in parentheses opens a map with the route to these municipalities):

Summary

It took me 15 days, 7 hours and 37 minutes to visit all 212 municipalities. I spent €1,300 (petrol €460, food and drinks €550, sleeping €223, fine €60). I drove 4,664 km. Again, varied from highway to gravel road, from sleeping on the ground to 4*, from tuna fish to Michelin restaurants.

Sleeping

I slept at home for 11 of the 16 days. The remaining 5: 2 nights at the Imperium 3* hotel in Moravske Toplice (€94 for both nights, no air conditioning), in Kostel pri Radotu in a sleeping bag on a pillow (short and uncomfortable sleep). In Nazarje-Lačja Vas Linasi Resort 3* (€59, air conditioning, balcony). The last night at the Dobrna spa, Švicarija 4* hotel, swimming pool, breakfast, parking (€70). Total €223.

Food and Drink

I basically ate twice a day, breakfast and a late lunch somewhere on the road. During the week, breakfast was at home. During the weekend, I had homemade sandwiches and canned tuna for breakfast, and once I had breakfast at the hotel. Then I would also eat some ice cream or some dessert (cream cake, donut, …) on the road. Cedevita was the main drink, a couple of coffees and energy drinks when I was sleepy. Of course, I always had a bottle of water in the car. Food totaled around €400, drinks around €150 (mainly Cedevita €2-3, coffee and energy drinks, coca cola and sparkling wine €20 at the end).

So food by day: Day 1, budjola with vegetables, Hotel Zvezda – Murska Sobota, €21 with tip. Day 2, beef tagliata with mushrooms, Anton Inn – Cerkvenjak, €34 with tip and McDonald’s in Maribor €9. Day 3, 7 burger Kamnik, €11 menu. Day 4, ćevapi – Das ist Valter Kranj, €16. Day 5, kebab in Antalyja Logatec, €9. Day 6, burger, Stari pisker – Celje, €22. Day 7, pizza Boter – Vrhnika, €17. Day 8, picnic at Radot. Day 9, sandwiches. Day 10, pizza Nora nona – Vipava, €17. Day 11, calamari, Kamra Trebnje, €22. Day 12, burger Story Radovljica, €17 (€45 kemšnite for the family in Bled). Day 13: hot dogs in dough, Elma bakery, Kanal na Soči, €5. Day 14: Michelin restaurant, tasting menu – Hiša Raduha, €116. Day 15: sandwiches. Day 16: breakfast included at the hotel, Trojanski krofi, €23, home early for a meal. Scoop of ice cream from €1.5 to €3.5.

On the road

I drove a 25-year-old Renault Twingo, without air conditioning, quite worn out, problems with the alternator. I drove 4,664 km in 16 days (292 km per day). I spent 60% of the time in the car, a total of about 90 hours. The average speed was just over 50 km/h, because there was a lot of driving through the center of settlements (30 km/h) and various dirt roads and serpentines. The roads are mainly in good condition (many cyclists). Among the bad ones, I remember the center of Jesenice. I drove at least 200 serpentines (Vršič 50, Osilnica 20, … there are also a couple to Vitanje). Roads that were a challenge: Solčava-Črna na Koroškem, Hrastnik-Radeče, Dobrepolje-Ribnica, along the Kolpa, a day’s drive to Idrija, … I spent €460 on gasoline. Paid a fine in Sevnica, 60€ and 3 points for driving 61 on a 50 km/h limit.

I walked 175 km, which is almost 11km on average (the least was 5 km on the last day and the most the penultimate day was 18 km). Excluding sleep and work, I spent about 60 hours in the municipalities, which averaged a little over 15 minutes per municipality. But somewhere I only stopped for a short walk and 2 pictures, and elsewhere I stopped for a longer time and also ate or drank something.

Outside, I was surrounded by forests when not in settlements (60% of the country is covered with forests). Lots of water (rivers, lakes, the sea, a spa-pool; I even got wet in some places). Then there were corn fields, vineyards, hops, sunflowers, … Lots of animals: deer (I almost hit one), a fox with a cub, a marten, a rabbit, a kite, a stork, a heron, swans … Unfortunately, there was a lot of road-kill. Of the domestic animals, I saw cows, sheep, goats, horses, dogs and cats.

Most of the time I would stop in the largest settlement in the municipality, which would usually have the same name as the municipality (this is not a rule, place names are repeated, usually derivatives of Christian saints). Of course, there was a municipal building in the settlements. But the center was almost everywhere a church (Odranci is an exception). In second place would be the fire station. Then, depending on the size, there would be other buildings (inn, cooperative, Mercator store, pharmacy, police, bakery, gas station, elementary school, pastry shop, health center, … it could also be multiple thigs in one building, among the new acquisitions there is a defibrillator and an electric car charger). Monuments and statues were also often present (NOB, World War I, independence, famous personalities, …)

Doing it in the first half of August had its advantages (long day, no rain, 5 weekends – in the end it didn’t matter) and disadvantages (extremely hot, up to 40 degrees outside in the shade, but in the car in the sun…, more work on the roads – also an election year). This meant a whole weekend on the road (maximum 17 hours) and during the week after work up to 8 hours. I definitely set myself a tough mission and my fatigue increased towards the end. At times I was quite sleepy and had to stop, drink some coffee or an energy drink. My concentration also weakened over time, so I got a speeding ticket and a points, missed a traffic sign and almost had an accident.

List of municipalities with basic data: