Šmarna gora

The hill everyone in Ljubljana walks up, 669 m, about an hour, with an inn and a church at the top.

It is the most authentically local thing you can do in Ljubljana that costs nothing.

Šmarna gora is the city’s ritual hike, busy with locals every morning and most evenings. Several marked routes go up from Tacen and Šmartno; the standard one takes 45–60 minutes on a well-trodden forest path with some rocky steps. At the top there is a pilgrimage church, a wide view over the Ljubljana basin to the Kamnik Alps, and an inn selling the traditional post-walk reward of čaj and žganje. Shoes with grip matter in wet weather.