Find goods on local marketplaces

Typical local organic produce and products are available at markets

Markets and their specialist food shops are important venues for socializing especially on Saturdays.

Plečnik’s covered market, an architectural gem of Ljubljana, is especially lively and a great starting point for exploring the capital. Interesting organic markets open on specific days of the week or month all over Slovenia are also worth visiting.

In addition to the purchase of fresh produce and socialising, markets in Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Izola, Piran, Koper, Kranj and other towns make it possible to meet local food producers in the flesh. The produce from surrounding areas is brought to the marketplace from Monday to Saturday. You can buy them sustainably: with no packaging.

The covered market along the Ljubljanica River is a national cultural monument and one of the greatest sights of Ljubljana

The pavilions from the Triple Bridge to Dragon Bridge are connected by the sturdy embankment wall following the curve of the river.

The renowned Jože Plečnik, whose masterpieces can be viewed while taking the Plečnik tour of Ljubljana, equipped the waterside of the market with semicircular windows and the roadside with a picturesque arcade.

Small shops with Slovenian products and bars are on the upper floor, while a fish market with a small fish restaurant is on the lower floor. At the covered market, you can also try home-made bread from a wood-burning oven, home-made biscuits and cakes, various cheeses, dried fruits and nuts, meat and various meat products. Vegetables, fruit and other produce from local farms are available at stands, and Ljubljana market traders offer a home-grown indigenous lettuce variety – the Ljubljana iceberg lettuce.

When learning about the local produce available, you learn about the culture of Slovenia’s historical towns

On the coast you can meet a fisherman, a cheese maker in the Alps, an oil producer in Pannonian Slovenia, and in Ljubljana, for example, a lettuce seller.

What is offered at the market is inseparably linked to the culinary culture of towns. You can experience it in many historical towns in Slovenia. A renovated marketplace is the heart of the town of princes, Celje. At the market behind the main church in Kranj, you can find products of Alpine Slovenia. Markets in Koper and Piran offer goods from Mediterranean Slovenia.

More and more organic markets can be found in sustainability-oriented Slovenia, including in small towns

In the largest towns, organic farmers offer their produce every week, elsewhere this is done monthly or on special occasions.

In addition to organic markets which have been operating in Ljubljana and Maribor for over 20 years, markets with organically produced goods can also be found in numerous other smaller towns, such as Domžale, Slovenj Gradec or Laško. Occasional markets with local agricultural produce and local culinary brands are also frequently organised.

Basket of vegetables

Fresh local food can easily be found in the shops of large trade networks as well. Local food is highly appreciated in Slovenia, which is also reflected in what retailers offer their customers. But at a marketplace, you get to meet the producer in person.

What has grown in Slovenia will be freshest when bought directly from the producer, for example, at markets.

• You can also ask the producer about the production and examine possible certificates (e.g. about organic production).
• The goods are usually cheaper at markets and are sold at a fair market price.
• They can be bought without unnecessary packaging since we can bring our own sustainable bags or containers.