Kamnik

Understand

While there is some modern sprawl to the south, the medieval Old Town (Staro mesto) has been wonderfully preserved and makes this town well worth a visit.

Orienting yourself in Kamnik is easy enough. Most medieval buildings line the pedestrian street of Šutna, and its northern end lie Mali grad and the city square of Glavni trg. To the east runs the Kamniška Bistrica river and across it are the ruins of the Old Castle.

You can get further information, leaflets and a map of the municipality in the , which also has a computer for internet access (payable) and offers high quality maps of the municipality (which includes most of the surrounding mountains, free of charge) and rents out bikes.

Get in

thumb|Medvedova ulica in a sunny setting just after a rain shower

Get around

The town of Kamnik is easily covered on foot. The municipality spans wider and covers many of the mountainous areas around (nearly up to the Austrian border or around 20 km north to south and about 25 km east to west). Most settlements and places within the valleys are accessible by public bus, the network is operated by KamBus, please be aware that services are regular and reliable but not frequent. Biking is quite popular amongst the sporty people (you can rent bikes at the tourist information). Most areas are easily accessible by car, although parking is not always easy. The mountains are great for hiking, Slovenia's biggest Alp Velika Planina is accessible via . Mountain roads are mostly service roads only, closed to public traffic.

See

thumb|The chapel of Mali grad rising above town

Do

Go hiking or biking in the Alps, some of the options are: If you want to go skiing or biking in a park, head to Krvavec (which is in the neighboring municipality, Cerklje na Gorenjskem).

Buy

The passing of time has not left Kamnik untouched, and many local shops, especially in the pedestrian area have closed. However, from time to time, new shops open. And there still are some small shops the central area, which extends somewhat south further down from Šutna and around Glavni trg, to some extent also north on Medvedova. On the side roads, there are some shops that are not obvious from the main roads.

The food market at operates on Tuesdays and Saturdays, starting at 07:00 and running up to 14:00 in winter, 17:00 in summer (i.e. April through September) and, although small, offers a good choice of delicious local products.

Supermarkets are easily available at most parts of the city and are two shopping malls in the south of the city ( and ).

Eat

Out of the town centre: In Duplica (the rather industrial/commercial southern part of the town): On Velika Planina and Mala Planina: The huts mentioned in the Sleep section also offer food!

Drink

Cafés: Café-bars: Pubs: There are local craft beer breweries: Maister and Mali grad

Connect

The There are no internet cafes in town. However, some cafes offer free Wi-Fi (e.g. Majolka, see eat section).

Go next

Cities: Ljubljana - Slovenia's capital and cultural and economic centre Kranj - the third out of the formerly three competing cities of the region (Kamnik, Ljubljana, Kranj), now also mostly a suburb to Ljubljana, but having a nice location and a great old city centre Maribor - the second bigger city in Slovenia, nicely located at the Drava river, European Capital of Culture 2012, with a very nice city core Celje – Slovenia's third biggest city, dating back to Hallstadt era and showing settlement also in Roman times, it is still home to a nice old town while being similarly sleepy as Kamnik, can be reached by a slow but nice drive through one of the two valleys heading eastwards Škofja Loka - another of the somewhat bigger cities in Slovenia having a great Medieval old town Nature and sports and to some extent history of the region: Cerklje na Gorenjskem (West of Kamnik) with Krvavec (one of the more notable mountains, home to a ski resort in winter and bike park in summer) is "just over the hills" Luče the municipality just north-north-east of Kamnik which has some nice mountains and smaller sights (such as for example a very old, still operational water mill) Solčava/Logarska Dolina (North of Kamnik and Luče), often also dubbed the Green Valley, is the last valley in Slovenia south of the Austrian border in the region. Near in kilometers but some passes and hence quite some time away. Old farms and village cores are worth seeing.