Kamnik

Kamnik is a town in Central Slovenia. Once a rival to Ljubljana and Kranj for economic dominance of Carniola, today's Kamnik (Stein in German) is a sleepy suburb of Ljubljana, with a population of just over 14,000 (2018).



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.

By plane
Kamnik is 15 km away from Ljubljana's Brnik Airport. A taxi costs around €25.


 * Airport Taxi, +386 41 670216, taxibrnik@gmail.com.

By train
SŽ has hourly commuter services from Ljubljana, taking about 40 minutes. There are three stations in Kamnik, with being the closest to the Old Town. There are no services on weekends or holidays.

By bus
Kam-Bus runs frequent services from Ljubljana (€3) and some limited direct services to other points nearby. The is at the edge of the old town, and there's a map to orient yourself as you exit. On weekdays, buses leave every 15-30 minutes from 05:00 until 24:00 and take just under an hour. On weekends, services are reduced to once per hour.

By car
Kamnik is accessible via highways A1 (Maribor - Ljubljana), exit Domžale, and A2 (Villach (Beljak)/Jesenice/Ljubljana), exit Vodice. Parking is payable and mostly time-limited in the very center, but if you go somewhat outside, you may park for longer, at some places even for free.

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.

Old Town
It roughly covers the area from the southern end of Šutna (pedestrian zone), over glavni trg, up to medvedova ulica in the northern part of the city center (including some of the side roads) and offers many very nice historic buildings.

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).
 * 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).
 * If you want to go skiing or biking in a park, head to Krvavec (which is in the neighboring municipality, Cerklje na Gorenjskem).
 * If you want to go skiing or biking in a park, head to Krvavec (which is in the neighboring municipality, Cerklje na Gorenjskem).
 * If you want to go skiing or biking in a park, head to Krvavec (which is in the neighboring municipality, Cerklje na Gorenjskem).
 * If you want to go skiing or biking in a park, head to Krvavec (which is in the neighboring municipality, Cerklje na Gorenjskem).

Work
While Kamnik is rather small, it is home to a small but very friendly coworking scene, in KIKštarter at the southern end of the former chemical/explosive plant (address: Fužine 9, next to the cultural center). Possibilities for employment are rather rare, if you look for them, rather head to Ljubljana as the next bigger city.

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

Outside of the town centre


Camping: Mountain huts: On mala planina (easily accessible from velika planina):

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: Nature and sports and to some extent history of the region:
 * 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 Eastwads
 * Škofja Loka - another of the somewhat bigger cities in Slovenia having a great Medieval old town
 * 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.