Public Institute Ljubljana Castle in the Past Year and an Overview of 2026

Public Institute Ljubljana Castle in the Past Year and an Overview of 2026

At the Ljubljana Castle in 2025, we exceeded the number of visitors from the previous year, with a total of just under 1,300,000 visitors. The funicular railway passed a new milestone, transporting more than 600,000 passengers. The castle was lively throughout the year, with 349 events from the cultural and artistic programme and the meetings industry, 980 guided tours and 375 wedding ceremonies. The occupancy rate was also higher at Hostel Celica and our two Na Stolbi studio apartments, facilities that we manage as part of our accommodation activities.
The year 2026 will be marked by a number of anniversaries: on 1 April, we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the founding of the independent Ljubljana Castle Public Institution, a milestone that will be marked by the production of a documentary film about the renovation and revitalisation of the Ljubljana Castle (to be presented at a later date); on 23 April, it will be ten years since the planting of the Castle Vineyard; in September, we will enter the tenth season of the Ljubljana Castle Jazz Club; and on 28 December, it will be twenty years since the funicular railway transported the first passengers to the top of the Castle Hill. Our goal is to continue creating high-quality and diverse content in all areas of our operation, from culture, tourism, accommodation and cuisine to the meetings industry. We are continuing the renovation and completion of the Bastion, which will result in a new, well-arranged urban space along the outer walls of the castle.

The Ljubljana Castle’s entry counters recorded 1,269,311 visitors in 2025. The funicular railway transported 615,448 passengers, while also setting another record by transporting 3,685 passengers in one day. A total of 349 events took place in the castle premises and venues, along with 980 guided tours and 375 wedding ceremonies. In the castle’s last renovated space, the Casemates, the innovative video mapping In the Embrace of Impressionism was viewed by just over 131,000 visitors over the year. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Museum of Puppetry at the castle. The castle’s offer was enriched with a new escape game, Redeem the Witch, and at the end of the year a new video mapping, Illustrations in Motion, came to life. The grapevines in the Castle Vineyard bore abundant fruit last year, followed by the vineyard’s eighth harvest and the bottling of more than 1,200 bottles of the quality 2024 vintage. We also celebrated the 35th anniversary of the planting of the first castle grapevine, a descendant of the ancient vine from Maribor’s Lent that thrives in the Castle Courtyard.
In 2025, we devoted a great deal of effort to creating more sustainable means of access to the castle, especially during major events. In addition to the funicular, we offered visitors transportation to the venues by methane-powered buses.
We commenced the project Renovation and Completion of the Bastion, which will continue in 2026. At the end of 2025, we also renovated and repaired the access paths to the Castle Courtyard.
The Ljubljana Castle has a strong presence on social networks, with a total reach of just under nine million on Facebook and Instagram, and just under 600,000 views on the castle website.

Hostel Celica, which has been managed by the Ljubljana Castle Public Institute since 2018, was the recipient of Hostelworld’s HOSCAR Award for excellence for Slovenia in 2025, based on the opinions of travellers. Between April and October, the hostel recorded an 88 percent occupancy rate, and it hosted 120 cultural and artistic events throughout the year. Good results were also recorded at the Na Stolbi studio apartments, including a 27 percent increase in revenue.

The Director of the Ljubljana Castle Public Institute, Mateja Avbelj Valentan, expressed her satisfaction with 2025, emphasising that: “Despite the fact that we were forced to close the main entrance and redirect visitors twice last year – first in the winter due to the execution of sectional logging by helicopter as part of the City Municipality of Ljubljana project ‘Arranging the Castle Slope for Greater Safety of People and the Structures Below’, and in late autumn due to the renovation and completion of the Castle Courtyard – we exceeded the previous year’s number of visitors to the castle by several thousand. The year ahead will primarily be marked by anniversaries and the development of programmes in all areas of the institute’s operations, while also ensuring that the castle complex is well organised and maintained.”

Below we present summaries of the results of the past year along with part of our short-term plans.

In expectation of the seven millionth passenger on the funicular railway
The castle’s entry counters recorded 1,269,311 visitors last year (1,265,657 in 2024), with the share of foreign visitors being almost 79 percent. According to statistics on tourist tickets sold, the majority of foreign visitors were from Italy, Germany, the United States, Great Britain, Croatia, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Korea and Austria.

Last year, the funicular railway transported over 600,000 passengers for the first time (615,448 passengers, compared to 575,222 passengers in 2024), completing 69,000 journeys and operating for 1,850 hours. On 16 August 2025, a new daily record was achieved, with 3,685 passengers transported. We expect the seven millionth passenger in April 2026. Since the funicular will complete its twenty-year operation period at the end of 2026, a thorough inspection and maintenance of the device will be carried out in early March, which will require a shutdown lasting several days.

The tourist offer was enriched with a new experience last year, the escape game Redeem the Witch. We conducted 980 guided tours, attended by 14,258 participants. As holders of the Green Key, we are spreading and strengthening awareness of the importance of sustainable access to the castle, which is why parking along the castle access road Cesta slovenskih kmečkih uporov is no longer possible. During major events, we offered visitors bus transportation in methane-powered vehicles. In addition, we measured the carbon footprint with a special device and, on the basis of the data collected, achieved a very positive assessment of the implemented sustainable measures, which represents a good starting point for organising similar events in the future. We will continue to encourage the use of more environmentally friendly means of accessing the castle, the use of water from drinking fountains rather than plastic bottles, the purchase of products made by Slovenian producers in the castle’s Friderik Souvenir Shop, etc.

Within the framework of the brand Selected Castle Delights, which is connected to the castle’s cuisine and wine story, we undertook the eighth harvest in the Castle Vineyard last year, filling just over 1,200 bottles of castle Belpin and Rdečegrajc from the 2024 vintage. Castle wine is available in the castle’s Friderik Souvenir Shop, and can be tasted on the Culinary Time Machine guided tour, in the castle’s restaurants and bars, or during the Open Day, which commemorates the planting of the unique urban vineyard on the green hill above Ljubljana. On 23 April this year, we will mark ten years since the last grapevines were planted in the Castle Vineyard.
This year, we will continue the diverse offer connected to the castle’s wine story, including Picnic among the Castle Grapevines, Dinner at the Castle Vineyard, A City Break among the Castle Walls and Grapevines, Culinary Time Machine, etc.

More than 700 cultural and artistic events and other meetings create a vibrant castle atmosphere throughout the year
In the cultural and artistic field, 224 events were held last year. The highlights include: the Ljubljana Castle Jazz Club, with its often sold-out Friday concert evenings; new content – the video mapping In the Embrace of Impressionism attracted just over 131,000 visitors in a year, and the acclaimed central summer exhibition Tomato Košir: Visual Commentary had just over 30,000 visitors in a period of two months; Film under the Stars, which we prepare in cooperation with Kinodvor, attracted just under 15,000 visitors last year; a wide range of programmes for children were presented; and we marked the 10th anniversary of the Museum of Puppetry.

In 2026, the cultural and artistic programme will cover all artistic fields. In the art and gallery programme, particular mention should be made of the central summer exhibition by the internationally renowned photographer Arne Hodalič, while the recently opened visual mapping in the Casemates, Illustrations in Motion, presented in cooperation with the publisher Mladinska knjiga on the occasion of its 80th anniversary, will be on display throughout the year. The music programme features the continuation of the concert schedule of the Jazz Club, which enters its 10th season in the autumn, while the Ljubljana Castle will once again be a venue for the Ment Festival. A diverse series of events await within the framework of educational and performance programmes. The latter includes a selection of performances for children featuring Friderik the castle rat. The castle’s festival events will include the 15th Castle Days and Castle December, and our first Easter Fair will take place in the Castle Courtyard. Among the most visited and popular outdoor summer events this year will undoubtedly be Film under the Stars, organised in collaboration with Kinodvor.
In addition, last year we rented out castle premises for various protocol and social events, staging 125 events within the meetings industry and helping to carry out 375 wedding ceremonies.

Our work resonates with the public
We are constantly strengthening the recognition of the Ljubljana Castle brand among the domestic and foreign public, through both advertising activities and communication. Here are some of the outstanding figures for 2025 on social networks: the Ljubljana Castle’s reach on Facebook: 6,626,794; the reach on our Instagram profile: 2,339,540; the number of website views: 581,000. In addition, there were 2,750 other mentions of the Ljubljana Castle (with 7,440,000 views) on the platforms of Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, etc., as well as 4,570 mentions of the Ljubljana Castle in domestic and foreign media, making a total of 7,154,340 views. In 2026, we will achieve even greater recognition thanks to the planned renovation of our website, as well as the launch of a new communication channel: castle podcasts.

Work and plans in the field of investments and investment maintenance
The project Renovation and Completion of the Bastion, which commenced last year, will be completed in the second half of this year after the conclusion of the archaeological research. The renovated Bastion, together with the Defensive Moat, will be presented in a way that highlights this area as one of the key defensive elements of the late medieval fortress. At the same time, we will also gain a new, well-arranged urban space. This year, we will continue to prepare investment and project documentation for the implementation of other approved projects, which will be implemented in accordance with the strategy and cooperation of our founder, the City Municipality of Ljubljana.

Increased occupancy at Hostel Celica and the Na Stolbi studio apartments
Last year, Hostel Celica received Hostelworld’s HOSCAR Award for excellence for Slovenia, based on the opinions of travellers. In 2025, we had an average occupancy rate of 73 percent over the entire year, and between April and October it was 88 percent, which is more than the previous year. Most of the guests were from Germany, Great Britain, France, the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.
Last year, Hostel Celica hosted 120 events in the fields of music, fine arts and education, as well as social and musical events in co-production with the cultural organisation KUD Sestava, while the summer concert series Celica Špila was created in our own production. The hostel’s cultural activities included 22 guided tours, attended by 516 participants.

The comprehensive renovation of the administrative building in 2025 resulted in greater functionality and energy efficiency, as well as improving working conditions for the hostel’s employees. This year, the renovation of the heating station, the balconies and the glazed part of the café will follow.
In 2026, we will continue to offer quality accommodation for travellers from near and far. This is enhanced by the hostel’s catering offer, which we plan to further upgrade, and a varied cultural programme aimed at both domestic and foreign visitors. The planned website renovation will further contribute to the greater recognition of Hostel Celica and an increased percentage of direct reservations.

In mid-2023, the Ljubljana Castle Public Institute took over the management of two four-star studio apartments in the Na Stolbi building, located beside the funicular railway route. The 27 percent increase in accommodation revenue last year was probably partly due to excellent guest ratings, as the current rating on the Booking.com platform is 9.8. The average occupancy rate of the studio apartments was 60 percent for the whole the year and 68 percent between April and October. Here too, guests from Germany predominated, as well as visitors from Great Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Australia. Our aim is to continue to grow occupancy. This year, we will upgrade the ventilation system at Na Stolbi.

Positive business result of the institution
The Ljubljana Castle Public Institute will conclude 2025 with a positive business result. We have achieved a surplus of revenues over expenses, and the precise data on the institute’s operations will be known upon completion of the annual accounts, which we also prepare for public publication each year.
The majority of the institute’s operating costs are covered by revenues generated by performing public services and market activities. The institute’s founder, the City Municipality of Ljubljana, provides the Ljubljana Castle Public Institute with part of the funds required to cover salary costs as well as programme expenses and general material costs. The founder also provides funds for most of our investments.

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Additional information: Janja Rozman, Head of Public Relations, Ljubljana Castle, tel.: 01/306 42 15, email: janja.rozman@ljubljanskigrad.si