The Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija), borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. Slovenia covers 20.271 km2, and has a population of 2.116.972 people (est. 2023). The capital is Ljubljana and the country is structured into 212 municipalities. An official intermediate regional authority between the municipalities and the Republic of Slovenia does not exist.
Hungarian and Italian, spoken by the respective minorities, enjoy the status of official languages in the ethnically mixed regions along the Hungarian and Italian borders – to the extent that even the passports issued in those areas are bilingual. Almost two thirds of the workforce are employed in services, and more than one third in industry and construction. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated workforce, well-developed infrastructure, and its location at the crossroads of major trade routes.
Slovenia offers tourists a wide range of natural and cultural amenities, with different forms of tourism having developed in the past. In 2017, for instance, National Geographic Traveller’s Magazine declared Slovenia as the country with the world’s most sustainable tourism.
The capital Ljubljana has many important Baroque and Vienna Secession buildings, with several important works of the native-born architect Jože Plečnik.
At the northwestern corner of the country lie the Julian Alps with Lake Bled and the Soča Valley, as well as the country’s highest peak, Mount Triglav in the middle of Triglav National Park. Other mountain ranges include Kamnik–Savinja Alps, the Karawanks, and Pohorje, popular with skiers and hikers. The Karst Plateau in the Slovene Littoral gave its name to karst, a landscape shaped by water dissolving the carbonate bedrock, forming caves. The best-known caves are Postojna Cave and the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves.
The region of Slovenian Istria meets the Adriatic Sea, where the most important historical monument is the Venetian Gothic Mediterranean town of Piran. The nearby touristic town Portorož attracts crowds in summer.
The hills around Slovenia’s second-largest town, Maribor, are renowned for their wine production. The northeastern part of the country is rich with spas, with Rogaška Slatina, Radenci, Čatež ob Savi, Dobrna, and Moravske Toplice growing in importance in the last two decades.
(Source: Wikipedia)