This is a review of the InterContinental Ljubljana, Slovenia.
After nabbing £30 return flights to Croatian third-largest city, Rijeka, what was intended to be a city break turned into a Balkans road trip. One of the stops included Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, where we stayed in the city’s only true international chain with a luxury property. Here’s my thoughts on our one night stay at IHG’s InterContinental Ljubljana.
InterContinental Ljubljana’s media team provided this stay for review purposes. The property did not receive editing rights or advanced copy approval before publishing.
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Location
The InterContinental is located on the northern edge of the city centre. It’s on the city’s main boulevard Slovenska cesta with the old town within a ten-minute walk and Ljubljana Castle twenty minutes away on foot. On the city skyline, the property stands out as one of the tallest buildings around.
Getting to the property from the airport requires a taxi or bus ride as the country’s rail network does not connect to the terminals. Car parking costs €40 per night. On first glance that’s quite expensive, however I paid €26 for 12 hours in a public car park in Croatia which made the secure compound parking here look more reasonable.
First impressions
We arrived around 11:30 on a hot June day, having travelled up from Zagreb that morning. We left the car outside the reception area. The hotel has a modern and interesting façade which looks good and not too out of place, considering this is not in the very heart of the old town.
Check-in was quick and easy. On this day, there seemed to be a large group of American tourists checking in; though the property had correctly given them a separate area for their check-in process which resulted in the short wait. The staff were pleasant enough too, although the welcome was efficient and short (in line with the culture in this part of the world).
The ground floor also plays host to the ‘Michelin-recommended’ B-Restaurant, though we didn’t get to sample it as breakfast is instead served on the 20th floor.
The room
On this visit, we were staying in a Premium Room that is 42-54 square metres large. Having just come from a tiny cheap hotel in Croatia, the size of the room was notable. At the heart of the room was the King-sized bed with crisp soft sheets and a comfortable mattress where I had an excellent sleep, in spite of the air conditioning that was only just about managing to keep the room cool. A chaise longue sits in front of the bed which served primarily as a place to leave our bags as opposed to a place to rest. While the television is wall mounted, it does pivot away from the wall and can be angled to face the seating or bed making it more useful.
The hotel provides an evening turndown service which felt a little unnecessary considering the room did not need any organising or cleaning, though a lovely sleep kit was provided. This included a high quality silk-style eye mask and Byredo pillow mist which is a nice touch that separates upscale and premium properties. The curtains were manual and blackout-style but were a little bit of a pain to close as they didn’t seem to have an anchor point at the start, causing them to slide back from the opposite end, making them difficult to close fully. At a property of this calibre, I probably would expect at the very least for them to be anchored or electrically operated.
Elsewhere in the main room there is a comfortable chair to relax or watch the television as well as a sturdy office table and chair to work from. With the good WiFi speeds and natural lighting, this would be a good location to work from for a few hours if you needed to. The room primarily had European power outlets and a solitary UK Type G socket at the desk – something I’ve not seen before. USB A and USB C ports can also be found around the room. The only real downside to this room is the pillar in the middle. While this can’t be avoided,it does break the open feeling of the space and is unavoidable.
Plenty of wardrobe space can be found closer to the entrance of the room – all of which we didn’t use due to the one night stay. Plush slippers and dressing gowns, as well as ironing facilities, are provided by the property.
An excellent selection of drinks is provided to guests at the InterContinental Ljubljana. This includes Nespresso pods, instant coffee, still water, local soft drinks and Coca Cola on arrival. The mini bar is provided free of charge with compliments of the property upon arrival.
Onto the bathroom. Once again, this IHG property featured excellent Byredo shower amenities (having sampled this brand back in Newcastle in May). They’re lovely quality, do not irritate the skin and have a nice scent which I’d love to get at home. Small inclusions like this do just make the experience better since you don’t have lug your own decent quality items with you.
The Premium Rooms feature both a large bath tub and waterfall effect shower. It was glisteningly clean and tidy on our arrival, while the water had sufficient pressure and temperature.
Amenities, food and beverages
The property is host to a lot of valuable amenities which visitors will appreciate. Guests in the Premium Rooms can access the Club Intercontinental, although I wasn’t aware of this during our stay so didn’t get to have a look.
We did manage to take a look at the Fitness Centre and Pool, though. It’s an impressive space which I wasn’t expecting. The fitness centre is large with one of the best selections of gym equipment I’ve seen in a hotel, including weight racks with a good selection of dumbbells and machines for every major muscle group. The pictures don’t really do it justice since I couldn’t take photos of machines in use.
Likewise, I couldn’t grab any images of the indoor pool and wellness spaces with guests. It’s a well designed space with small sprinklers at the entry point to clean people’s feet before entering. This space also features a small sauna room and large changing rooms before entering the area.
Breakfast takes place on the 20th floor Restaurant and Bar with exceptional sweeping views of Ljubljana that were stunning with these summer skies.
InterContinental Ljubljana offers a hybrid breakfast with a large buffet spread featuring hot dishes, local and continental items as well as made-to-order items. I was impressed by the space and the overall offering. All the food was high quality, fresh and, most importantly, tasty. Though if I were on a longer stay where breakfast was not included, I would usually opt to try this for one day of the stay (at EUR 31) then experience other food elsewhere to try more of the city’s food culture.
I did opt to try the Eggs Royale with smoked salmon from the menu which was well produced and, most importantly, had a runny yolk. Most of the menu is included in the cost of the breakfast, however some items are in addition to the price such as the caviar and truffle items. I’m not quite sure, though, why a fresh berry bowl would be just two euros less than caviar! Coffee was of a good quality when served hot, though I did find that many coffee shops in this part of Europe didn’t seem to like the concept of doing iced coffees.
And finally, there was a machine to slice your own prosciutto – something I’ve seen in a few places (such as the La Premiere and Private Room lounges) but never have I seen it in use.
Conclusion
While this property does have a couple of very minor flaws, such as the struggling but just about competent air conditioning and the large pillars in the room, on the whole it is an excellent place to stay. It’s true to the InterContinental brand but equally has some nice touches which make it feel distinctive and a great place to stay, even on a fleeting one night stay.
The property is well designed and the location is excellent for getting around to Ljubljana’s key sights. Amenities are second to none while breakfast is well produced. If you’re looking to treat yourself to a more upmarket property for a stay in Slovenia’s capital city, or if you’re an IHG One Rewards loyalist, you won’t go far wrong with this hotel.
