About The Photographer
Jure Kralj is an incredibly talented photographer based in Slovenia’s second largest city Maribor, who combines his love for travelling around the world with his love for landscape and cityscape photography. He is an enthusiastic observer of the surrounding world. When possible, he is looking for the best light, for the right angle at the right moment to capture a compelling image. But Jure is not trying to just photograph a record of a location, he’s always striving to create a beautiful image that reveals something of the character and atmosphere of the place. Jure concurs with Elliot Erwitt’s view that “photography is an art of observation. It is about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them”. And Jure’s work brilliantly encapsulates this perspective on the essence of photography.
In 2014, Jure launched his own line of postcards featuring some of his most beautiful shots of his hometown, Maribor. Large, small, innovative, dynamic, colorful and simply beautiful, the postcards quickly became a hit among visitors to Maribor and have already been sent to many different parts of the world.
The picture gallery below features a selection of photographs taken by Jure Kralj in a variety of locations around Slovenia. If you want to see more of his stunning landscape and cityscape photos, you can visit his Facebook page JK Photography and his official website Jure Kralj, where you can also purchase high quality prints of some of Jure’s best photographs.
Photo Gallery
A beautiful picture gallery containing 45 exceptional landscape, cityscape and nature photos from around Slovenia by Jure Kralj.
As the capital of the Styria region, Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia. The town lies on the Drava river and is one of Slovenia’s most beautiful cities.
Maribor oozes charm thanks to its lovely Old Town along the Drava River, also known as Lent.
Maribor lies on both sides of the Drava river, connected with three bridges, of which the Old Bridge is the oldest (built built between the years 1906 and 1912). It connects the historic city centre on the left side of the river with the new city core that lies on the right side.
The Main Square is the largest of Maribor’s squares and is lined with buildings with interesting facades and architectural ornamentations. The Plague Column is the centerpiece of this Square. The column was erected in 1681 in grateful appreciation of the cessation of the plague epidemic, which had decimated almost a third of Maribor’s inhabitants. A lot of narrow streets with lots of bars, boutiques and small gift shops can be found here.
The Liberty Square is Maribor’s favourite hang-out spot. It is used for outdoor meetings, cultural events, and memorials, when it is not being used as an open-air market. The square is built on the protective ditch that once surrounded the Castle. The National Liberation Monument dominates the square. Sculpted by Slavko Tihec in 1975, this bronze monument bears the facial images of heroes of the city of Maribor. On its base, the monument has an engraved announcement of the shooting of the 667 hostages and partisan fighters by the German occupation forces during the Second World War. The locals call the monument Kojak, since it reminds them of the bald-headed detective Kojak, of the very popular American TV series from the 70’s.
Pedestrianised central streets in Maribor buzz with well-priced cafes and small restaurants. Every December, during the festive season, the streets are beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and decorations.
Piran is a small, super charming medieval preserved seaside town. It’s very different to the mostly-Alpine scenery of Slovenia and is very Mediterranean with pretty squares and narrow alleys.
Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana exudes a charming elegance. In the late 19th century, the city was pretty much leveled by an earthquake, which brought the architecture and colors that exist today. Buildings are gorgeous with different colors and ornaments. The Ljubljanica River runs right through the middle. The whole area is a pedestrian zone and strolling through the streets of Ljubljana is a real treat, they are as charming as any European city you can imagine.
Triple Bridge that crosses the Ljubljanica River is picturesque and an important landmark in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. It is a very lively spot that leads into Ljubljana’s Old Town, located right next to the main Preseren square and the pink Franciscan church. The Bridge was designed by Joze Plecnik and has a Venetian look to it. It was opened on 25 September 1842 and the essentials of the bridge have been preserved until today, which is evidenced by the inscribed dedication to the archduke above its central pier, reading in Latin ‘ARCHIDVCI. FRANCISCO. CAROLO. MDCCCXLII. CIVITAS.’, which means ‘To Archduke Franz Karl in 1842 by the Town’.
Ljubljana’s incredible Christmas lights celebrate science with fancy geometric forms, math equations, galaxies, planets, comets and shooting stars!
One of the main attractions in the town of Kamnik is the beautiful Church of the Immaculate Conception with its bell tower. It was erected in the mid-18th century but with a detached belfry that shows an earlier church’s Gothic origins.
Lake Bohinj may be the lesser-known lake in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia, when compared to Lake Bled. However, Bohinj is just as beautiful and much more tranquil than its neighbor. The Church of St John the Baptist sits on the southeast side of lake right by the stone bridge.
Slovenia is a country full of Myths and Legends. On the shore of Lake Bohinj stands the slender, dark bronze statue of the Golden Horn (Goldenhorn / Zlatorog) – the magical stag believed to guard the ridges around Lake Bohinj.
Lake Bled is a must to visit if you are in Slovenia. It’s a charming glacial lake, surrounded by a ring of mountains of the Slovenian Alps. An attractive medieval castle sits atop a high rocky outcrop. And in the middle of the lake, there’s a tiny island with a church.
To reach the island in the middle of Lake Bled you take a trip with a Pletna boat – the traditional boat unique to Lake Bled which is operated by the Pletna oarsman who rows standing up.
Lake Slivnisko Jezero is a lovely lake located in the eastern part of Slovenia near the town of Sentjur. It is a wonderful spot for fishing, various water activities and picnics.
Lake Pernica is an artificial lake located between the villages of Vosek and Vukovje in the Styria region of Slovenia. Because of its natural beauty, Pernica provides great opportunities for hiking, cycling and fishing.
An extremely scenic spot rich with natural beauty, Lake Pernica is very popular among Slovenian landscape photographers.
The Drava River offers water sports enthusiasts many recreational activities including sailing, rowing, sail and surfing.
River Kolpa represents the border between Slovenia and Croatia. It’s less known but extremely beautiful and relatively clean river with more than 50 small dams.
The Velika planina, loosely translated as Great Highlands, is one of the highest plateaus in Slovenia, with an average elevation of around 1,665 meters. It is considered to be the most beautiful alpine pasture in Slovenia, where traditional dairy farmers graze their cattle between June and September, and the pastures are scattered with around 60 traditional shepherds’ huts which are unique to the area. Velika planina can be reached either on foot or by cable car, which operates all year round.
Located in the heart of the Kamnik Savinja Alps (very close to the border with Austria), the Logar valley is one of the most beautiful and most frequently portrayed Alpine glacial valleys in Europe. The entrance into the valley itself is breathtaking, as you drive past meadows on a winding road with stunning views of the majestic mountains of the Kamnik Savinja Alps. The valley was declared a Landscape Park in 1987.
Slovenia’s second largest city Maribor is lodged in the wonderful nature of wine growing hills on the one side and the Pohorje mountain range on the other, with the river Drava wending its way through it.
Another beautiful view of the city of Maribor.
Maribor’s City Park is considered to be one of the most beautiful city parks in Europe. It’s a lovely place to take a stroll, or just relax and enjoy the calm nature. It’s especially picturesque in the autumn.
The beautiful countryside road leading to the village of Recica Ob Savinji in the Styria region of Slovenia. Since traffic is light, most village roads in Slovenia are very pleasant for cycling.
The region of Ljutomer – Ormoz
is one of the most important wine regions in Slovenia and provides perfect conditions for growing grapes.
The Slovene Hills or Slovene Vineyards are the largest hilly region in the northeastern part of Slovenia (bordering with Austria). As the name suggests, this is the land of wine, vineyards and wine cellars.
When the wind blows, a very unusual sound can be heard over the Slovene Hills vineyards. The persistent rattling comes from small windmill-like contraptions on tall wooden polls, which have become a symbol of that part of Slovenia.
The Pyramid hill vineyard above the city of Maribor beautifully lit up with Christmas lights.
Maribor is the wine capital of Slovenia and the home of the Old Vine, the oldest grapevine on Earth, as certified by Guinness World Records. At 440 years old, the Old Vine has survived war, fire and pestilence, and still produces fat bunches of red Zametovka grapes. Among the most colorful ceremonies in Maribor is the harvesting of the Old Vine. It produces between 35 and 55 kg of grapes per vintage. This is enough fruit to make around 25 liters of wine that gets bottled in small 250 ml bottles and given by the city council of Maribor as ceremonial gifts to dignitaries (popes, presidents, emperors, etc).
The Old Vine grows on the Old Vine House in Lent, the oldest part of Maribor, Slovenia’s wine-loving second city, in the north-east of the country. The vine is given a lot of tourist promotional protocol events – the most famous and most popular is definitely the Vine’s grape harvest – the highlight of the traditional Old Vine Festival which is held every year at the end of September.
Hidden underneath the centre of Maribor, the Vinag wine cellar is one of the biggest classical wine cellars in Europe. It was build in the middle of 19th century and stretches some 2,5 kilometres underground. The oldest bottle comes from the year 1946, everything earlier was drank during the World War II.
The interesting architecture of the Railway Bridge in Maribor.
The Maribor stadium is considered as one of the most beautiful smaller stadiums in Europe.
The historic building of the University of Maribor, which is the second biggest and the second oldest university in Slovenia.
A field of sunflowers can brighten anyone’s day!
Slovenia is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but it’s the only European Union member state to have protected its native bee, the Carniolan bee. It has good conditions for beekeeping and a great beekeeping tradition. Bees are still evenly populated across the entire territory of Slovenia and thus help to maintain the balance in nature.
In the spring, farmers in the Alpine Mountain Region of Slovenia bring their cows to the pastures, where the cows graze in fresh mountain air, eating a nutrient-rich grasses and enjoying more free space.
Beautiful horses grazing on green pastures are a common sight that a traveler through Slovenia is sure to notice.
View of the beautiful landscape of the Loznica Hills and the village of Andraz nad Polzelo. The local parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and was first mentioned in written documents dating to 1229. The core of the current church is Gothic and dates to around 1400.
An absolutely breathtaking view of the Kamnica village and its St. Urban’s church on a misty morning.
A beautiful winter landscape with the church of the Holy Spirit in Podolseva, one of the highest mountain villages in Slovenia that stretches under Mount Olseva, a ridge mountain in the eastern part of the Karawanks near the border with Austria.
The Kamnik Savinja Alps as seen on a hike to the Olseva mountain near the entrance of the Potocka Zijalka cave.
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Discover beautiful Slovenia through amazing photos that will instantly make you want to visit and explore this delightful country in the heart of Europe. View more than 100 galleries with more than 5.500 landscape and nature photos from 50+ photographers! ENJOY! |
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There is a wide array of options for accommodations in Slovenia, including hotels, guest houses, apartments, bed and breakfasts, hostels, camping and glamping sites and farm stays. Find out which places to stay in Slovenia we recommend and why! |
Lovely! Slovenia is beautiful indeed.
I love Slovenia, it is definitely one of the most beautiful countries that I have ever visited! These are stunning photos!
Thank you so much! Where have you been in Slovenia? 😀
Wow, I love all of these pictures!
Thank you so much! 😀
Great pictures! I’ve been to Maribor, and you really manage to capture the mood there.
ooh so nice to hear that !! when you was in Maribor?
WOW! LOVE LOVE LOVE all these photos! The colors are just so beautiful! I never really thought of going to Slovenia, but after seeing these photos, I may need to make a quick trip over there when I’m in Europe
What do you waiting for hehe 😀 pelase come and see our beautiful country!
This is awesome! Slovenia is the next country I want to go to!
Please! You are welcomed 😀
Visually stunning reminders that I need to return to Slovenia and spend more than a day and a half there. Truly magnificent.
This is an order 😀
awesome photographer! I’m lucky I can work with you! 😉
heh many thanks goes goes you for encourage me to do something great and here is result :*
Slovenia (we hit Croatia and Montenegro also) was one of our favorite trips to date.
Im glad I hear that! 😀
Vedno se vprasam zakaj se prodajajo tako grde razglednice ko pa obstajate fotografi in take fotke. Krasne!
Naj te razveselim! Sam imam samozaložništvo razglednic in se trudim da bi jih čimveč ljudi srečalo nekje na svoji poti! 😀 Hvala ti!
wow!! so bright!! so colourful!!
Thank you so much ;D
I am planning to go to Slovenia next summer and i am from the Netherlands. Thanks for sharing the pic gallery.
Great! 😀 I wish you will have an amazing time here. I also love to visi Holland but hope i will reach it 😀 thank you for compliment
I have two great friends from Slovenia, who are currently residing in the U.S. So I think I will share this gallery with them!
oh! wow 😀 thanks for that!
Hmm.. Beautiful country .. hopefully there is a chance to visit someday.
Sure! 😀 i hope you will see it at your own 😀
Enkratni posnetki! Čestitke!
Hvala vam! 😀
An eye for beauty, color, composition. Beautiful.
Thank you so much 😀
These pictures are gorgeous. Currently I am living in Italy for the next three years, I am hoping to visit up that way before I return to the US.
Nice! Italy is beautiful too I was there couple of times! 😀 I hope you see Slovenia for itself
Beautiful snaps!
Thank you so much for comment!
Can’t wait to visit Slovenia!
You are always welcomed to our beautiful country. 🙂
Love the pictures! Slovenia is such a beautiful country & a definite must-see.
Thank you for your compliments! Must see before die 😀
All I can say is Wow! My grandparents were from Slovenia, they came here during the World War II. I have always had a fascination but never an opportunity to visit. My grandparents never spoke of it and rarely spoke the language once arriving in America. I think that’s really a shame because it looks like I’ve missed out on a rich cultural heritage. At least I now know where my love of color comes from
All I can say is Wow! My grandparents were from Slovenia, they came here during the World War II. I have always had a fascination but never an opportunity to visit. My grandparents never spoke of it and rarely spoke the language once arriving in America. I think that’s really a shame because it looks like I’ve missed out on a rich cultural heritage. At least I now know where my love of color comes from
Thank you for wowing hehe. Really? so nice to hear that!. Please come and see it for yourself where is beauty home. Yeah this is too bad but there you have so much nice places aswell. My dream is to visit Rocky Mountains and many places.I’ve already been in New York and it is like concrete jungle heh. Never forget this.! Cheers
Lovely, the place is so European looking. Inspiring photography.
It is in south central Europe! 😀 thanks for compliment
Prelepo! Moj poklon! Še lepše, kot v živo!
Hvala Sonja! 😀 res je lep svet okoli nas.
Mega fotke, Jure! 🙂
Hvala Aida 😀
I love the pictures. Oh I’d love to see Slovenia one day! Thanks for sharing 😉
Thank you so much 😀 yes! You will never regret that 😀
Beautiful pictures, full of lovely colours! I started to think to travel to Slovenia, it must be amazing journey. The only country in Europe I’ve ever visited is Italy, and I found nice experience there.
Thank you so much 😀 .. Yes please come you have so much to see from cities to nature. We are much more than Italy heh.
Very beautiful photographs. I like looking at these galleries. Other parts of the world are right here at my fingertips on the Internet.
Thank you so much for comment! 😀
I plan to travel to Europe and explore most of the countries there; I always though Slovenia is a country that I probably wouldn’t visit because it’s not as popular as the other countries but thanks to this gallery I plan on going to Slovenia now. Amazing pictures.
Please come and enjoy the best of the country. Many people think that way and we want to promote it from ouir pics and show the world what we are. You will be very suprised what you will find here. I am very happy that I can show you beauty of Slovenia and convince you to came here. Good luck on your journey.
Such awesome photos! Very well composed and with such contrast and color! Thank you for sharing them. Love it!
Thank you so much for the compliment! 😀
I’m from Maribor, and as someone mentioned in one of the earlier comments, I haven’t seen Slovenia portrayed more beautifully before! Such vivid colours, amazing… Thanks for sharing such a great image of my country with the others!
Thank you Marjan! I wish I could bring fresness in our beautiful city with pictures and something new. We have to be proud of our city and where we live.! 😀
Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos. I have roots in Slovenia, but have never seen it portrayed so colorfully.
Thank you to take time and comment my small portfolio of pictures. Im glad that you have roots here so you have to come to visit our green country!
Slovenia is a small but beautiful country! Proud to be from here. Great photos!
Thank you! We have to be proud that we are from here. Thank you for compliment aswell.
Jure’s pictures are fantastic! There is so much spirit and color in Slovenia – I had no idea! Thank you for sharing and giving us all look into this beautiful country.
Why dont you come and see it for yourself :D? yes I try to bring mood spirit and also love to pictures I take.
Great photos…very nice country…hope it’s still not expensive.
Thank you so much 😀 I dont think so that is too exspensive. Its one of the cheapest to travel I think .. Because is no such travelers and tourists here beside Ljubljana (capital city).
Great photos…I went to Slovenia a few years ago during the summer and it was awesome. I didn’t know what to expect, Lake Bled was my favorite.
Heh nice to hear that you like it here! Slovenia have great stuff to offer you have to be prepared to explore and also you need time to see all beautiful places.
Beautiful photos. I`d like to visit Slovenia in the future.
Thank you! Please come and enjoy 😀
The photos are a beauty! The gallery is like a box of crayons because of the vibrant colors. Really love it.
Thank you for your compliment!
OUTSTANDING pictures! My relatives on my dad’s side are from Slovenia, and I’ve never been there. This was a great way to see a bit of my history. Thank you for sharing. I now know where my love of colors comes from!
Thank you so much! 😀 really where are they from? You should come and see all the colors 😀 I hope you enjoy it!