Family Adventures at Velenje Castle: A Hidden Gem in Slovenia is a travel blog post about our family visit to Velenje castle in Slovenia. As you already know, I love exploring castles. So, when I booked our Easter spa holiday I checked out the sights in the vicinity of our hotel and saw a castle nearby. Of course, I managed to convince my husband and my reluctant kids who only wanted to spend as much time as possible in the hotel’s swimming pools to visit Velenje castle on our way to the hotel. In the end, we were all pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Velenje castle and it’s very eclectic museum collections.

About Velenje castle

Velenje Castle (Velenjski grad) is a medieval castle located on a hill overlooking the town of Velenje in Slovenia. The castle dates back to the late 13^th century and it has been a significant historical site in the region. Velenje castle was firstly owned by the Kunšperk family and then exchanged hands several times throughout history until it was sold to the Italian noble family Coronini-Cromberg who were its last owners. Later, the castle became a museum with a very diverse collection of artifacts ranging from the remains of mastodons to African art and Second World War objects just to name a few. You can check out castle’s opening times and ticket prices here.

Our visit to Velenje castle

We drove to Velenje castle which is just one hour north of Ljubljana (the Slovenian capital). We saw two other castles near the road on our way to Velenje castle. We didn’t drive through the town of Velenje but we approached the castle through some small villages. My husband parked the car and we walked briefly towards the castle. To my surprise, I saw a ski jump platform right next to the castle. This was just one of the many surprises during our visit of Velenje castle. We walked over a kind of a drawbridge and found ourselves inside the castle walls. I didn’t see a ticket booth but that’s because we didn’t enter the castle through the main gate and also because as we discovered later, the ticket office is situated in the castle’s courtyard.

Suddenly, we saw some other people and a young woman who approached us and asked us if we wanted to do a tour of the castle. As it turned out, this rather unconventionally dressed young woman was the castle’s guide. She unlocked various rooms for us to explore the castle’s exhibits and then locked it up again. Firstly, we entered the natural history gallery and took a photo with a replica of mastodon. You can see real mastodon’s bones in this gallery. Kids asked many questions about the prehistoric animals. Then, we jumped through the time and entered a room dedicated to the Second World War which had some weapons and photographs and many other things. After that, we followed our guide to the castle’s courtyard where we paid for our visit and explored the rest of the galleries at our own pace.

There are several galleries in the castle’s courtyard, some are on the ground floor, some are on the first floor and some are even underground. I was astonished to see an African gallery full of different African objects and some African art. As it turned out, all these objects were gifted to the museum by František Vladimir Foit who was a Czech sculptor and an African explorer at the beginning of the 20^th century. This is presumably the largest African collection in Slovenia. My kids were a bit scared of some African totems.

Other galleries showcased contemporary art and sculptures, a brief history of mining in the area, baroque art etc. It was fun to walk around a typical Slovenian/Yugoslav flat and see a lot of objects from my childhood in a gallery that tells the story of the development of Velenje town. Actually, the Slovenian factory Gorenje which makes household appliances was founded in Velenje and you can still find its headquarters there. There are other interesting galleries in the museum too.

You can also see a recreated old store and an old inn in the courtyard. It literally takes you back in time to 1930s. Once we walked through all the galleries it was time to leave. But then my kids discovered sand boxes at the main gate. They engaged in some digging and unearthed some bones to their delight. In conclusion, we all liked our visit to Velenje castle.

I definitely recommend visiting Velenje castle if you’re in the area. Velenje castle is a proper Slovenian hidden gem.

We visited Velenje castle in April 2025.