In short
Ljubljana's centre has been closed to cars for years, replaced by free electric buggies for those who cannot walk it. This is a capital you cross on foot in twenty minutes.
From the station, Lake Bled is forty minutes away, Trieste and the Adriatic an hour and a half, the Julian Alps an hour. The whole country sits within a two-hour radius.
What it really costs
It is the cheapest capital in the eurozone at this level of services. Housing costs half of Vienna, three and a half hours up the road.
The covered central market and the midday canteens — kosilo, the set lunch — halve the food budget against evening restaurants.
What nobody tells you
The city is small: around three hundred thousand people. Anyone looking for the anonymity of a big capital will not find it, and the nightlife amounts to a handful of addresses.
The university gives the city its population and its rhythm. In July and August, when the students leave, some of the cafés and venues close.
Slovene is close to no widely spoken language, but English is spoken everywhere by anyone under fifty, and Italian works towards the coast.