Stan Sesser explains how tourists are flocking to The New Old Country:
Places that once struggled to attract tourists now worry about where to put them. Foreign visitors to Krakow last year numbered 2.5 million — almost quadruple the number in 2003. “The word has spread,” says Katarzyna Gadek, director of the city’s Office of Tourist Development. “When we entered the European Union in 2004, that made a big difference.” So has the increased number of direct flights in. Ten years ago, most tourists arrived from Western Europe by bus or train, or they caught a connecting flight in Warsaw.Another prime example is in Slovenia, once part of the former Yugoslavia (and today often confused with Slovakia to the northeast). Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana (loob-lee-YA-na), went from unknown to trendy in just a few years. But be warned: It has so few hotel rooms that by early June the best places are largely booked for summer.
With its medieval Old Town of clean cobblestone streets and outdoor markets, a 16th-century castle perched on a hill and an array of first-rate restaurants, Ljubljana ranks as one of Europe’s most attractive capitals. Plus, mountain lakes and the Adriatic coast are just an hour or two away. I had no idea what I’d find when I went there. But taking everything into account — scenery, food, prices and the friendliness of the people — I think Slovenia could qualify as Europe’s single best country for tourism.
Arriving in Ljubljana is like turning the clock back 50 years. The local road from the tiny airport into town is lined with trees and grass. The train station is so close to the Old City that you can walk to most hotels. Tourist information is available at the station in two small rooms, one devoted to transport and the other to local attractions. I asked the man at the tourism counter what happens to people who show up without a reservation in this city of just 16 hotels. “We put them in a hotel further out, in an apartment rental or with a family,” he replied. “No one ever has to sleep on a park bench.”
I booked my trip just one week in advance — too late for a hotel room — so I made reservations with an apartment-booking agency. Little did I suspect I’d end up in what may be the nicest accommodations I’ve ever had in Europe. My reward for walking up five flights of stairs (the medieval buildings have no elevators) was a big penthouse apartment in an impeccably renovated building next to Town Hall, with a terrace, modern kitchen and bathroom and high-speed Internet. The price? €120 ($175) a night — less than the cost of a closet-size hotel room in London or Milan.