Slovenia is a country with its own language, its own holidays and shops that close on Sunday. This guide to daily life in Slovenia is about the practical habits that decide whether the first months feel easy or fiddly, with the official sources behind each one.
What language do you need for daily life in Slovenia?
Slovenian. It is the language of administration, school and, in general, job applications, and it has more than 50 dialects. Italian and Hungarian are also official languages in their ethnically mixed areas, where children can be schooled in those languages. EURES says applications are usually written in Slovenian and sometimes in English.
That does not mean you cannot manage in English day to day. It does mean that official letters, school life and the paperwork in the first year are in Slovenian, so a language course pays for itself. Some official English pages on the eUprava portal have not been updated for years, as the portal says itself, so if a step does not match, check the Slovenian version or call the helpline on 080 2002.
What does daily life in Slovenia look like week to week, hour by hour?
Indicative hours from the tourist office:
- Banks: Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00.
- Post offices: Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 12:00.
- Pharmacies: Monday to Friday, 7:00 to 19:00, and Saturday, 7:00 to 13:00.
- Shops: Monday to Saturday, roughly from 7:00 or 9:00 until 19:00 or 21:00.
- Museums: many close on Monday.
Administration hours vary by office, so check before you travel. Plan errands that need a public office for a weekday morning, and keep the afternoon for banks and the post office, which stay open until 17:00 or 18:00.
On Sundays shops are generally closed. For the essentials you are left with large petrol stations, many open day and night. The practical consequence is simple: do the weekly shop on Saturday.
If you want to turn this list into a first-week plan, with the offices to visit and the days they are open, Moovy can build the schedule around your arrival date. It tells you what to ask each office; it cannot do the visits for you.
What are the public holidays in Slovenia in 2026?
According to EURES:
- 1 and 2 January (New Year)
- 8 February (Prešeren Day, the culture holiday)
- 5 and 6 April (Easter Sunday and Monday)
- 27 April (Day of Uprising Against Occupation)
- 1 and 2 May (Labour Day)
- 25 June (Statehood Day)
- 15 August (Assumption)
- 31 October (Reformation Day)
- 1 November (Day of Remembrance of the Dead)
- 25 December (Christmas)
- 26 December (Independence and Unity Day)
Check opening hours around those dates before you plan a visit to an office.
Who do you call in an emergency?
- 112: medical emergencies, fire and rescue.
- 113: police.
- 080 12 00: anonymous police line.
- 1987: breakdown service of the motoring club AMZS.
Your health insurance card and the doctor you choose are covered in health insurance in Slovenia.
What practical details surprise newcomers?
- Currency and power: the euro, 230 V, sockets of type C and F.
- Winter rules: from 15 November to 15 March, winter tyres on all wheels or summer tyres with chains on board, at least 3 mm of tread. Dipped headlights are mandatory all year.
- The vignette: the e-vinjeta is required on motorways, expressways and the Ljubljana ring road. The official DARS portal is evinjeta.dars.si.
- Work culture: a normal week is 40 hours, never less than 36 for full-time. Rest is at least 12 hours in every 24 and 24 consecutive hours a week. Since 2024 the right to disconnect is in the law. See working in Slovenia.
- Free time: the outdoors comes first. Family outings in nature, mountains, skiing, cycling, running, choirs and volunteer fire brigades are part of local life, according to EURES.
Manners and tipping. We found no official source describing how formal people are, the use of the polite form of address or tipping habits in restaurants, and we will not guess. Watch what colleagues and neighbours do in your first weeks, and ask. A Slovenian colleague or a neighbour is a better guide to these things than any article, ours included.
What about prices, and where should you settle?
An espresso is about €1.86, a restaurant menu about €14.59 and a public transport ticket €1.31, according to the national statistics office data reported by EURES, which gives no year for them. A studio in Ljubljana is about €600 a month, by the same source. More in cost of living in Slovenia.
Ljubljana, Maribor and the coast each have a different pace and price. The best places to live in Slovenia compares them.
How do you handle everyday paperwork online?
Almost everything the state offers is online, on eUprava, the government portal, in Slovenian, English, Italian and Hungarian, and on eDavki, the tax portal. You log in through SI-PASS, the state authentication service. The catch is that a newcomer lacks the three keys at first: the EMŠO, the tax number and a digital certificate.
Certificates are issued by SIGEN-CA (the state), POŠTA CA (the post office), AC NLB (a bank) and Halcom, and they last five years. A foreigner can request a SIGEN-CA certificate once they have a Slovenian personal identification number and tax number. Until then, expect the counter or the post. If you get stuck, the eUprava helpline, 080 2002, is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 22:00. Our guide to the Slovenia tax number shows how the first key arrives.
What if you have a baby in Slovenia?
A birth must be declared to the authorities, and for a child born to foreign parents the question of nationality has to be settled within three months, according to EURES. The leave is generous on paper: 105 days of maternity leave, 15 days of paternity leave to be taken within three months of the birth, and 160 days of parental leave per parent, 60 of which cannot be transferred.
For a baby's cover and for school later, see health insurance in Slovenia and schools in Slovenia.
Where can you find official help in English?
Infotujci.si is the official information portal for foreigners run by the government office for migrants, with an information centre reachable by email, phone or in person. EURES, the European employment network, publishes a country page in English. For tax, FURS has English pages, and ZZZS has an English version of its site. Always check the date at the bottom of a page, since some English pages lag the Slovenian ones.
What do newcomers get wrong?
- Planning the shopping for Sunday.
- Neglecting Slovenian. You can manage in English, but the administration and school run in Slovenian.
- Forgetting winter equipment on an alpine road.
- Driving on a motorway without a vignette.
- Missing a deadline over a holiday.