One of the smallest countries in Europe, Slovenia lies in an enviable geographical position between the majestic Alps and the Mediterranean. A country with spectacular mountains, thick forests and a short Adriatic coastline, Slovenia also enjoys substantial economic and political stability.

Following the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Slovenia became a part of the new 'Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' in 1918 (renamed 'Yugoslavia' in 1929). In 1941, when the Axis powers dismembered Yugoslavia, Slovenia was carved up between Germany, Italy and Hungary. Local resistance, initially from non-communist nationalists, was hijacked by the Yugoslav Communist Party led by Josip Broz Tito, himself partly of Slovene origin. In 1945, Marshall Tito declared Socialist Yugoslavia, a a federation of six republics - Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. After his death in 1980, the economic and political situation deteriorated in Yugoslavia. This ultimately led, ten years later to the end of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The first clear demand for Slovene independence was made in 1987. Slovenia was the first republic to break away, achieving independence relatively peacefully in 1991, followed by full international recognition in January 1992.

Slovenia has always been the most prosperous region of the former Yugoslavia and has found the transition from a socialist economy to the capitalist free market easier than most. It was the only one of the former Yugoslav republics to be in the first wave of candidates for membership of the European Union. It joined the union in May 2004.

Ljubljana, the capital is the starting point for a wide range of excursions. Situated in the heart of Slovenia, along the banks of the Ljubljanca River, the capital is within a two-hour drive of all the state borders. The old part of the town is particularly delightful.