Football Training Camp in Slovenia: Kranjska Gora, Ljubljana, Maribor and the Spa Towns Compared

Slovenia is small, and that has a practical effect on a camp: the Alpine resort of Kranjska Gora is a little over an hour by road from the capital, Ljubljana. The Slovenian Tourist Board keeps a dedicated training camps section that lists facilities by region and names the agencies that organise camps. The pitch details below come from those pages.

Why Slovenia works for a summer camp

Distances are short, facility information is published by official bodies, and mountains and spa towns sit in the same small country. July normals from ARSO, the Slovenian Environment Agency, for 1981 to 2010:

July mornings in Rateče average 10.5°C. Rainfall is similar to the Austrian Alps, with around eleven days a month above 1 mm.

Kranjska Gora and Planica: the Alpine base

Kranjska Gora lies in the north-west, close to the Italian and Austrian borders. The local tourist board lists five natural grass football pitches in the resort and one artificial pitch at the nearby Planica Nordic Centre. İstanbul Başakşehir spent the first stage of their 2017 pre-season here.

One mix-up turns up often in news reports. For Trabzonspor's 2023 camp, some Turkish papers wrote "Kranj" and others "Kranjska Gora". They are different places. Kranj is a city north of Ljubljana, and Kranjska Gora is a mountain resort roughly 50 km further on.

Ljubljana: the Gobele sports centre

The Gobele sports centre in the capital opened in 2018. According to the tourist board it has a match pitch built to UEFA standards, extra grass training areas, an indoor fitness building and infrastructure for broadcasting matches. Its operator, B4, also appears on the board's list of camp agencies. Ljubljana Airport is 28 km away.

Maribor, Rogla and the east

Maribor, in the east, is 60 km from Graz Airport across the Austrian border. Beşiktaş flew from Istanbul to Graz in summer 2024 and went on by road to Maribor for a camp from 10 to 20 July.

South-west of Maribor, Rogla sits at about 1,490 metres in the Pohorje hills. The tourist board lists two natural grass pitches, one artificial pitch and a multi-purpose sports hall there. From Graz Airport the drive is about 1 hour 35 minutes.

Spa towns: Čatež and Brežice

In the south-east, near the Croatian border, Terme Čatež is the largest thermal complex in Slovenia. Coaches who want thermal pools on recovery days will find it worth a look. Some of its natural grass pitches have undersoil heating. The resort and the tourist board give different pitch counts, so get the number in writing before booking. What we look for in team accommodation is on our accommodation page.

Next door in Brežice there is a 100 x 70 m natural grass pitch and a 100 x 65 m artificial pitch. The tourist board says the national teams of Slovenia, Croatia and Saudi Arabia have trained there. The nearest large airport is Zagreb, 50 km from Čatež.

Airports and transfers: Ljubljana, Graz or Zagreb

Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul to Ljubljana, and Pegasus started three weekly flights from Sabiha Gökçen on 26 January 2026. Schedules change with the season.

Drive times come from OSRM and will be longer at busy times. Graz is in Austria and Zagreb in Croatia, both inside Schengen, so crossing the border does not change the squad's visa position.

Slovenia or Austria?

The two countries are neighbours, and the choice usually comes down to a few points:

• Altitude and weather: Seefeld in Austria (1,182 m) is about two degrees cooler in July than Rateče, although the two stations use different reference periods.
• Recovery: Slovenia has resorts such as Čatež where pitches and a thermal complex sit side by side.
• Flights: Ljubljana has direct flights from Istanbul, while Tyrol is usually reached via Munich or Salzburg.
• Opponents: whichever country you choose, ask which teams will be in the area that week before the dates are fixed.

The Austrian valleys, pitches and the clubs that camped there in 2026 are covered in our guide to a football training camp in Austria.

Frequently asked questions

How many pitches are there in Kranjska Gora?

According to the local tourist board, five natural grass pitches in the resort and one artificial pitch at Planica.

Which airport is best for a camp in Slovenia?

Ljubljana for Kranjska Gora and the capital, Graz for Maribor and Rogla, and Zagreb for Čatež and Brežice.

Is Slovenia cheaper than Austria?

There is no general answer. Cost depends on the hotel, pitch hire, dates and flights. The fair comparison is to price both countries for the same dates and the same squad.

Can we play friendlies against Slovenian clubs?

Opponents are not limited to Slovenian clubs. On their 2024 Maribor camp, Beşiktaş played Shakhtar Donetsk and Grazer AK from Austria. For planning matches, see our guide to arranging friendlies on camp.

Do we need a Schengen visa?

It depends on each player's passport. Under the EU Visa Code, a decision normally takes 15 days and can be extended to 45, and applications open six months before travel. For applications, see the visa services page of Seda Turizm, our group company.

How warm is it in July?

The July average is 21.3°C in Ljubljana and 17.0°C in Rateče, near Kranjska Gora. Mountain evenings are cool.

If a spa hotel is on your list, our guide to choosing a hotel for a football team covers how rooms, dining and pitch access should be arranged for a squad. The regions we work in are on our camp locations page, and once you have a region and dates, write to us through the contact page.