08 April 2026
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We are in the upper valley of the Savinja, where the river of the same name flows, and where the imposing mountains exceed 2,000 meters.
Here, among waterfalls and immense expanses, in the heart of the Logar Valley natural park, stands Hotel Plesnik: a family-run hotel, always a reference point for valley tourism and the local community.
The hotel overlooks what is considered one of Europe’s most beautiful glacial valleys, which many love to describe as a true earthly paradise. But from the windows of the boutique hotel, one’s gaze also turns toward that century-old elm tree that stands, solitary, on the plain, offering a matchless sense of immensity and protection.
After all, the Plesnik family knows this well: it is Martina Plesnik (current owner) who recounts how, as a child, she played under its branches together with her brothers and sisters during a documentary film made to celebrate the 30 years that this establishment is completing in 2025. In actual fact, the origins of the place have a connection that goes back much further: the Plesnik family has inhabited this valley since 1426, first working in agriculture and then, from the beginning of the 20th century, also in tourism.
In 1932, Martina Plesnik’s great-grandfather opened the first hotel with 60 rooms and a restaurant: the dream was a modern mountain resort that was later halted by the outbreak of war. In 1952, Martina Plesnik’s father opened a small guest house with five rooms, built on the remains of the previous structure, but it was only after Slovenia’s independence in 1991 that the Plesnik family was able to reclaim the properties nationalized during socialism and begin planning the construction of the hotel we know today.
In 1995, the new Hotel Plesnik was inaugurated, recognized as a symbol of this area: renovated in 2016 (the year it received recognition as the world’s best boutique hotel), it also features a wellness center with pools, hot tubs, sauna, solarium, and Ayurvedic treatments.
To confirm its deep roots in the territory and its profound respect for the surrounding environment, Restavracija Plesnik has been awarded the MICHELIN Green Star — a distinction that celebrates sustainable cuisine, attentive to biodiversity and to the preservation of the mountain ecosystem.
The restaurant’s philosophy — from strict seasonality and the integral use of ingredients to the choice of local producers and practices that reduce environmental impact — makes it a virtuous model of conscious hospitality.
The Green Star therefore rewards not only the quality of the dish, but an entire way of living and working in harmony with nature, perfectly aligned with the spirit of the Logar Valley and with the history of the Plesnik family.
The most recent development concerns gastronomy with the opening in spring 2025, within the facility, of a fine dining restaurant with the consultation of Janez Bratovž and young Tom Čopar as head chef. The restaurant is located in the Hunting Room (but it is also possible to dine on the panoramic terrace). It is open in the evening, and welcomes a maximum of 18 guests in a warm, welcoming, and refined atmosphere.
The seven-course menu is a journey through the tastes and traditions of the Savinja Valley and the Solčava region, told through the best that this territory has to offer. Forest, unspoiled meadows, garden, and vegetable garden are key elements of this journey in which the production of the nearby farms is maximized.
Everything flows in harmony with the rhythm of nature, following seasonality and using techniques such as fermentation, smoking, and drying, and is based on reducing food waste. Among the dishes on the menu are duck served with squash and rye, a delicate pike-perch with porcini mushrooms and potatoes, or Slovenian Sirnek (local cow’s milk cheese, lightly salted and aged) offered with herbs and plums, or chervil accompanied by egg.
At the base of the gastronomic offering are also recipes from Martina Plesnik’s grandmother, which she used in the old restaurant in the Thirties: a way of not forgetting the past while maintaining attention to tradition, although updating it. Among these is beef soup, an iconic Slovenian dish, passed down through generations. Local ingredients, beyond the variety offered by the plant world, also include excellent cheeses, cream, ricotta, and butter.
Daily productions that are used for dishes such as žlikrofi (a filled pasta like dumplings), Štrukli, and then gnocchi, ravioli, and sauces. And again mushrooms (directly from the surrounding forests), local freshwater fish, and meat, among which stand out the Jezersko–Solčava sheep, but also other sheep, and beef. Some examples? Meat from Plesnik Tourist Farm, trout from Goričar fish farm (used in ravioli), herbs from the garden, eggs from Moličnic farm, flour and vegetables from Veršič farm, goat cheeses from Matk Farm.
Culture and attention to waste reduction are central elements, also present in breakfast offerings and the hotel menu (try Marija Plesnik’s beef tartare marinated with spices and cognac). Organic breakfast is one of the facility’s strengths: a wide selection of local butter and cheeses accompanies typical sweets and cold cuts from the area, such as beef zašinek (called bunke here), prepared with the stomach of local pigs by Plesnik Tourist Farm.
Already produced in 1620 when it won over King George V, who tasted it in 1932 at Hotel Plesnik and ordered a large quantity to send to London, it is made from prime cuts of meat, bacon, spices, and garlic water and is characterized by a flat and elongated shape.
4 min.
