Židana Marela was born when a few Slovenian guides experienced a typical Greek evening program and we thought to ourselves, why not do this in Slovenia? Once we returned to Ljubljana we launched the Traditional Slovenian evenings and later formed Židana Marela, meaning “the jolly umbrella”. This new formed company allowed each of us to play to our strengths: Tomaž with his myriad of ideas & love of music, Luka with his passion for photography and Miha’s expertise in business and public relations.

Once we got rolling, an explosion of new ideas and new connections allowed us to expand our offerings and our team. Dragana, previously a tour operator for 10 years, wanted a chance to show off Slovenia and joined us to work on incoming tourism. Andrew, an American with an insatiable taste and curiosity for the Balkans, was brought into the fold, relocating all the way from Seattle. And the energy from Zidana has continued to attract others wanting to work with Zidana.

We now offer many specialized travel products: from traditional Slovenian evenings and culture shows to photography tours, food & wine tours from stag parties to short trips and we’re still expanding.