Portorož (Italian: Portorose or literally 'Port of Roses') is a premier Slovenian seaside resort located at the south-east corner of the Gulf of Trieste. Portorož is tiny compared to resorts in other Mediterranean countries but it has a long tradition. Its development started in 1857 with the completion of Austrian Southern Railway. Its first hotel, Hotel Palace (now a luxury Kempinski Palace Hotel Portorož) was completed in 1910 and has made Portorož a popular coastal getaway for Austrian bourgeoisie. Today, Portorož is characterised by modern infrastructure and some ugly new buildings but it hasn't completely lost its bygone era charm.
Portorož is a popular weekend destination for Slovenian and Italian tourists. Slovenians visit Portorož mainly for swimming and Italians for the food and casinos. Weekdays are quieter than weekends as Portorož is not cheap, thus it is a destination of choice for longer summer holidays mainly for well-off tourists from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the UK and Russia. Due to its relative anonymity it is also a favourite hiding place of the rich and famous. According to local sources, Prince Albert II of Monaco spent a weekend in Portorož in complete privacy and far away from the eyes of the media with 'a few friends' just before he married Charlene.
Orientation in Portorož is pretty straightforward. The main road named Obala (English: the coast), flanked with palm trees for real Mediterranean feel, runs along the coast. There is a string of restaurants, bars, cafés and shops between the road and the beach, and inland there are more restaurants and shops as well as hotels. If you are energetic enough you can walk along the coast all the way to Piran, the most picturesque Slovenian coastal town, around 6 km west of Portorož.
Portorož has a good selection of restaurants (try Ribja kantina, an excellent local seafood reastaurant), cafés (if you like ice-cream make sure you drop by Cacao - their ice-cream is the best we've discovered in Slovenia so far) as well as bars, night clubs and of course hotels. Its beaches and the coast itself might not be everyone's cup of tea but once you jump into the sea to cool off in the midst of summer heat, there's nothing much to complain about.
Swimming season in Portorož runs roughly from June to September, although some brave people can be seen swimming in early May. However, Portorož is a popular weekend destinations outside of swimming season too. This is because when the weather in the interior of Slovenia is foggy, cold and dull, Portorož is often basking in pleasant sunshine.