Maribor

Maribor

Rum Doodle would highly recommend a multi-point visit with the options of a night in Ljubljana or Lake Bled as well as nearby Austria with Cities like Velden and Klagenfurt in close proximity.

Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia and is located not far from the southern border with Austria in the hilly landscape of the Pohorje (German Bacher Mountains).

It is just 60 km to Graz from here and the cross-border relationships between the two cities are correspondingly intense. Historically, it is closely connected to Austria:

The former “Styrian metropolis” once belonged to Styria and is located on the banks of the Drau (sl. Drava), which is why the city got its original name Marburg an der Drau (sl. Maribor). It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the city fell to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and has belonged to Slovenia since the declaration of independence in 1991.

The university town impresses with numerous magnificent buildings from different style epochs, such as the city castle, the basilica, the water tower and the town hall.

Thanks to the lively cultural life, the city was named European Capital of Culture 2012. Maribor is a modern tourist center with lots of shopping opportunities, museums, galleries, the Slovenian National Theater, thermal baths and wine cellars.

The oldest grapevine in the world, which is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records, grows in the Lent district. There is also a wine museum in Maribor that is well worth seeing.

Located at the foot of the Bacher Mountains, Maribor was named Alpine City of the Year in 2000. The Mariborsko Pohorje ski area, directly above Maribor, is the largest in Slovenia with 41.5 kilometers of slopes and the winter sports options are accordingly diverse.

The women’s alpine world cup races in slalom and giant slalom are also held here every year. In this context, the famous “Golden Fox” (sl. Zlata lisica) is awarded for the fastest female runner.

Podravska

The Podravska region is located in the northeast of the country on the border with Austria and forms one of the twelve statistical regions of Slovenia.

Lower Styria also belongs to this regional administration. The largest of the 41 municipalities has with 112,000 inhabitants.

The picturesque river landscape on the Drau covers around 2,170 km² and is a wonderful destination in every season. Podravska is the largest wine-growing region in Slovenia and accordingly many fine wines come from this area.

The cultural center is Maribor, the university town with cultural diversity and great recreational potential. The Pohorje (dt. Bachergebirge) is the approximately 1,000 km² large low mountain range of the region, where the largest ski area in Slovenia, Mariborsko Pohorje, is located.

Arrival in Maribor

The city of Maribor has a convenient location. It is located at the crossroads of important European routes from western to eastern and southern Europe and is only 11 km from the Austrian border. It is only 45 minutes from Graz (Austria) and 1.5 hours from Zagreb (Croatia). The city is easy to reach from all neighbouring countries, as it has good road and rail connections.

• Train: (in town)
• Flight: Graz (approx. 60 km), Klagenfurt (approx. 130 km)