Koroška, mountains, forest and mines in Slovenian Carinthia

What Koroška, Slovenian Carinthia, is

SURS gives it 1,041 km², 12 municipalities and 70,174 people on 1 January 2026. In 2025 it recorded 56,170 tourist arrivals, the second-lowest figure of any region, and the busiest municipalities were Mislinja, Slovenj Gradec and Dravograd. The tourist board reckons almost 70 per cent of it is forest, and the woods of western Pohorje are among the darkest and deepest in the country.

It’s classed as Alpine Slovenia, and rightly so. This is home to Peca, Raduha, Olševa and Uršlja Gora, and the regional tourist board likes to say the whole place is practically one long slope.

The Peca mine by kayak or bike

What makes Koroška unique lies underground. At Mežica, the old lead and zinc mine left about 1,000 km of tunnels beneath Mount Peca, and part of it is now the Mežica mine, a show mine and museum. You can go in by mine train or on foot, kayak through flooded galleries or ride a mountain bike down abandoned tunnels. Legend has it that King Matjaž and his army sleep inside the mountain.

Around it lies Karawanken Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark shared with Austria, with rare minerals, unusual plants and the Topla Valley, a landscape park and the classic approach to Peca.

Which mountains should you climb?

That depends on your legs. Peca, 2,125 m, is Slovenia’s easternmost 2,000-metre peak, and the Austrian border runs across its summit. Raduha, 2,062 m, marks the eastern end of the Savinja Alps. Olševa holds Potočka Zijalka, a Stone Age site, and Smrekovec was an undersea volcano more than 23 million years ago. The easiest is Uršlja Gora, 1,699 m, with the church of St Ursula on top and huge views over four valleys.

Long-distance walkers can follow the Koroška Mountain Trail, a 230 km loop through the Mežica, Drava and Mislinja valleys.

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Towns and villages

Slovenj Gradec is the main town, with 7,746 people and a medieval centre. Within its boundaries, St George’s Church at Legen sits on the foundations of an early Christian chapel with 9th-century graves, which the tourist board calls the only physical evidence of the first Christian communities of old Carantania. Ravne na Koroškem is the steel town, and Dravograd has a classic dravite deposit and a lake with more than 150 bird species and beavers.

Down in the Drava valley, Radlje ob Dravi has a water park with Slovenia’s only natural biological pool, and tourist rafts set off from Muta and Podvelka.

Bikes, skiing and food

Koroška is cycling country. The Štekna route runs 24 surfaced kilometres along the old Mislinja valley railway, the Drava has its own cycle route and a long flow trail drops down from Peca. In winter you can ski at Kope, on Ribnica’s side of Pohorje. And to eat, the tourist board recommends kvočevi nudlni, dough parcels filled with dried pears.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Slovenj Gradec and pick one that fits your day.

How I’d tour Koroška

Two days work well here. I’d give one to Mežica and Peca, with the mine and the Topla Valley, and the other between Slovenj Gradec, Legen and Uršlja Gora. With a third, head down to the Drava valley for the pool at Radlje ob Dravi and a raft trip on the river. The tourist rafts leave from the landing stages at Gortina, in Muta, and Javnik, in Podvelka, with an accordion player on board and the old raftsmen’s songs.

As for where to sleep, don’t expect big hotels, because there are hardly any. Koroška is about tourist farms with home cooking and mountain huts. Dom na Peci sits in a sunny clearing at 1,665 m, and next to the Radlje water park there’s a glamping resort. In summer, western Pohorje is noticeably cooler than the valley floor, and its forests fill with lingonberries. The region has more than 100 km of marked hiking trails and, outside special events, you’ll rarely meet a crowd on them, which for me is the whole point of coming. If you’re a confident hiker, the K24 challenge asks you to climb the five highest peaks of Koroška against the clock.

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