Maribor, the Drava city with the world's oldest vine

Things to do in Maribor: Lent and the oldest vine

The heart of a visit is Lent, the riverside quarter, with two towers and a stretch of old wall. Climbing a house front in Vojašniška ulica is the world’s oldest vine, a žametovka with more than four centuries behind it and a Guinness record since 2004. It has outlived Ottoman sieges, town fires, phylloxera and the bombing raids of the Second World War.

In the vine’s house you can taste and buy Styrian wine beneath a long mosaic of the city’s past. A couple of streets away, the Vinag cellar opened in 1847 and hides more than 2 km of tunnels under the centre.

A few steps away, the Water Tower of 1555 has a story I love. When the Zlatoličje hydroelectric plant was about to raise the level of the Drava, engineers cut through its base and jacked the whole thing up 2.6 m in the late 1960s. Today it’s a wine bar. Close by is Maribor’s medieval synagogue, mentioned in records from the 14th century.

The castle, the museums and the main square

In the centre, Maribor Castle houses the Regional Museum, with archaeology, ethnology and local history. Visits are guided only, with tours setting off every hour, and it’s closed on Mondays. Maribor Art Gallery holds more than 10,000 works by Slovenian artists from the late 19th century onwards. And Glavni trg, the main square, with its plague column and the town hall of 1515 with its off-centre turret, is where the city meets.

Getting up Pohorje from Maribor

By cable car. The lower station is 5 km from the centre; it was the first cable car in Slovenia and it climbs to Pohorje, a mountain of forest, peat bogs and small lakes. In winter Mariborsko Pohorje is the largest ski area in the country, a Women’s World Cup venue and home to Slovenia’s longest floodlit run. In summer it hosts rounds of the Mountain Bike World Cup.

Pohorje also has its own pudding, the Pohorje omelette, with cranberries, whipped cream and peppermint liqueur, which legend says was first made in 1950. Order it fresh and warm.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Maribor before prices climb.

The Drava by bike or by raft

The river is a big part of the appeal. The tourist board suggests floating down it on a raft with the old raftsmen, cycling the Drava route as far as the old power station at Fala, or stopping at Maribor Island, out in the middle of the river. In town, MBajk has more than 340 bikes at 34 stations, and the free electric Maister shuttle runs around the old town.

Maribor, a wine town

According to SURS, Maribor has 98,097 people in the town and 114,872 in the municipality on 1 January 2026. It’s the hub of Podravje, Slovenian Styria, and the tourist board calls it the Styrian capital. In 2025 it recorded 270,729 tourist arrivals, the sixth highest of any municipality in the country.

It has collected European titles at quite a pace. It was European Capital of Culture in 2012, European City of Sport in 2018 and Europe’s Best Culinary Destination for 2023, and the tourist board awards it the gold Slovenia Green Destination label. For a city that so few British travellers put on their list, that’s a decent record.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Maribor and choose by the reviews.

When to go and where to stay

Maribor runs on festivals. Festival Lent kicks off the summer, the vine festival comes in September and St Martin’s Day in November. In winter it’s all about skiing. The city also stages a theatre festival and a music festival, and the tourist board is promoting it as the European Best Wine Capital for 2026, which suits everything above. For a walk with a local, the city guides, who call themselves Rajzefiber, run themed walking tours, and the tourist board lists tourist farms around the city where you can sleep in a room or even a hayloft. For somewhere to stay, I’d look in Lent or around Glavni trg, because the city is best explored on foot. If you drive in from Graz, you cross at Šentilj, where Cmurek Castle is worth the detour.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Maribor before prices climb.