Podravje, the Drava country between Maribor and Ptuj

Two towns and 41 municipalities

SURS gives it 2,170 km², 41 municipalities and 332,747 people on 1 January 2026. It recorded 470,755 tourist arrivals in 2025, and 72 per cent went to two municipalities. Maribor, with 270,729 arrivals, is Slovenia’s second city and what the tourist board calls the Styrian capital. Ptuj, with 68,444, is the historic town on the Drava. The rest are small municipalities in the Slovenske Gorice, the Drava plain and Haloze, many with no published tourism figures.

The tourist board splits the region between two macro-destinations. Maribor and Pohorje sit in Alpine Slovenia; Ptuj in Thermal Pannonian Slovenia. That alone tells you how varied it is.

Maribor, the Drava and the oldest vine

Maribor’s riverfront is Lent, guarded by two old wall towers. On one of its house fronts climbs the oldest vine in the world, more than four centuries old by Guinness’s reckoning. Under the centre run the tunnels of the Vinag cellar, founded in 1847, and a string of European titles, from Capital of Culture in 2012 to Best Culinary Destination in 2023.

Pohorje, the forested mountain

Above Maribor rises Pohorje. A cable car from the edge of town lifts you to Mariborsko Pohorje, whose 41.5 km of runs beat any other Slovenian resort, where the world’s best female skiers race every winter. In summer there are walks, mountain biking, peat bogs with small lakes and Pohorje Regional Park, about 52 km². The Lovrenc Lakes, bog pools with a wooden tower, are my favourite spot up there.

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

Ptuj, Haloze and wine country

Ptuj was Poetovio, which the government ranks among the three great Roman cities of this land. It has a castle with a regional museum, a cellar holding a 1917 vintage and the great Kurent carnival, whose rounds are UNESCO intangible heritage. Its wine cellar, the oldest in Slovenia according to the tourist board, has been storing Haloze and Slovenske Gorice wine for some 700 years. A free town bus and a small electric runabout called Zapeljivec, the Seducer, get you round the centre, and in summer the tourist office lends out bikes at no charge, which is how I’d ride out to the lake. Beside the town, Lake Ptuj is Slovenia’s largest man-made lake and a nesting ground for over 230 bird species.

South of the Drava begin the Haloze hills, and to the north the Slovenske Gorice. The tourist board says the Podravje wine district is the largest in Slovenia, with more than 7,000 hectares between Haloze and the Radgona-Kapela hills, and that its slopes rank among the sunniest 4 per cent in the world for vines. Medium-dry whites rule here, and Ptuj adds its own sweet note, the Haloze gibanica, a layered cake with curd cheese and soured cream.

What else is worth seeing?

Ormož, on the Drava, opens up the Ljutomer-Ormož wine country. Svečina, a village in Kungota, has a heart-shaped road through the vineyards. Slovenska Bistrica is the second most populous municipality, and Hoče-Slivnica, at the foot of Pohorje, gets the most visitors after Maribor and Ptuj. And if you’re cycling, the Drava cycle route crosses the region from west to east, past Fala, whose power station is the oldest on the whole Drava, and then Maribor Island, a river island the tourist board describes as unique in Slovenia. In Maribor you can also float down the Drava on a timber raft with the flosarji, the old raftsmen, ideally in the evening with music. Back in town, try the Pohorje omelette, a warm sweet pancake with cranberries, whipped cream and a splash of peppermint liqueur, first made, so the story goes, in 1950.

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

Three days in Slovenian Styria

Three days is the right amount, based in Maribor. One day for Lent and the centre, one for Pohorje and one for Ptuj, with its castle and lake. Travel in September or November and you’ll catch the wine festivals; come at carnival time and you’ll see Kurentovanje in Ptuj.

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