Vitanje, a small village with a space station

What’s in the Noordung Center?

Several exhibitions. One covers Noordung and the rocket pioneers, another the history of astronomy, The Mysterious Universe, one is on the Moon, another from the Slovenian Museum of Natural History on the Solar System with casts of meteorites that fell in Slovenia, and others on the six families of Sentinel satellites in the EU’s Copernicus programme, Slovenian space companies and the Voyager probes, which Slovenian engineer Anton Mavretič helped equip.

The hands-on side matters too. There’s Vita, a humanoid robot that talks and dances, an AI-recreated Noordung you can chat to, a flight simulator, VR aboard the International Space Station, the Bárány chair astronauts train on and an escape game to save Noordung’s station. The centre recommends at least an hour and a half.

Noordung Center prices

Self-guided entry costs €11 for adults, €10 for pensioners and students and €8 for children aged 6 to 15, with a €29 family ticket. The 50-minute guided visit rises to €15. The simulator costs €12, the VR €8 and the Bárány chair €5. There are packages with Žiče Charterhouse for €19, with Velenje’s Coal Mining Museum for €33 and with Velenje Castle for €18. Groups of more than 15 pay €12 each for the guided visit, English-language guided tours cost €20 per group with 14 days’ notice, and visits outside opening hours carry a 20% supplement. European Youth Card holders get 15% off guided visits and 10% off self-guided ones. A gamified audio guide in English makes the self-guided option work well for families.

Who was Noordung?

Herman Potočnik Noordung was a pioneer of theoretical astronautics. The centre explains that he imagined a geostationary space station with artificial gravity, the habitat wheel, an idea that has still not been built. The Vitanje centre opened in 2012 as the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies, and the tourist board says its building was designed from that first station.

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

A day with Žiče or Rogla

I’d put it in a day with Žiče or Rogla and sleep in Zreče. It’s a good rainy-day option with children, and the hands-on rooms tend to keep teenagers interested for longer than a classic museum would.

Vitanje, the village

According to SURS, Vitanje has 814 residents and its municipality 2,200 on 1 January 2026, across 8 settlements. It recorded 2,070 arrivals in 2025. It belongs to the Rogla-Pohorje destination, with Zreče and Slovenske Konjice, in Savinjska.

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

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