Maribor: City History, Wine and Pohorje

The 450-year-old Modra kavčina vine, Slovenian art collections and a nature trail from the old town to three hills show different sides of Maribor. Your trip might focus on wine and cultural heritage, museums and city history, or activities in Pohorje.

Wine and Cultural Heritage

The Oldest Vine Museum presents the heritage of the 450-year-old Modra kavčina vine. A tasting of Queen’s wine or fruit juice is part of the visit. If you plan to take part in a tasting, check the latest visitor information, as tasting arrangements may change.

At the Oldest Vine House, you can taste wines from Štajerska made by 55 local winemakers. They are served with a local snack of homemade bread, pumpkin seed oil and salt. The participating winemakers may change.

Art, History and Music

The National Liberation Museum Maribor features a permanent exhibition on the city’s history in the 20th century and offers history workshops for children and young people. Dates for individual workshops may change; if you’re interested, check that they fit your travel dates. The Maribor Art Gallery preserves more than 10,000 works of art representing Slovenian visual art. The gallery also holds Slovenia’s only independent collection of Slovenian video art.

The Maribor Synagogue is one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Central Europe. Sinagoga Maribor is dedicated to researching, preserving, caring for and presenting Jewish cultural heritage. Lent is Maribor’s oldest and most picturesque district, adding its own distinctive note to the city’s history.

The Maribor Regional Museum’s “Variations – Hommage to Franz Liszt” program gives young musicians from Maribor and their teachers the opportunity to perform in the Knights’ Hall at Maribor Castle. It has run continuously since 2016 and takes place every year in April, May and June, and sometimes in the autumn months. If you want to plan your trip around a performance, check the specific dates for your travel period.

City Park, Hills and Pohorje

The Piramida–Kalvarija nature trail leads from Maribor’s old town through the city park to the three hills of Piramida, Mestni vrh and Kalvarija. The route is approximately 5 km long. The city park and its wider surroundings are protected as a monument of designed nature. Kalvarija is 375 m high, marked by vineyards, and reached via a climb of 454 steps.

In Pohorje, you can go hiking, cycling, horseback riding and skiing; seasonal operations may vary. The lower station of the Pohorska Vzpenjača is 5 km from Maribor city centre and connects the city with Maribor Pohorje. As timetables may change, check them before your visit. Črno jezero is also in Pohorje; its forested surroundings are protected as a forest reserve.

When looking for a hotel, you can first decide whether your trip will focus more on Maribor’s cultural offerings or on activities in Pohorje. This lets you tailor your choice to the experiences that matter to your stay, without treating the distinct offerings of the city and Pohorje as interchangeable.

Discover more destinations: Spodnje Hoče, Miklavž na Dravskem Polju, Bresternica, Pernica, Maribor, Limbuš, Hočko Pohorje, Starše, Kamnica, Malečnik, Fram, Loka, Dobrovce.

For the overview of the wider region: Slovenia.