The Drava river in southern Central Europe makes with its length of 710 kilometres for the fifth longest tributary of the Danube. Its source is South Tyrol in Italy, then the river flows eastwards through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria into the Styria region of Slovenia. It then turns southeast, passing through Croatia and, after merging with its main tributary Mur, forms most of the border between Croatia and Hungary, before it joins the Danube in Osijek, Croatia.
On its way, the Drava passes the city of Maribor. The Drava has been strongly associated with the life and development of the city through its entire history. It has also been proven that the roots of the Old Vine in Lent stretch to the river basin, thus, the Oldest Vine in the World has been absorbing water from the river for centuries.
There are excellent cycling trails at the river embankment where a congress guest in Maribor can, while cycling along beautiful trail, admire many historical and cultural attractions of the second largest Slovenian city. Or see its extremely rich flora and fauna, join diverse sport activities, or simply bicycle through the whole Drava Regional Park which extends over the old riverbed of the Drava and the countryside along it, between Maribor and Ptuj and thus represents one of the last parts of the natural riverbed with ecological and natural environmental biotopes of the highest value.
This kind of cycling can be either arranged as an incentive programme, or in individual arrangements. But in the time of the Drava Festival, which is set along the entire region of the Drava River, a two-month long festival has been this year since the 18th of May presenting the river Drava and its many features to the local inhabitants, to raise awareness of the healthy and quality living environment that the river allows, and to display the importance of the river’s preservation.
One part of the festival is the Drava Bike that provides a six-day programme of bicycling down the Drava bicycle trail. It will start on the 2nd of July and finish on the 7th. A congress or business guest to Maribor can join it for the whole six-day programme or can join on any given day of the six days. The tour will take to Maribor Area, to Ptuj, Carinthia, and even to Croatia. The route is divided into 6 stage that are between 30 and 50 km long.