Discover and experience the Styrian capital in an entirely new way where you can choose among different themes, from cultural to historical or pristine nature attractions, all depending on your preference or how you might want to impress your guests.

Maribor is an intriguing tourist destination, along with the whole Central Styrian region with the Pohorje massif dominating the landscape and offering an incredible diversity of adventures and opportunities to explore the natural wonders of the region. From the taste of the regional wines and gastronomy through to offering many sports and recreation facilities, cultural events, nature activities, rural tourism and particularly eco-tourism, and well-being pilgrimages, Maribor elevates itself as a somewhat shy but well-fortified and proud destination.

1. Discover Europe’s oldest classic wine cellar – The Vinag wine cellar
Beneath Maribor’s Trg svobode central square lies one of the largest and oldest classic wine cellars in Europe – the Vinag wine cellar, Maribor’s true oenophile’s treasure trove of underground tunnels stretching for 2.5 km and covering 20,000m², is the size of 3 football pitches. Maribor is well known for its mature wine growing tradition and for the production of its noble and extremely aromatic white wines, such as Laski Rizling. It is therefore no wonder that the city can boast itself of this 200-year-old wine cellar that archives more than 250,000 bottles of the best vintages and can store over 5 million litres of wine. The walls of the underground corridors are covered with noble rot that produces a specific microclimatic condition enabling the appropriate wine maturation. The cellar holds approximately 144 wooden barrels, the biggest one having a volume of 16,920 litres and dating back to 1862. There are also 50 different concrete tanks of different capacities, coated with special ceramic tiles (the largest ones hold about 280,000 to 370,000 litres) that you can literally walk into and are justifidely called the “submarines”.

The wine cellar is open for visitors and represents a unique venue, where various protocol activities and other social events are organised. The cellar warmly welcomes every guest with a tasting of three different types of wine. The Vinag brand offers a wide range of different wines, from quality and premium wines all the way to special quality wines, such as the late harvest, selection, berry selection, dry berry selection and ice wine. Some varieties of the white wines that you can buy at the cellar’s shop include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Laski Riesling (Welschriesling), Cuvée, Mariborčan and Traminer.

vinag-wine-cellar

2. Looking for an adventure, a challenge or maybe you like riddles, mysteries and mind games? Then Escape Room ENIGMARIUM® in Maribor is the place for you!
Exit games are becoming more and more popular. These multi-players real life games, where a team gets physically locked into a room and forced to try to escape, are a true worldwide sensation. If you have a group of curious, playful and insightful people, then you should indulge in a first-hand and unrepeatable experience of an escape room in a fairy-tale atmosphere, in a carefully planned dramatic environment. In Maribor the team has outperformed all other escape room settings with creating a room and the story, as well as the riddles and puzzles, fully intertwined with local history combined with high-tech gadgets that will take you back centuries! Normally teams of 2-6 people get locked up in a room of puzzles, where the goal is to unlock doors by solving the mysteries. The players must investigate their surroundings to find some clues and puzzles and take part in the game together. This is why the escape room is an ideal teambuilding activity where participants must learn to collaborate and help each other in finding important clues and hints. Cooperation and the feeling of a joint victory will contribute to new and refreshed relationships. In a competitive business world it is increasingly important to connect and not just compete. Participants enter the room as individuals, but leave the room as a team!

With the training programme at Escape Room ENIGMARIUM® participants will develop/analyse:
– leadership skills,
– communication skills
– adaptability to new situations
– coping with time pressure
– team planning and development strategies

3. Experience the beauty of traditional rafting on the river Drava
If you want to connect with the rich, bygone tradition of old-style rafting on the Drava river, which dates back to the 13th century, then you will have to visit Maribor and its Drava Regional park. Rafting on the Drava River was once used for transporting army troops and their equipment and when the Drava river didn’t have its own channel this part of the river route also served as a transport link through Ptuj to the territories of Croatia and continued on to the Danube and all the way to the Black Sea. Due to the increasing demand of squared timber from the surrounding forests of Pohorje and Kozjak in the 19th and early 20th centuries, rafting on the river Drava experienced a boom until the end of World War II, when the railways replaced river transport. The river tour usually starts in Koblarjev bay and ends in the old town of Maribor Lent. The rafts are built in Robinson Crusoe-style, but many of them are equipped with seats and benches, so you don’t need to stand. During the tour guests are also treated with culinary specialities from the region, which makes the journey even more pleasant. You will discover Maribor in a whole new way, where the city’s major attractions like the Old Vine House, two defensive towers along the river and Maribor’s old town Lent will reveal themselves in all their beauty.

maribor_drava_raft

4. Drava bicycle trail – the ultimate biking experience
Along with hiking trips in the Pohorje mountain range wilderness, rafting on the calm waters of the river Drava or undergoing an adrenalin rush in Maribor’s Enigmarium, the city of Maribor has yet another secret to reveal: the Drava bicycle trail. This 366km-long cycling path, which is a part of the international cycling route connecting the three EU countries of Italy, Slovenia and Austria, has been ranked in the top 10 bike routes in Europe.

The route starts at the source of the Drava River in the Dolomites (Italy) and predominantly runs alongside the river, offering exquisite natural beauty and diverse cultural attractions just a stone’s throw away, where you can refresh yourself with traditional local cuisine. The Slovenian stretch of the route is suitable for skilled and better-prepared cyclists, so it is recommended to use trekking or mountain bikes. In the Maribor surroundings you will be able to admire the hilly vineyards, the Pohorje forest trails, the town of Maribor and even continue all the way to the Pomurje region, Carinthia and then on to Austria. The Drava trail officially continues east of Maribor for another 130km to the Drava-Mura confluence on the Hungarian-Croatian border. Why not enjoy one of the most beautiful rivers in Southern Europe from the saddle and discover some new, warm and utterly charming locations.

5. Mariborsko Pohorje – where nature meets tradition
If you want to wow your clients with a unique natural wonderland, there is no better place than the Mariborsko Pohorje – the mountain range that rises directly above the city of Maribor and reaches an altitude of 1,543.5m. Pohorje is the green oasis of the Styrian region, offering wonderful natural attractions such as primeval forests, numerous waterfalls, lakes (Lovrenška Mountain lakes) and much more, but most of all it offers an incomparable tranquillity where you can relax, enjoy the fresh air and pamper yourself in the heart of the majestic forest. If you’re looking for a more dynamic and innovative programme, however, you can also choose from among many sporting activities, such as hiking or discovering numerous secret spots from the saddle of a mountain bike, as Pohorje offers a variety of difficulty-rated terrains suitable for beginners, intermediates or advanced riders. You can also indulge yourself with skiing in the winter time, as Mariborsko Pohorje is acknowledged as one of the most attractive skiing centres in Slovenia. But if you are mostly interested in the cultural heritage of the region Pohorje offers an insight into traditional artisanal activities typical of this area. One of them is the glass industry (»glažutarstvo« in Slovenian), which started thanks to the abundant resources of the mineral quartz in Pohorje. The industry began developing in the 17th and 18th centuries and reached its apex in the 19th century, so today you can find remains of the manufacturers in the villages of Ruše and Jospidol, as well as in the Lobnica vallley, where the oldest glass industry (“glažuta”) worked from 1692-1793. Today you can visit the open air museum in Jospidol where the processing of glass, stone and wood is demonstrated along with the burning of charcoal, stone splitting, laying of granite cubes, skidding and much more. Another thing worth seeing is the museum house where the culture of living in the old days is demonstrated along with glass and ceramic kitchenware.

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