Things to see and do Maribor

Here is the oldest vineyard in the world. It backs onto the original wall dating from 1657. The city still manages to produce about 50 kilos a year for prestigious gifts for celebrities visiting the region. All the wines of the region are offered for tasting and sale in this small museum where you can also find other souvenirs but above all the history of this exceptional grape variety: Zametna Crnina or Modra Kavcina. Nice map of the vineyard.

The castle was bought by the commune in 1933. Five years later, the premises of the bastille, built in 1556, housed the first collections. The 17th century Loreto Chapel, the arcaded corridor, the four towers, the Knights' Hall and the rococo staircase were built under the orders of the Counts Khisli. The remains of the 3rd millennium BC can be visited on the first floor. The miniatures made are very interesting to better understand the evolution of the habitat during the prehistoric period. The second room offers a more condensed content on the period of Roman domination and the blossoming of the Slavic tribes in the 7th century. On the first floor, there is a presentation of the work from the glassworks and forges of Pohorje. The atmosphere is surreal in the loggia with Greco-Roman statues and Jewish steles from the 14th century when Glavni Trg comes alive with folk music during the Lent festival.

Afterwards, we visit the exhibition dedicated to the Middle Ages in Maribor. The rapid growth of the city and its great prosperity were disrupted by a period of untimely war and deadly epidemics. A beautiful perspective of religious plurality and a beautiful life-size reconstruction of a medieval settlement in a rural area. Finally, the modern part of the exhibition is more thematic and focuses on the pictorial representations of the city's elites as well as on the evolution of women's fashion between the mid-19th and late 20th centuries.

Beautiful green space with ponds, swans, music kiosk (1890), aquarium.

An address not to be missed: best maps to visit the city, sale of bus tickets, souvenirs, informative brochures, guides, free public toilets with access to the back of the TIC open from 7am to 9pm from Monday to Friday and from 7am to 2pm on Sundays and public holidays... The staff is young and dynamic. For bike rental, it is inexpensive and generally accessible between April and October, on sunny days.

Housed in a bourgeois villa in the town centre, the National Liberation Museum offers visitors a glimpse of the Maribor of the Second World War through a collection of archival objects. We discover or rediscover the different stages through which the population of north-eastern Slovenia went: Nazi occupation, Germanisation of the population, organisation of the resistance from 1941 to the end of the war. Very informative and well documented.

One of the easternmost parts of the Slovenian pre-alpine massif. It is also a major ski area, less than 10 km from the centre of Maribor. A large number of sports activities are practiced here, such as mountain biking, snow sports, hiking and snowshoeing. Here, nature becomes a playground that should be treated with great respect. The resort of Mariborsko Pohorje is known all over the world for organizing the famous international women's slalom race, the Golden Fox.

A building that does not go unnoticed with its red brick alignments. In a more symbolic way, it characterizes the entry into the pedestrian space of the city. The basilica has the peculiarity of being composed of three different naves. Built at the very end of the 19th century on the site of the former Viennese monastery, it is the work of the Austrian architect Richard Jordan. The interior is more classical and typical of Franciscan churches.

Dedicated to the Baptist of Christ, this cathedral has known all the great artistic periods, becoming in turn Romanesque, Gothic and then Baroque. Inside is the tombstone of Anton Martin Slomšek (1800-1862), the first Slovene to be declared a saint by the Vatican, celebrated as the spiritual hero of the nation. He was beatified in 1999 by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Maribor: stained glass windows recall this extraordinary event.

Here once stood Maribor Castle, which was completely destroyed in 1790. Today it is one of the best spots in the city for walking on sunny days. The footpath, about thirty minutes from the railway station, allows access to the top of the hill without major difficulty. It offers a breathtaking panorama of the country's second largest city and above all of the variety of the surrounding countryside between wine hills and deep plains. A true haven of peace in the middle of nature and a stone's throw from the city.