The Drava Experience – In the very Heart of the Amazon of Europe

At 5 p.m. the tour guide will welcome you at the centrally located boutique hotel in the old town. Then take a tour of the historic old town. Osijek, the largest city in Eastern Croatia on the banks of Drava River. Start our journey in the Osijek Old Town – Tvrđa which is the best preserved and largest ensemble of Baroque buildings in Croatia with the Habsburg star fort built on the right bank of the Drava River. Visiting the Upper City with the main square, the late Gothic Cathedral, historical buildings, fancy shops, restaurants and taste the famous Croatian coffee dinner in the historical quarter.

We start our cycling holidays through Osijek, leaving this charming city via the shiny Pedestrian Bridge continue on the Drava dyke. Our tour takes us on a dirt road along the floodplain forest near Belisce. Entering Hungary, we will enter the famous Villany wine-growing area stopping at the Statue Park of the Danube-Drava National Park. Here we hike up to the Panorama view promenade and have the breath-taking view over the Drava floodplain as far as the Slavonian Papuk mountains. In Villány we can make a detour to the scenic  Devil’s shaft among the most hidden part of the wine region with fantastic small routes and outlook points.

After leaving Villány we cycle to Siklós visiting the castle which is one of the best-preserved castles in Hungary. Continue south to the Drava and cycling in a beautiful area in the Amazon of Europe. Feel free to stop whenever and enjoy this wonderful area. The route leads you along, following the waterflow of Fekete-víz blending into the Drava River before reaching your destination, Szaporca. Here we could participate in a paddling tour on the Fekete-víz (tributary of the Drava).

Today our tour starts from Szaporca and it leads you through the “enchanting Ormánság”, one of Hungary’s most isolated and depopulated areas. This area is dominated by the vicinity of the Drava River as most of the route stretches along the river. Lunch spot is in Dravasztára in an authentic Croatian restaurant. The tour leads us along good quality asphalted roads where you can explain spots like the coffered-ceiling catholic church in Potony, or Kastélyosdombó our destination for the day.

Today we cycle on the most beautiful stretch of the cycling route along the Drava from Dravatamási to Barcs. There are a lot of outlook points to the river. Cross the bridge at Barcs and enter Croatia once again. The route finishes in Noskovci, which is located in Virovitica-Podravina County and is only a few kilometres away from the entrance to Osijek – Baranya County, near the small village of Gezinci.

Trail begins in Noskovci. This is also the longest route of this section of the Amazon of Europe Bike Trail. However, 74 kilometres of lowland route will be easy to handle for advanced cyclists. The section is located entirely in the Mura-Drava Regional Park, which joins the Kopački rit Nature Park to the east. The best of Drava River. Continue your cycle tour and experience many natural beauties such as floodplain forests and effluents of the Drava, joining into the majestic lowland river uninfluenced by manmade structures. You will enjoy the popular meanders – the winding trough of the Drava River that curves in the shape of the letter S. Also, your attention at many locations throughout the section of the route will be caught by sand and gravel bars and islands as well as eroded steep riverbanks, so seldomly seen on European rivers encroached by humans, but indicating the intactness of each river where they appear.

Start our journey in the small and interesting town of Belišće and continue your ride to the town of Valpovo where we can enjoy sightseeing the castle with a living history of Families Prandau and Normann. After Valpovo we will discover some of the most picturesque villages of North Croatia, and finally arrive back to the largest city in the eastern Croatia – Osijek. The accommodation here is optional either you can stay the nights here or you can leave individually back home.