24th of April 2022 - A few days ago, the world commemorated Earth Day, so it’s only convenient to present one of the most ecological and recreational ways of transportation - bikes, or in this case, bike tours. A look into the best bike tours in Slavonia.

Spring is in full swing which means a yearly reminder of recreational tourist offers Croatia, or in this case, what Slavonia has to offer. Bicycles are a huge part of Croatian lives. Bike clubs, amateur cyclists, and regular people who want to be part of these events became more and more frequent and stayed part of these movements and events. Of course, with every recreation or hobby, there’s always a potential for tourist opportunities. For example, Dalmatia with its already diverse tourist offers incorporated bike tours, which suit really well with the geographical location of the region. Hilly and somewhat mountainous terrain with the scent of sea salt and a view of the Adriatic Sea, attracts every tourist who wants to experience the beauties of the Dalmatian region recreationally. Even islands like Brač, Hvar, and Korčula where you can transport your bikes with catamarans, have various offers of bike tours. Istria does an amazing job as well and northern Croatia with Međimurje, Zagorje, and Zagreb regions attracts more and more bike lovers every year!

However, the full circle couldn’t be rounded without the region of Slavonia which is doing an amazing job in promoting its land and presents new and creative tourist offers every single year. From Požega and its Golden Valley to the wine roads of Srijem and Baranja, bike tours in Slavonia could easily have one of the best tourist offers in Croatia. So, without further ado, let’s start with the best bike tours in Slavonia.

Vinkovci, Vukovar - Srijem county 

If you want to explore Vinkovci and surrounding places a bit more adventurously, definitely consider these available trails which stretch through the whole Vukovar-Srijem county. There are a few different types of surfaces available - macadam, earth, gravel, grass, and asphalt, which are intended for riding mountain or other types of quality bikes. The trails are marked in blue, red and yellow and they all have one thing in common - the bridge on river Bosut in the center of Vinkovci which is the start of every bike trail. The blue trail is 19 kilometers long and leads from Vinkovci to the village of Borinci to a rural home called “Antin Stan” in Ivankovo and back to Vinkovci. The red one is 15 kilometers long, moving the new dam on Bazjaš canal to the Kunjevci forest and back to the center of Vinkovci. Last official trail is marked with yellow color and is the longest, around 21 kilometers, stretching from bridge on Bosut towards rural house and picnic area Sopot in direction of Rokovci. After that, the trail continues to Kunjevci forest and back to Vinkovci. If you’re ever interested in trying these bike tours, contact the Vinkovci Tourist Board for maps of these routes here.

Colorful bike tours in Slavonia around Vinkovci, (Screenshot: Master plan grada Vinkovaca za promet)

Apart from these official bike trails, there are a few routes that go further in Vukovar-Srijem county:

• Danube cycling route (EuroVelo 6) - This one passes along the Danube River and its length is 138 kilometers in Croatia. Probably one of the most popular bike routes in Europe cuts through Vukovar-Srijem county, connects with cycling route Srijem and continues toward the Black Sea. The route can be checked here.
• Srijem route - Connects the southern area of Vukovar-Srijem county with the northeastern part. Its starting point is the center of Vinkovci near the popular Lamp and goes through Rokovci, Andrijaševci, Cerna, and Gradište towards Cvelferija (9 villages of Županja’s area) then through Gunja, Vrbanja, and Drenovci to the city of Otok.
• Route Otok - This bike route offers two possibilities: the first one is a ride across Privlaka to the city of Vinkovci and the road from Nuštar and Bogdanovci to Vukovar while the other route is going through the village of Komletinci to Nijemci, towards Tovarnik and Ilok.

Route Otok and Srijem with other bike tours in Slavonia around Županja area, (Screenshot: tz-zupanja.hr)

Even though the area of Vukovar-Srijem County seems small, it has a lot to offer. Golden fields of wheat and sunflowers that have been just planted, sun in the sky, multiple options for eating and drinking, and most importantly, the people. If you need quick transport, buses and trains are available - most of the time.

Osijek, Osijek - Baranja County 

Besides already mentioned EuroVelo 6 Danube River route that goes through Osijek and its county as well, there is the Greenway Cycling route that connects Croatia and Hungary with the goal of cross border relations, building up tourism and eco-tourism in the area along the Danube-Drava Rivers. There is already a great piece on our dedicated to cycling Total Croatia Cycling site, about the Greenway route and the whole project that took place in 2016. You can read it here.

Another European bike route goes through Slavonia - EuroVelo 13 or “Iron Curtain Trail”. The name stems from the fact that the border was part of the infamous “Iron Curtain”. Beautiful landscape, pristine forests, Drava River in all its glory, and of course gorgeous cities along the way - Beli Manastir, Belišče, Valpovo, Donji Miholjac, Koprivnica, and many more. Of course, great food and drinks for relaxation. For more information about this route, check here.

When it comes to cycle tourism, Osijek and Baranja regions are top-notch. It’s not a surprise that Osijek has the most cycle paths in Croatia which spread through the whole city. If you own a good bike and love cycling moreover public transport, Osijek is a great city for you. Here are a few suggested bike tours exploring Osijek and its surroundings:

• OSIJEK - UŠĆE KARAŠICE - OSIJEK: This route starts from the city of Osijek and goes to Višnjevac. After that, there is a wooden bridge towards the west that continues through beautiful forests and natural landscapes near the Drava River. The route stretches all the way to fishing house located on mouth of Karašica and Drava rivers. The length of the route is around 20 kilometers and it’s not particularly complicated. Suited for mountain and track bicycles. You can check the details of the route here.
• OSIJEK - KOPAČEVO - BILJE - OSIJEK: This time, the best city exit is the one towards Podravlje where the ride goes to Kopačevo and the reception center of Kopački rit. Beautiful landscape and the only traffic participants are cyclists, pedestrians, and animals. From there, the route goes through Kopačevo, Bilje in Baranja all the way to Osijek. This bike route is around 32 kilometers long and suitable bicycles are mountain and tracking ones. Visual details can be found here.

A few others are:

• KOPAČEVO - ZLATNA GREDA - TIKVEŠ - KOPAČEVO, route details
  
• BIZOVAC – ČOKADINCI – KOŠKA – LADIMIREVCI – BIZOVAC, route details
  
• KNEŽEVI VINOGRADI – KOTLINA – KAMENAC – KARANAC – KNEŽEVI VINOGRADI, route details.
  

On the other hand, Baranja used its tourist offer of great food, wines, and other products and, most importantly, beautiful wine yards that unfurl through the whole region to the maximum.

Wine roads are the most popular routes in Osijek - Baranja County, so it’s not surprising that out of a total of twelve tourist and wine roads in the county, just in Baranja are eight. During these bike tours, tourists can visit multiple wine cellars along the way and explore beautiful landscapes. For all details about wine bike tours in Baranja, check here. Beautiful nature park Kopački rit also included bike tours recently for an easier and more exciting experience of Slavonian nature and enriched tourist offer even more. Check the website here.

Požega, Požega - Slavonia County 

When we talk about cycling or any other type of recreation, we have to mention the center of Slavonia. The Hilly mountain terrain of old Slavonian mountains Papuk, Psunj, and Krntija, make this region even more exciting for bike lovers. Thirty marked bike trails make Požega - Slavonia County a place for one of the best bike tours in Slavonia. Besides the already mentioned EuroVelo route and other state bike trails, Požega and its surroundings offer an amazing variety of bike trails for everyone. If you thought Slavonia is flat, you’ve been grossly deceived. The landscape around nature park Papuk is a great reason anybody trying these routes needs to have high-level body fitness.

• The so-called “Green route” that passes through the Požega Wine region - beautiful wine yards (almost similar to Ilok’s or Baranja’s wine roads), hills, and exquisite views of old mountains. Route details.
  
• Požega vistas trail is another one that stands out in that region - This trail has all sorts of terrains - from asphalt ones in the old town of Požega to forest trails and open landscapes with dirt roads, all the way to Požeška gora and trails and obstacles that pumps up the adrenaline, passing by old wells and trails of old, ancient life and back to Požega. Route details.
• The trail through fields and meadows - goes through traditional Slavonian villages and hilly places rich with agriculture. Exciting long upward and downward roads between villages and eventually back to Požega. Route details.
  

For more details about the most exciting bike tours in Slavonia, definitely check here.

Papuk (photo credit: Mario Romulić)

To conclude this list, we need to shoutout few honorable mentions that definitely deserve their own article: off-road routes of Virovitica - Podravina County, muddy, exciting forest roads around rivers, sunny fields of Podravina, and glimpses of Western Slavonia, which has probably one of the best bike trails in Croatia. Pannonian bike roads pass through the calm landscapes, across the hills, through the woods and fields, along rivers, streams, and lakes. With the wind on your face, definitely discover the beauty of Pannonian cycling trails. For more details, check here.

Slavonski Brod and Brod-Posavina County with a must-visit to the monumental Brod Fortress, the largest of continental Croatia with its unique Tambura Museum. Posavina villages of Klakar, Donja, and Gornja Bebrina offer even more pleasures and forests that express the greenest places in Slavonia. Lipik, Pakrac and their Lipizzaner and Kuna Trail... What are you waiting for? For more details, check counties official website.

After an exhaustive analysis that can reach five more such articles, it’s only left of us to invite you and visit these beautiful places. From Požega to Ilok, these truly are one of the best bike tours in Slavonia, but not just that - in Croatia as well. For more cycling articles, visit our dedicated website.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

October 9, 2020 – Even though rural areas in Croatia are not as popular as urban ones, they also hide immense traditional beauty. Check out the Eco Ethno village Strug, a perfect place to enjoy nature and traditional Posavina dishes in the company of many domestic animals.

Rural tourism in Croatia has a lot to offer. One of such beautiful rural areas is the Eco-Ethno village Strug, a rural tourist estate known for its magical scenes of idyllic countryside.

Rainy and cloudy day at the Eco-Ethno village Strug / Donatella Pauković

And yes, by saying the countryside, it is a village with an unusual surrounding of untouched nature, dirt, mud (when it rains), and domestic animals. But it all makes the experience of visiting unique and real!

Calmness and relaxation

The Eco-ethno village Strug is located in a small village of Plesmo in the heart of Posavina and is part of the Nature Park Lonjsko Polje. The name Strug was given after the eponymous Posavina canal that flows in the area.

The whole estate contains several decorated traditional oak houses for staying overnight, and a restaurant with traditional dishes overlooking the small excavated pond, and a large pasture where Posavina horses graze and run freely. The whole atmosphere at the estate is so calm and relaxing you almost feel like you're ruining it. You can feel it in the video below:

To complete the atmosphere, the rooms and apartments are decorated in an authentic ethno style but are equipped with a television, safe, central heating, air conditioner, and a refrigerator. In this remote village 30 minutes away from the closest small town of Novska, it is difficult to catch a mobile signal, but the cottages and the restaurant have free wireless internet.

Traditional oak houses (in the distance) and a wooden shed (on the right) / Donatella Pauković

The restaurant can be visited whether you want to have lunch, dinner, or just enjoy an afternoon coffee watching the domestic farm animals, which makes a perfect weekend getaway.

The whole atmosphere at the Eco-Ethno village Strug is calm and relaxing / Donatella Pauković

A small eaves and a terrace in front of the restaurant that can be used when it's hot and sunny / Donatella Pauković

Food heaven

The restaurant offers many Posavina traditional specialties, of which the most prominent is venison. Deer in cranberry sauce and boar in the plum sauce are dishes that must be tasted here, and river fish specialties such as perch, catfish, and pike are also offered.

The interior of the restaurant / Donatella Pauković

For an appetizer, they offer a traditional type of pasta called “trganci“ with sour cream and baked bacon, and an interesting side dish, which is not common in restaurants – polenta with sour cream. For dessert, Posavina specialties are also served, such as dumplings topped with sour cream and poppy seeds or plums.

The food they serve originally comes from the local area, and, as they say, "it is prepared in a traditional domestic manner according to long-forgotten recipes of the Posavina region".

Deer in cranberry sauce and boar in the plum sauce, along with homemade dumplings and gnocchi / Donatella Pauković

The restaurant's wine offer includes excellent wines from the nearby Moslavina region, which is known for its Škrlet wine sort. In the Eco-ethno village Strug, Škrlet is an indispensable part of the menu.

The restaurant is quite large and it often hosts various celebrations, and even weddings, as the country landscape represents a beautiful setting for wedding photos.

A view on the small lake from the restaurant / Donatella Pauković

Domestic animals' property

Also, the Eco-Ethno village Strug is located near the architectural heritage village Krapje, and not far away is the stork village of Čigoč, which we described in an article dedicated to Lonjsko Polje, so the visitors are offered plenty of other activities.

Visiting the Eco-ethno village Strug, one gets used to the presence of many domestic animals that enjoy grazing there. The sound (and the smell) of domestic animals such as chickens, roosters, ducks, geese, and rabbits surround the farm.

Poultry at the Eco-Ethno village Strug / Donatella Pauković

However, the main “stars“ of the Eco-ethno village Strug are unquestionably Posavina horses. Six of them live here and freely feed on the grass on pasture, while people only occasionally give them corn.

Some of them are retired racehorses. They are tame and lovely because they are used to people, especially children who visit the village as part of school trips. Until recently, there was also the possibility of horseback riding, but these activities were stopped due to the current pandemic.

But regardless, it is a real pleasure to just watch them through the large windows of the restaurant, and maybe approach them and tease them.

Posavina horses / Donatella Pauković

Posavina horse / Donatella Pauković

Whether you want to escape in nature or replace the usual environment with the rather unusual touch of the countryside where you don't have to think about anything, the Eco-ethno village Strug will not disappoint you.

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