Drava – From Vuzencia to Ožbalt

Level of difficulty 2 |  Gastronomy 1 |  Distance 22.4 km |  Time 5 - 6 hours

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Flowing gently, the Drava winds its way through the lush, steep slopes and charming little villages of northern Slovenia’s idyllic countryside. Seclusion is the name of the game here.

General information

• Slovenia tourist information
• Koroška Wikipedia
• Koroška tourist information
• Tour video
• Climate
• Wind, waves, weather

Navigation rules

The entire tour goes through a Natura 2000 protected area, so paddlers are asked to stay on the water and close to the shore. Please avoid making noise and littering!

You may encounter other watercraft, such as kayaks, canoes, fishing boats, and tour rafts, along the route. Please give them plenty of room!

Be careful of fishermen, as there are fishing huts and seating areas for them along the banks of the entire route. Depending on the season and weather, you may encounter heavy fishing activity and should then avoid the banks of the Drava.

Dangers and risks

As a flowing body of water, the Drava naturally always poses a certain risk. Wearing a life jacket is recommended. However, anyone who is a good swimmer and can navigate a SUP with confidence will have no problems on this route under normal water conditions.

Occasionally you may come across fishermen. If you see them, please avoid their fishing lines early enough. You may also sometimes come across kayaks, canoes, rafts, and fishing boats, but there is always enough space to avoid them.

Paddle past bridge piers, keeping a safe distance.

The landing to the left bank of the river, right in front of the Vuhred power plant, is somewhat overgrown and quite steep. However, there is a rough trail leading up the short stretch to the bike path. Be sure to proceed cautiously, feeling your way step by step, and take care not to slip back down. It’s best to carry the SUPs up in pairs.

The re-entry at the first possible spot on the left bank of the Drava after the power plant, on the other hand, is considerably more challenging. A small path leads to a stone retaining wall about 1.5 meters high. Climbing down this wall requires some caution. It’s best to choose a suitable spot about 15 meters to the left of the small building.

After the wall, however, you still have to descend over boulders to the water, and thorny blackberry bushes don’t make the task any easier. In total, it’s probably about four steep meters of elevation that you have to descend to reach the water. This section can only be safely navigated by paddlers with sufficient body awareness, balance, and agility. Be sure to wear footwear when descending and pass SUPs down in pairs!

The tour ends below the church in Ožbalt, at the alluvial fan formed by a left tributary of the Drava. The ground is shallow, rocky, uneven, and sometimes littered with rotten branches. However, when the water is muddy and murky, you can’t see this, and it’s easy to trip. Walking barefoot here is not a good idea either.

When climbing up the small, steep slope to the road, you need to proceed slowly along the bank to avoid slipping back down due to loose, overgrown branches and possibly falling. Boards should be carried out of the water in pairs.

Directions

Vuzenica and Ožbalt are both easily accessible by car from all directions, as the road network is modern and well-developed. Both municipalites are easily accessible from neighboring Austria.

If you're traveling by public transportation, there are bus and train connections to and from Vuzenica within Slovenia. However, the train station and the nearest bus stop are nearly a kilometer away from the tour's starting point.

In Ožbalt, however, there is only one bus stop, not far from the landing. There are no train connections, as there is no bridge over the Drava and the train line runs on the other side of the river.

National and international bus, train, and flight connections can be found via the comparison portals Omio, Busbud as well as RailEurope. If you arrive by plane, you will either land in Klagenfurt or Ljubljana – the closest airports in the region.

Parking

Right at the tour's starting point, there's a conveniently located free parking lot on the right bank of the Drava. If there's enough space, you can get ready right there; if not, just walk down to the water.

If, contrary to expectations, this parking lot is full, there is another free parking option at the train station. However, it is about a 700-meter walk from there to the starting point of the tour.

The best place to park the shuttle car is at the cemetery in Ožbalt. Although it’s about 600 meters from the end of the paddle tour, it’s free and open to the public.

Swimming

The Drava River can be completely still or have a slight current along the route. Anyone venturing into the water in summer, where the temperature is below 20°C, should always be connected to their board with a leash as a safety net. The river should definitely be avoided during periods of high water following heavy rainfall or snowmelt.

Further upstream, near Dravograd, you’ll find the Ravne na Koroškem Swimming Pool as well as the swimming pool complex Aqualatio Slovenj Gradec, which features both indoor and outdoor pools. Along the paddling route, near the side channel, is the Radlje ob Dravi Water Park. It features Slovenia’s first public bio-swimming pool, where microorganisms keep the water clean instead of chemicals.

Tour

From the Cerkvenica Stream in Vuzenica to the church in Ožbalt.

Length

22.4 km

Time

5–6 hours

Start and landing

Start at the Cerkvenica Stream in Vuzenica.

Land at the church in Ožbalt.

SUP rental

None

Through varied landscapes

Just as it flows through the Austrian state of Carinthia, the Drava also flows through the Slovenian region of Koroška from west to east. Since both regions share at least this characteristic and also border each other, it is no wonder that Koroška is nothing other than the Slovenian name for Carinthia — in other words, Slovenia’s Carinthia.

As diverse as this relatively small region is, so too are the local waterways and their surroundings. Since we are already familiar with the stretch between Dravograd and Vuzenica, we know that today we will once again encounter densely forested steep slopes and a very hilly landscape.

But before we get there, we need to park our cars, because it won’t work without shuttling or a pickup service. So, at the end of the tour, we park one car for free at the cemetery in Ozbald, while for the start of the tour we choose an ideal parking spot right by the water in the small municipality of Vuzenica.

Here, the Cerkvenica Stream flows into the Drava from the right, forming a shallow alluvial fan that makes for an easy start to the tour. If you’d like a quick refreshment, you can stop by the Bar Huta before setting off. By the way, there are other places around where you can easily access the water, but the combination of a free public parking lot within walking distance seems to be unique to this spot.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any rain for weeks, which is why the river is easily half a meter below its normal water level today, and the water even stands still like a lake right after the Vuzenica power plant. So we’re mentally preparing ourselves for calm conditions and a lot of physical effort. With this gorgeous spring weather, however, that’s just a minor detail for us.

The river is particularly clear and free of sediment today, which is why we can see right down to the riverbed through the green water in many places. After just a few gentle bends, we spot the Bar Mitnica Muta on the left bank. Unfortunately, it’s too early for us to consider stopping for a break. It will be the last place to stop for refreshments right by the water until we reach Ožbalt.

After four kilometers, we almost miss the small side channel formed by a densely vegetated island to our left. Of course, we glide right in, and apart from the birdsong, there’s nothing to be heard here. Unfortunately, however, there’s quite a bit of trash to be seen, which is regrettable for a nature reserve. Alongside a few car tires, there’s also an old water heater lying in the shallow clay bottom. It would be interesting to know whether future paddlers will still find it there.

Just behind the overgrown bank lies the Green Resort Glamping, where even day visitors have access to the Radlje ob Dravi Water Park. It bills itself as the country’s first organic swimming facility, as only natural processes — and no chemicals — are used to keep the water in the natural pools clean. Anglers can cast their lines in the Reš Pond next door with a permit.

A few kilometers further on, just past the small village of Vuhred, you can also explore a small reed bed on the left—a truly secluded spot—before passing under the bridge.

If you look for them in advance on the satellite image, you’ll find quite a few small side channels and reed-lined inlets; many of them are navigable, making them perfect spots to take a break in seclusion. These are also ideal for cooling off and splashing around, since the water is still and therefore warms up more effectively than in the main channel.

We’re approaching the reservoir area of the Vuhred power plant and suddenly have to fight against the wind of two to three on the Beaufort scale, which is trying to slow us down. The reeds bend and the river pushes small waves toward us as we slowly enter a watery landscape flanked by steep slopes. I had already seen the approaching clouds on the drive here, which didn’t match the weather forecast at all.

By the time we reach the Vuhred power plant halfway through our trip, after a lot of hard paddling, the clouds are completely blocking out the sun. This serves as yet another reminder that no weather forecast is 100% reliable and that the weather can always change. Outdoor enthusiasts, in particular, need to keep this in mind when planning their activities.

However, our exit point is well planned: it’s on the left, right in front of the dam, where a small footpath opens up and leads up to the road. Caution is advised here due to the steep, dirt-covered slope and the overgrown vegetation (including stinging nettles), and you should carry the SUPs up in pairs. The path along the bike lane beside the road stretches for 700 meters until we reach the concrete platform of the riverbank reinforcement.

Now all we have to do is get down the roughly 1.5-meter-high wall and the pile of rocks to the water. In many places, thorny blackberry bushes block our path. To the right of the small building, however, we find the best conditions for a reasonably safe descent; we carefully pass our gear down from the top, and at least today we’re able to climb back onto our SUPs without any current.

When the water level is high, the current is likely to be stronger here. This section of the portage is only suitable for physically fit individuals, as the total elevation gain to the water is approximately four steep, rocky meters, which requires careful footing.

Unfortunately, the weather isn’t improving, and a light rain begins to fall as we take a break on the shallow bank at the mouth of a stream in the village of Brezno. There’s a small sports field here, and today the smell of grilled food is simply wonderful. Plus, you can park your car for free, which would make this spot an ideal early endpoint for this tour. There are other easy landings along the route, but public parking options are very limited.

We check the map and the weather and decide to just keep paddling. The rain is expected to pass south of us. But before it does, we get hit by another round of pretty heavy showers, which even force us to take shelter in the thicket on the right bank shortly after Podvelka. After a few minutes under the protective canopy of leaves, the rain actually lets up, and we slowly emerge from our hiding spot.

We wind our way through the dense forest, turn after turn, while the sun gradually re-enters our field of vision. After this autumnal interlude, spring returns and blows even the last gusts of wind into the distance. The water becomes as smooth as polished marble once more, and a hoopoe — a bird rarely heard — trills its song.

This marks the symbolic start of the final leg of our half-day tour, as it’s barely more than two kilometers to Ožbalt. Numerous access points to the water line the left bank, and at one spot you could step off the board on fairly flat ground to cross a field and reach the road. However, anyone choosing this route would have an estimated 800 meters to walk to the car parked at the cemetery in Ožbalt. Furthermore, it is unclear whether you are walking on private or public property here.

We stick to our game plan and paddle straight ahead along the densely wooded shore into the unknown, since the satellite image didn’t let us clearly determine in advance how easily we could actually land near the church. Anyone wanting to walk up to the church would have to do so across private property, which is fairly accessible but runs steeply from the water up to the village. Not ideal.

Right next to the alluvial fan, on the other side of the stream, there’s also a meadow sloping steeply upward. This one is much shorter and isn’t fenced off either. So we don’t know if it’s private property, but lacking better options, we’re taking the risk. You have to wade the last few meters to the shore and drag the SUP across the shallows. The stirred-up sediment turns the water brown, and you can’t see where you’re stepping.

Because of the uneven ground beneath the water's surface, we have to tread cautiously as we make our way up onto the meadow. Today, the grass has been freshly mowed, providing a pleasant end to our tours as the warm afternoon sun shines on our necks.

Now it’s just a 600-meter walk uphill to the cemetery, pick up the car, and load everything up down here. That’s how quickly you can explore Koroška — with this second Drava trip in this part of the country, we’ve now fully explored this beautiful region by SUP. The reward awaits us once again at Pizzeria Monini in Vuzenica — a fantastic seafood platter and hearty Ćevapčići with flatbread.

Alternatives: From here, the river continues for another 24 kilometers with a similar character — all the way to Maribor, though that is located in the Podravska statistical region. For a shorter tour, you can end your trip after 15.5 kilometers in the municipality of Brezno. At the mouth of a tributary flowing into the Drava, there is a small park with sports facilities and free parking.