It is much easier to describe Ptuj's location between Slovenske gorice and Haloze and between Dravsko polje and Ptujsko polje than to write a short history of the city. Its history is rich and the city has numerous monuments to prove it. Its history reaches back to the Stone Age, but the city experienced its greatest flowering in the Roman period. The name originates in the times of Emperor Trajan, who granted the settlement city status and named it Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio. In 69 A.D., Emperor Vespasian was elected in Ptuj, and the first written mention of the city of Ptuj is from the same year. Roman Poetovio developed into an important military, commercial, customs, and administrative center. Forty thousand people lived in the Ptuj area in this period, a number never since reached. It was later burned by the Huns and occupied by the Avars and the Slavs. In the period of the Slav prince Pribina, it was incorporated into the Frankish state. Later, it became the property of the Salzburg archdiocese and experienced the Hungarian attacks. The city recovered and when city rights were granted, it was able to build a wall around the city. The first city statutes from 1376 provided the legal regulation of the city and contributed to its economic power. Sadly, this declined under the pressure of Turkish attacks and major fires, floods, and epidemics. Today, this important economic center of the lower Podravje region is a city of fairs, a city of excursions into unspoiled nature, a city with a rich culinary offer, and a city of wine cellars and thermal springs.
Opening hours: from April 15. till November 1. every day 10.00-17.00
- '''The town's tower''' The Town's Tower is the most imposing town edifice which strongly marks the townscape. It was mentioned in 1376 in the Town's Statute. Before that, a baptistery of St John the Baptist stood there. In 1556, the Italian builder Antonio de Riva was commissioned to build a new tower. After the great conflagration in 1705, the citizens lowered the tower a bit for safety reasons. In 1830, the curate from Ptuj, Simon Povoden, built in the Town's Tower all collected antiquity monuments from Ptuj and the surroundings. Thus was established one of the oldest lapidaries in the open air in Slovenia, called the Povoden Museum.
- '''The Orpheus monument''' In front of the municipal tower in Slovenski trg, stands an almost 5 m high tombstone, the biggest ever found in the Roman province of Upper Pannonia. The memorial, which probably stands at the site where it was originally found, has attracted visitors from the 16th century onwards and in the course of time has become the symbol of the town on the Drava. The mythological scenes it depicts gave it its popular name - the Orpheus Memorial. In the Middle Ages, the memorial was used as a pillory wherein two iron shackles, used to chain criminals to it, were fastened to the bottom section of the memorial. The shackles severely damaged the inscription.
- '''Castle of Ptuj''' The strategic location of the castle hill attracted settlers as early as the latter half of the third millennium BC. Later, the inhabitants of Roman Poetovio built a fortress and temple on top of the hill, and in the Early Middle Ages there existed a large burial place. Work on the medieval fortress began in the 11th century, when both town and castle were the property of the Archbishops of Salzburg. During the three-hundred years that they lived in Ptuj, the lords also left their mark as founders of the Minorite and Dominican monasteries, and as the builders of the pilgrimage church on Ptujska Gora. The tombstone of the last lord of Ptuj, Friedrich IX, was built into the castle's ground floor. From 1656 to 1802 the castle was inhabited by the Leslies. The last owners, the Counts of Herberstein, occupied the castle from 1873 to 1945 when it became nationalised and, together with its rich furnishings, incorporated into the Ptuj Museum. The Castle hosts the collection of feudal dwelling culture spanning the period from the 16th to the 20th century, collection of musical instruments, collection of arms etc. One of the most interesting is collection of traditional carnival masks of Ptuj area.
Opening hours: - October 15 - May 1: : 9.00 - 17.00 (Closed January 1, November 1, December 25) - May 1 - October 15: 9.00 - 18.00 - Saturdays and Sundays in July and August: 9.00 - 20.00
- '''The town hall''' The Town Hall is the most prominent building in Mestni Trg. It was erected in 1907 on the site of Posko?il House, named after a very rich merchant of Slovene nationality, Posko?il. The Town Hall was built on the ground-plan of the former late Gothic building and according to plans of Max Ferstel, an architect from Graz, Austria. The new Town Hall, where the administration of the Town Municipality of Ptuj is still based, dominates the entire square with its dynamic architecture.
- '''The Povoden museum''' Slovenski trg in the centre of Ptuj is the scene of an open air lapidary collection, the oldest in Slovenia. This collection was named after curate Simon Povoden who, in 1830, determined that collected classical stone memorials should be built into the inner walls of the municipal tower. Among them are pieces of civil and military tombstones, urns, sacrifice altars, relief votive slabs and ashlars. Most memorials were built into the eastern inner walls and, also built within the walls, the stairway with a landing. To the Povoden Museum also belong the sacrificial altars, dedicated to Jupiter - the supreme god, which are arranged in niches within the northern wall of the church of St Jurij.
- '''Regional museum Ptuj (Pokrajinski muzej Ptuj)''' Biggest and the most popular general museum in this area - with collections and sections for archaeology, history, cultural history, ethnology, restoration workshops and other services. At present the museum covers the wider area of Ptuj and Ormo?, famous for its rich prehistoric and antique sites (Roman Poetovio), the period of migrations of peoples, medieval and modern age monuments, which bear witness to cultural and economic importance of Ptuj and its surroundings, as well as of rich folklore traditions.
- '''Ptujska Gora''' Ptujska Gora is also a very popular point for hikers and cyclists, above all because of the beautiful view on the Dravsko polje flatlands and hills of Haloze, and from where also some hiking trails lead. The most known part of Ptujska gora is the church, which stands on the peak of the 352m high hill and is visible from afar. There are not many pilgrimage churches in Europe with the Virgin Mary spreading her merciful mantle so wide out and at the same time being located in such a magnificent sanctuary that many call quite justly an elevated poem of Gothic...
- '''Three Mithras shrine''' The biggest temple of Mithras was erected in the western area of Roman Poetovio (in what is today part of Ptuj called Breg), in what was a densely built-up residential area in Roman times. It was discovered in 1913. The temple, built in the mid-3rd century, contains mainly sacrificial altars, with dedications of soldiers belonging to the XIII. Gemina and V. Macedonica legions under the command of Flavius Aprus. The temple consists of three sections, of which the central one is lowered. On the wall opposite the entrance is a fresco, a copy of the altar relief from the Mithras Shrine in Osterburken in Germany. The dedication stones show a variety of artistic representations and are full of symbols relating to the legend of Mithras. They are arranged in the lowered central area. The keys are available with the neighbours of the temples.
- '''Carnival - Kurentovanje''' Since 1960, Ptuj has been the stage for the annual traditional carnival event called Kurentovanje, the biggest organised carnival event in Slovenia. The membership in the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC) since 1991, has without any doubt helped the Ptuj carnival to distinguish itself from other carnivals and gain an international reputation. At the same time, the carnival has grown enriched by new carnival figures and concepts. If Kurentovanje used to be a one-day ethnographical-carnival event, it has grown into an eleven-day carnival festival of ethnographical, carnival and musical performances. Ptuj, traditional and carnival centre of Slovenia, combines Kurentovanje together with other carnivals or "fa?enk" in neighbouring villages of Markovci, Cirkulane, Dornava, Videm, Cirkovci, Bukovci. The word Kurentovanje derives from the traditional carnival mask Kurent or Korant, as it is sistematically called by traditionalists. The most prominent mask belongs to the so-called group of animal masks - furry masks. That means that its outfit consists of a fur coat made of different domestic animal skins (especially of sheep skin), of a chainbelt with five bells (previously, only one enormous bell), of a wooden club with a hedgehog skin at one end called "je?evka" to be carried in its hand. The former vegetative demon represents today an important identification symbol for a wider local community, region and even the state.
- '''O?baltov sejem (Oswald's fair)''' Ptuj is known for fairs since Middle ages, when fairs lasted for weeks. Nowadays the fairs are contracted to only 3 days a year - Jurijev sejem (23th April), Katarinin sejem (25th November) and O?baltov sejem (5th August).
O?baltov sejem (Oswald's fair) in the old town of Ptuj happens once a year, on the 5th August (except if it is Sunday, then it happens on Monday, the 6th). It is very interesting and you can see (and buy) almost everything - traditional wooden products, traditional products made of honey, dried fruits, clothes, antiquities and many more (and more and more :) Whatever you do, don't forget to bargain!
- '''Jurjev sejem (George_fs Fair)''' Jurjev sejem (George_fs Fair) opens the season for traditional fairs in Ptuj. It takes place on the streets and squares of the town on April 23. There are approximately 150 manufacturers and sellers from all over Slovenia that gather on this fair and offer a great variety of products. On this day a Medieval market is also organized and it is a thing that shouldn't be missed out.
- '''Katarinin sejem (Catherine's Fair)''' Katarinin sejem (Catherine's Fair) is the last of three fairs, which take place on the streets and squares of the town. It happens on November 25 and there you can see a large number of sellers offering a variety of goods (also second hand goods).
'''Hotel Mitra''' Renovated hotel in the centre of old town, near all turistic sights. Phone: 00386 (0)2 787 74 55 Address: Presernova ulica 6 Directions: You cannot miss a building coloured in red and green. Website: http://www.hotel-mitra.si/ Other Contact: info@hotel-mitra.si
'''Grand hotel Primus''' Named after Mark Antonius Primus, who was an inportant person in roman era of Ptuj. It is a 4 stars hotel with 250 beds that is being built near Thermal park. There will be also a wellness center, pools, saunas etc. Phone: +386 (0)2 74 94 100 Address: Terme Ptuj d.o.o., Pot v toplice 9, SI-2251 Ptuj Directions: At Thermal Park (Terme Ptuj) and near Golf playground Website: http://www.terme-ptuj.si/vsebina.php?n=nast&ln=eng
'''Ptuj's Campgroung''' Thermal Park (Terme Ptuj) has their own 4 stars category camp. It is situated near to the indoor and outdoor pools with thermal water and a tennis centre with 8 tennis courts. It is open whole year.
Campground is providing 120 camping spaces and possibility of renting camp cottages with modern infrastructure. The campground enables setting up trailers and tents on a marked and settled spaces under tree shadows, surrounded by green. Camp guests can also use Thermal Park pools and saunas at no additional cost.
Over-night stay***: The customer, who comes to camp after 6.pm and leaves it the following morning by 9.am, pays only over-night stay (no use of the swimming pools).