Ptuj Castle

The castle above Slovenia’s oldest town, holding a strong regional collection and the Kurentovanje masks.

Ptuj Castle sits on the hill over the Drava and the old town, and the regional museum inside it is better than its visitor numbers suggest, period interiors, a notable collection of Turkish and feudal-era objects, historical musical instruments, and the carnival masks of Kurentovanje. The kurent, a shaggy figure with a long tongue and cowbells, is on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list, and the February carnival is the largest in Slovenia. The walk up from the old town is short and steep.

Photo: Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0