From Castle to Bike Centre in the Name of Tourism in Virovitica

A 19th century castle in the north-eastern Croatian town of Virovitica is currently undergoing restoration work to turn it into a centre for cycling tourism in the region…

The ‘Drava4Enjoy’ project, which is the largest tourism infrastructure project for the CBC Programme Hungary-Croatia 2007 – 2013, is aimed at developing continental tourism via cycling.

“Definitely this is the story of continental tourism that can have success, we do not have sea, but we offer natural beauty, cultural goods and this is the only good way to achieve that. It (the castle) will be a center for the development of cycling tourism in our county, but also the entire region. It will have accommodation facilities, restaurant..,” Virovitica – Podravina county head Tomislav Tolušić said.
The derelict Janković family castle, which is located in the village of Kapela Dvor, 7 km north of Virovitica, will over the next 12-15 months undergo restorations and become the tourist and education centre for the cycling tourism project, which will see labeling of cycling routes Pitomača – Terezino Polje, Kapela Dvor – Virovitica, Lukač – Budakovac with a total length of 69.84 km, the organisation of education and training programs for tourist guides – cyclists, a cycling marathon from Kapela Dvor to Szentlőrinc, and the production of trilingual (CRO-ENG-HU) tourist maps and guides, available for GPS devices and smart phones.

The value of the project is 2.1 million euros, with 1.7 million coming from EU funds. (www.vpz.hr, photo: Ivan Šemper)