Ride&Bike between Slovenia and Croatia

Peaceful, picturesque and full of history, the hilly regions between Slovenia and Croatia have become a destination for sustainable, cross-border tourism. The transformation was driven by Ride&Bike, a European Cohesion policy project

Rolling hills covered with vineyards, dotted with the white of castles with red terracotta roofs, ancient thermal springs, and where the countryside is not tamed, dark stretches of forest, sometimes folded into mountains that are home to abandoned mines and archaeological remains.

At the other end, the wide bends of the Sava, the narrower ones of the Krka and the Sutla, the poplar groves. Resisting, in some stretches spared by bridges and, in general, by modernity, are a few barges that serve as ferries for fishermen, farmers with a plot on the other bank and families with a beach umbrella on their arm.

It is an area with obvious shared features, straddling two countries and on the different banks of many rivers, but it is not a region, because there are many: it begins north of Zagreb with the Zagorje, "over the hill", the Medvenica which has allowed it just enough isolation to preserve a peculiar Kajkavian dialect, full of Slovenian influences, and a certain slowness much loved by the many who flock there on weekends from the capital.

A little further west is the Sava valley, with peaceful Samobor, and other wooded mountains behind it. And going up what until thirty years ago was the great Yugoslavian river you cross the border, between Lower Carniola and Styria (in the regions of Savinia and lower Oltresava) with its fortresses, perched towns, industries - naturally - and the little gem Kostanjevica na Krki, with its houses built directly on the water.

Places of historical memories, such as the great peasant revolt of 1573 (with a museum dedicated to Gornja Stubica in Zagorje) and sometimes very ancient ones, such as the over 900 Neanderthal remains discovered in Krapina, to which another museum is dedicated.

For a few years now, cyclists, walkers and horseback riders have unified these divided lands. "Slow" tourism, including spas, culture and food and wine delicacies, was a reality in these areas long before the phrase was popular, as an alternative to the destructive potential of mass tourism.

What was missing was the "active" component, based on physical activity, and above all a connection between territories too small to compete on an international level. And bikes and horses seemed the ideal means to bring closer the many wonders scattered across an open territory.

European Cohesion policies have attempted to remedy this lack, combined, in this part of the continent, with the Interreg VA Slovenia-Croatia cooperation programme. They did it with Ride&Bike, a project divided into two different phases. The first between 2007 and 2013, and the second, Ride&Bike II, between 2018 and 2021. "Without a European project it would have been difficult to convince local administrators that they had to think on a larger scale", explains Tanja Ivek, senior advisor to the Zagorje Development Agency, lead partner of the initiative.

"We also need funds, the right mindset and marketing strategies, all resources that individual territories do not possess". Designed over a long period of time that accompanied the area for almost fifteen years, the projects were designed to last over time. Three years after their conclusion, many of those seeds continue to bear fruit.

The phases of the project

In Ride&Bike I, to which the European Development Fund contributed 336,000 Euros, the partners devoted themselves to the digitalisation of existing routes, from cycle paths to paths for hikers and horse riding enthusiasts, and to creating new ones.

At the same time, a common marketing strategy was launched throughout the area, cross-border maps of bicycle routes were printed. Training courses for tourist operators, an updated website, an app with trail traces and widespread work in a pilot area were also created.

In the second, more substantial phase (875,000 Euros budget, 85% of which provided by the European Regional Development Fund) the interventions multiplied. The objectives saw the creation of a network of digitalised cycle and equestrian paths in the cross-border area, infrastructures including four horse staging points, 18 rest areas for cycle tourism routes, workshops aimed at guides and common training for tourism operators - but also for administrators - on both sides of the border. And a site, with an interactive map (where it is also possible to take virtual tours), active even three years after the closure of the project.

The results

"We are definitely satisfied with how it went. That it's not all over in 2021 it can be seen from the constantly updated rideandbike.eu  website, proof that the partners are still in contact", comments Ivek. All the entities involved, he continues, have learnt to network not only among themselves but abroad, promoting their project internationally, with prominent showcases such as fairs in London and Berlin.

And the results can be seen: while in the past "spot" attractions such as thermal springs or short escapes from the stressful life of the capitals were the most popular in the area, now more and more people are choosing long itineraries, especially on a bike.

It is difficult, however, to talk about figures: "Phase two developed during the pandemic emergency and ended shortly after its peak, in February 2021. Therefore the detailed investigations that we would have liked to carry out at the end of the project were not possible".

Certainly, the historical and naturalistic sites recorded around 4500 more visits at the end of the project. Another notable result, Ivek continues, was the response of the private sector: "The sector has awakened and more and more people have started opening agencies and businesses related to cycling". Active tourism, he explains, "offers all-round benefits in the areas concerned, from increased spending by visitors to the creation of jobs and the development of small and medium-sized businesses, which contribute to economic, social, environmental and cultural development of a local economy, thereby improving the overall quality of life for residents and visitors".

As far as horse riding is concerned, he explains, however, it is more difficult to talk about an increase in numbers than it is for cycling: "To do a long route on horseback you must already be able to do it. This is why the riding stables in a region like Zagorje have not increased, but they work better".

Seventeen years after the project was conceived, bike and horse tourism has learnt to stand on its own two feet. However, there is a risk: that the territories brought together by the project will once again look at each from their own side. "The regions have learnt to focus massively on slow and active tourism. But they are doing so above all by focusing on their respective brands, including Zagorje. There is still a certain fear in looking beyond the border, towards broader realities".

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