Ptuj across the Drava River

Ptuj is a city with 17,880 inhabitants (2022) and the seat of the Ptuj municipality (with all the district communities, it has a total of almost 24,000 inhabitants) and administrative units, transport, supply, economic, employment, educational and cultural center of Spodnje Podravje or the Drava and Ptuj fields, Haloz and the southern part of Slovenske gorice. In the city that developed around Ptuj Castle, in addition to other institutions of regional importance (Provincial Museum, Hospital Jože Potrča, City Theater Ptuj, etc.), Bistra Ptuj Scientific Research Center (ZRS), which is a leading development institution and interface between the public and private sectors, the Regional Higher Education and Higher Education Center (REVIVIS) Ptuj with the University of Ptuj, etc.

River Drava originates on the northern side of the Neunerkogel hill (Cima Nove Dobbiaco, 2642 m) on the southern edge of the Toblaško field, southwest of the town of San Candido (German: Innichen). Passing the small town, it flows eastward along the wide, glacially transformed Pustrich Valley, after a few kilometers it enters Austria and continues its journey through East Tyrol to the town of Lienz, where it meets the first major tributary of the Isel on the left. From here on, it flows through the valley between the Kreuzeck mountains in the north and the Ziel Alps in the south, at Sachsenburg it enters a wider valley, where it receives a strong left tributary of the Möll from below the Großglockner and turns southeast past Špital.