I have heard a lot of very positive opinions about Mtb Trail Center Kočevje before. Several people said to me that this is by far the best place to ride in whole Slovenia. Do Kočevje really have better trials that places like Bike Park Maribor, Bike Park Krvavec or Single Trail Park Jamnica? During my September trip to Slovenia, I was finally able to check this place out for myself.
MTB Trail Center Kočevje – What? Where? How?
Kočevje is a city located in the south of Slovenia, near the Croatian border. It is not the most mountainous region in the country, but still the surrounding mountains covered with dense forests reach almost 1000 m above sea level. The trail center is located on the outskirts of the city, in the place where some ski lifts used to be. Currently, there is no trace of the old T-bars, and the transport up can be done by an uphill trail or by shuttle buses. In total, there are 10 official trails with a total length of 13 km. In addition to the main trails, there is also a really well-developed Skill Park. Right next to it, there are large parking lots, a camper parking, a bar with food and drink, and full facilities. In a word, when you arrive, pretty much everything you need is available here. MTB Trail Center Kočevje is located on the edge of the forest with calm and quiet surroundings. From the very first moments you can feel the great atmosphere of the place.
MTB Trail Center Kočevje – trails
Officially, there are currently 10 prepared trails here. One of them is an uphill trail by which we can comfortably get to the trails in lower section of the mountain. The rest of the variants are downhill options. Among them is nice and easy Flow Trail. There are also more natural paths for the semi-advanced riders, and also steep, technical and tricky options. Two of the trails are jump lines, one of which is large, and the other one offers the largest dirt jumps in this part of Europe and is opened only for invited competitors. Those who want to start with jumping on smaller things have a well-developed Skill park at their disposal.
Skill Park
It is deifinitely the largest and most developed Skill Park I have seen so far. It is not concentrated at one point, but divided into several parts. One of them is the section with northshore style ladders for balance exercises. The network of various wooden obstacles is supplemented with training drops of different heights. Right next to it, there are also designated lines for training riding over the rocks. There is a short flow line around the area with a nice wallrides, and another small drop. In the central part there is an asphalt pumptrack. Next to it, on the former ski slope, there is the end of the flow trail with several different variants. There are various types of berms, rollers and safe jumps in several sizes. In the forest on the other side of the slope are located small dirt jump lines. Also there is a training trick jump with soft landing. As already mentioned, practically every possible obstacle is here to train the skills. Also it was great to see lot of young riders who were using the potential of the place.
Friderik Climb
An uphill trail that leads through the lower half of the mountain. Having a test Specialized Levo SL E-bike at my disposal, I’ve used Friderik Climb trail on almost every uphill. The path is nicely twisted and offers some moments of rest. You can easily go up with it also on bike without motor assistance. You do not always have to go to the end of it, because several variants of trails cross it in the middle part.
Veronika Flow
Veronika is a very nice flow trail. It offers a smooth and a wide prepared path, so it will be great for beginners. On the other hand, it is easy to gain more speed on it, and then gentle rollers combine into nice small jumps. The berms are well profiled and the whole trail offers a nice and smooth ride. It is the perfect trail for a warm-up ride.
Spet Doma
Trail for intermediate riders. It is quite short and starts at the lower part of the trail center. It is a very nice combination of flow trail with natural elements. Great use of the natural terrain, thanks to which there are several nice jumps here. The ride is fast and flowy.
Kanal
An enduro trail for semi advanced riders that starts in the middle section of the mountain. It offers a bit of a technical ride among rocks and roots. The upper part it is steep in some places. Lower the terrain flattens out a bit and allows higher speed riding. It has a nice rhythm from the natural depressions. There is also cool gap jump over the canal. Unfortunately, I rode it only once and quite slow. But I can feel that definitely You can go faster on it and have really good fun when going more crazy.
Squamish
A difficult enduro trail that starts halfway up the mountain. The name Squamish associates with British Columbia in Canada for a reason. One of the main builders of Kočevje trails, spent some time building trails over there. My guess is that he wanted to transfer that atmosphere of the trails to Slovenia a bit. On the Squamish trail You will find several wooden north shore style ladders integrated between the rocks. Squamish is an interesting trail that offers few cool and technical obstacles, but still keeps a good flow of a ride. I like how it use the potential of the natural terrain.
Livoldska
A challenging enduro trail that passes through the upper part of trail center. It starts near the Livoldski Vrh peak. At the entrance to the trail there was an information that part of it was temporarily closed and that a detour was required on one of the sections. I decided to try it anyway. The beginning of the trail showed its character, as it led through rocks on a fairly steep terrain. Good that, it was dry and grippy. Little bit lower, I reached the some skinny ladders. Unfortunately, moments after the second wooden drop I got to the closed part. The detour led along a very steep path over the rocks. Lower I joined the main trail again. There where a few very technical turns in the steep and rocky terrain. The trail is generally an interesting natural challenge even in dry and grippy conditions.
Pro Jump Line
As the name suggests, it is an advanced freeride jump line. It is located in the bottom part of the trail center. The beginning of Pro Jump Line can be reached via the Veronika or Squamish trails. It starts with a nice drop that leades you into a large but gentle jump. Next, there are rollers and ladder bridge over Veronika Trail, and next drop. After that there is a large and steep transfer jump to the right. Then a few smaller rollers that lead to the whole series of 6 big jumps. Unfortunately, due to the approaching dusk and the lack of my power, I did not manage to fly all of them. The last 4 biggest jumps I left for the next time. The whole jump line is nicely build into the terrain and well prepared. You can see that it took a lot of work to create a long, various and very cool freeride line. The take offs are high but smooth. I saw the guy who was flying it on a hardtail dirt bike, I, on the other hand, was doing pretty well, on a light e-bike with a 150/150 travel. In 2/3 of the trail an alternative line is possible, which with large transfers in the “shark fin” style smoothly can take You straight into the Flat Out Line.
Flat Out Line
It is an extension of the Pro Jump line, but the Flat Out Line is closed on a daily basis. The reason is simple, it has by far the biggest jumps in this part of Europe and there are no table jumps here. It is a line prepared for the Slovenian festival of big flights, and the interesting freeride event “Flat Out Days”. Check out the madness below on the official video from 2021 event made by Loose Riders crew:
V Zmajevem Gnezdu (In the Viper’s Nest), and Jezna Cebela (Bad Bee)
Unfortunately, I didn’t test these two trails personally. They start at the very top, where going with the light version of e-bike was taking too much time and power. The first one is a relatively easy Flow Trail. The evil bee, on the other hand, is an extension of the Kanal route, so it will probably have more natural style enduro trail character. If I will only have the opportunity, I will be happy to come back to test them personally.
Trails – Summary
To sum up, as a whole, it is probably one of the most extensive trail center in Slovenia. In my opinion, MTB Trail Center Kočevje is able to offer a lot of fun to almost every enduro rider. Beginners have an amazing training ground here for learning to ride specific elements, and also nice flow variants. Intermediate riders have the trails to warm up nicely, but also can try on more difficult obstacles. The most experienced riders can take advantage of big and well-thought-out jumps and technical elements. Considering the fact that I visited Kocevje in September, which is closer to the end of the season, all of the trails were kept in very good condition. Their flowness can be proved by the fact that I rode most of them alone, in the “On Sight” mode and immediately felt confident enough to fly most of the obstacles.
The technical steep lines between the rocks, supplemented with interesting skinnies in the “North Shore” style, gave me great fun. The jumps that I encountered are well thought out and although there is not a safe table available everywhere, they were intuitive and safe. Most of the trails are located close to each other and can be combined in various configurations. At the same time safety is maintained at the intersections of different variants. Summing up, the team of builders and shapers of MTB Trail Center Kocevje trails are doing really good job.
MTB Trail Center Kočevje – My impressions
I personally liked MTB Trail Center Kocevje very much, and I spent here short but great time. The biggest impression is made by the number of training lines and different obstacles that You can ride on. You can see that a lot of work has been put in, and that it is not wasted, because on a clear day there were a lot of riders. On the other hand, the place has so much to offer that there were no queues or crowds on the trails. With the E-bike at my disposal, I mainly kept to the lower half of the mountain, where thanks to the uphill path I could quickly get to many different interesting variants. The trip with Super Light version of e-bike to the very top took a long time. If I had known about it earlier, I would probably buy a shuttle bus ticket for 2-3 rides from the top. My rather short stay showed well that in order to get to know the MTB Trail Center Kočevje trails well, you need a minimum of 2 days. By coming here for the full weekend, you will certainly not be bored. And for next year, another new trail is planned!
MTB Trail Center Kočevje – Prices
There is a fee to ride on the trails and skill park of MTB Trail Center Kočevje. In 2021, the prices were as follows. Every rider must have a “bike vignette”, which costs EUR 8 per day, for an adult. Discounts are available for young 10-18 years old, and children under 10 years of age use the trails for free. For those staying in the area longer can buy a yearly vignette for EUR 50. A single trip by Shuttle Bus to the top costs EUR 6. When coming for full day, You can choose the package: all-day vignette + 5 shuttles for 35 EUR. There is an additional fee for parking. Passenger car 4 EUR per day, and Van or camper 7EUR per day. One of the parking lots has been prepared for a comfortable overnight stay in campers, or camper vans. The overnight stay then costs EUR 8.80 per person per night. The guests have at their disposal 24/7 sanitary facilities. There is also a restaurant and a bar on site, with prices similar to other parts of Slovenia. Summing up all the fees, a trip to MTB Trail Center Kočevje may not be very cheap one, but on the other hand, the place is really well prepared and you can clearly see for what You are paying for.
MTB Trail Center Kočevje – Summary
To sum up, I am glad that I finally managed to get here and check the MTB Trail Center Kočevje trails in person. The fact that my visit was rather short didn’t allow me to try all of the trails possible. Still, I had a great time on the variants I tried. Well-prepared and varied trails will be an interesting option for pretty much every enduro biker. The amount of work put into the construction and maintenance of the place is impressive. The regularly held Slovenian Enduro Cup proves the quality of the trails. Another interesting event is the mentioned earlier “Flat Out Days” bike festival, which will be held again on July 11-17, 2022. Personally, I would love to come back here someday for longer time. If you are going to Slovenia and looking for a cool bikepark or trail center then definitely consider visiting Kočevje.
About MTB Trail Center Kočevje
MTB Trail Center Kočevje is an enduro style trail center based in South part of Slovenia. There are 10 different trails with total lenght of 13 km and big Skills Park section. There is available shuttle bus, or specially prepared uphill trail. Great variety of trails, and superb prepared sections are ready for every rider, from beginer to profesional. Whole place, with it’s great development, can be great alternative even for the best Slovenian Bike parks .
Oficjal web site: mtbtrailcenterkocevje.com
Flat Out Days Festival web site: flatouddays.com
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