Cacti Pavilion

Rogaška Slatina is best known as a spa town, with its elegant nineteenth-century park, mineral springs and glass tradition, so a collection of cacti on the edge of town comes as a surprise. The Cacti Pavilion is a specialist collection kept by enthusiasts and built up over many years, and it holds a very large number of cacti and other succulents from around the world, in the order of thousands of plants. For anyone who likes plants, it is a small, quirky and rewarding stop that sits quite apart from the usual spa and sightseeing programme.

Cacti belong to a plant family native to the Americas, and they have evolved a remarkable set of adaptations to survive in hot, dry places. Thick, fleshy stems store water, spines reduce water loss and protect against animals, and a waxy surface keeps moisture in. Many are slow growers, and some take decades before they flower for the first time, so a mature collection represents years of patient work. The pavilion brings the range of the family together under one roof. You can see tiny, button-sized species that would fit in a thimble, tall columnar plants, spiny barrel cacti and flat-padded types, along with the many forms of succulents from Africa and elsewhere that look like cacti but belong to different families. The variety of shape, texture and colour, and the strange beauty of the flowers when they appear, give a lot for photographers to work with.

Informative labels explain the names and origins of many plants, and knowledgeable staff or owners are often on hand to talk about growing techniques, which makes the visit more rewarding for gardeners. If you want to see plants in bloom, ask about the best season, as many cacti flower in spring and summer. Opening times for such a specialised collection can be limited and visits may be by arrangement, so check with the Tourist Information Center in Rogaška Slatina before setting out.

The pavilion fits into a day in Rogaška Slatina. The spa park and its Casino Fontana, the Glass factory famous for crystal, the Donat Mg mineral water, which is rich in magnesium, and the nearby hill of Boč all give other things to do, and the town has festivals and exhibitions through the year, among them the Anin festival. Afrodita and Berg Boc are other names you may meet in town. Cerovec lies a short drive from the centre.

It suits families, gardeners and curious travellers, and children enjoy the odd shapes. Allow about an hour, and take a camera.