When you hear the word Spačva today, you think of the magnificent Slavonian oak, well known throughout Europe since ancient times. Its strength and unsurpassed texture made it so desirable that it was exported to France and Germany as early as the 19th century.
However, Spačva is not only the source of raw materials. It is a forest whose significance for people today is immeasurable. Scientific research has shown that one tree annually produces enough oxygen to meet the needs of a family of four. By simple calculation, if forests are the lungs of the world, then our Spačva Forest is the lungs of continental Croatia.
Now imagine that you can come to the centre of the Spačva Forest and take a deep breath. Can you imagine a better feeling? And when, instead of imagining, you make one step further… you are here with us – in the Spačva Forest!
“Whoever hath been just once to that ancient forest of ours, with those wonderful trees, erect, and bright, and tall, as if created by an artist, can never forget it. There one can find majestic oaks with greyish bark, straight furrows that run along the entire twenty-meter-tall trunk with a strong broad crown, and crown it like a cap crowns a stout hero…”
— Croatian writer and forester Josip Kozarac wrote these words about the Spačva Forest in 1888.
In the very east of Croatia, in the south of the Vukovar-Srijem County, the Spačva Forest spreads its canopy. The largest complex of the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) stretches continuously over the area of about 40.000 hectares in Croatia (a part of Spačva is in Srijem, Serbia, so its total area measures 51.593 hectares).
The uninterrupted forest is only cut in half by the A3 motorway (Bregana – Zagreb – Lipovac) and surrounded by mosaics of cultivated land and settlements. The town of Otok, and the municipalities of Bošnjaci and Vrbanja, are a part of the Spačva Forest Tourist Board Area (Turistička zajednica područja Spačvanska šuma, TZP Spačvanska šuma), which covers an area of 250.46 km².
The moderately warm and humid continental climate of this area is distinguished by sunny and hot summers and cooler winters. The average annual air temperature is around 11°C, while the average relative humidity is 79%. The average annual rainfall is around 650 mm, with the highest amount of rainfall in spring and mid-summer, which is very favourable for vegetation, especially for crops. The Spačva Forest area has specific forest microclimatic conditions.
Thanks to the moderate climate without great extremes, staying close to the Spačva Forest is pleasant at any time of the year.
Because all roads lead to Spačva.
– The A3 Motorway Bregana – Zagreb – Lipovac / Exit: Spačva
— The Major Road from Vukovar to Gunja (Šokačka magistrala) / through the town of Otok and the municipality of Vrbanja
Osijek airport (distance 57 km)
Zagreb airport (distance 263 km)
Belgrade airport (distance 134 km)
Tuzla airport (distance 106 km)
Banja Luka airport (distance 178 km)
Croatian Railways: railway lines Zagreb – Vinkovci – Vukovar and Vinkovci – Drenovci – state border with Bosnia and Herzegovina – Brčko
