Mužla: Wine, Nature and History in the Danube Lowland

Mužla combines landscapes, viticulture and archaeology within a small area. The village lies in the Danube Lowland on the southern edge of the Hron Tableland. The Danube borders the area to the south, while the Belianske kopce hills lie to the north. This creates a destination where you can discover an open river landscape, protected natural areas and a local culture that has developed over centuries side by side.

Protected landscapes around Mužla

One of the prominent natural areas is Jurský Chlm, a protected natural area within the cadastral territory of Mužla. In the vicinity west of the village, Jurský Chlm features loess and sand walls with nesting sites of European bee-eaters. Another special feature is the Čenkovská step, which is also one of the protected natural areas within the cadastral territory of Mužla. The Čenkov protected area includes the national nature reserves Čenkovská step and Čenkovská lesostep.

Čenkovská lesostep features gently undulating terrain with sand dunes reaching a relative height of 2 to 3 metres. It is also home to Slovakia’s only occurrence of the priority habitat “Pannonian poplar woods with juniper”. This specific landscape gives the area around Mužla a different character from Slovakia’s classic mountain regions: not height and peaks, but sand, steppe, woodland and the Danube Lowland define its character.

Viticulture, cycling route and local tradition

Viticulture in Mužla has a tradition of around 400 years. A section of the EuroVelo 6 cycle route passes beneath the Mužla vineyard. Local event culture is also closely linked to wine: at the traditional grape harvest festival, the “Rychtár” and “Rychtárová” appear every year at the end of August in Mužla’s traditional costume. The 25th grape harvest festival took place on 31 August 2024.

The tradition of the local wine competition and wine tasting has existed since 1988. In March 2023, Mužla hosted the 34th local wine competition with tasting. At Mužlianska vínna túra 2025, more than 15 local winemakers opened their cellars for tastings; the VII. Mužlianska vínna túra took place on 24 May 2025. Vino Mužla generally organises wine tastings by personal arrangement and offers tasting packages with four, six or eight wines, accompanied by pastries, cheese or a cold platter.

Churches, memorial sites and archaeology

Among the visible testimonies to the village’s history is the surviving bell tower in the Mužla cemetery. It is the remnant of the Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier, built in 1738, and was reconstructed by the municipality of Mužla in 2016. A wooden kopjafa also stands in the centre. It was erected in 2000 to mark the 850th anniversary of the municipality of Musla’s first written mention in 1156.

The Neoclassical Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary adds to this historical picture. Construction began at the start of the 18th century, and it was completed in 1817. After a fire in 1862, it was restored. The Mužla-Čenkov archaeological site reaches even further back. It is a multi-period site with documented settlement from the culture of the Late Linear Pottery culture through the Želiezovce group, the Baden culture, the Kosihy-Čaka group, Bronze Age and other prehistoric cultures, through to the La Tène period and the Early Middle Ages from the 9th to the 12th century. On the left bank of the Danube, the site also includes an Early Medieval settlement enclosed by an embankment.

A special walk through the village

The Via Crucis – Via Lucis Stations of the Cross presents a distinctive religious and artistic form. Each of the 14 stations shows scenes from the Way of the Cross on one side and scenes from the Way of the Resurrection on the other. If you would like to combine nature observation, wine tradition and historical traces in Mužla, you will find very different points of interest here: from the sand dunes and protected habitats to the vineyard, church, bell tower, Stations of the Cross and archaeological site.

Further destinations: Kmeťovo, Gbelce, Úľany Nad Žitavou, Podhájska, Rastislavice, Šurany, Michal Nad Žitavou, Bánov.

For the main travel overview: Nové Zámky.