The Drava Forest-park is the only larger, older and more compact forest area in the wider surroundings of the city of Varaždin. As it is located on the outskirts of the city, in the former floodplain along the Drava River as a natural barrier to the expansion of settlements, the forest has remained preserved to this day.

Today, this area is the most attractive forest area and natural picnic spot along the Drava River in Varaždin County and in the upper part of the Drava ecosystem in Croatia, and is characterized by its exceptional biodiversity. In this area, which has been the main natural picnic spot for the citizens of Varaždin for decades, various allochthonous trees were planted during the 20th century, which partly gave it park characteristics.

 

Located in the northern part of the city of Varaždin, between the settlement of Banfica and the Drava River, the Drava Forest-park stretches along the right bank of the Drava River in a northwest-southeast direction, while the drainage channel of the Varaždin hydroelectric power plant divides it into two parts: a smaller northern part (38 ha) and a larger southern part (49 ha). The average altitude is 170 meters, and with the associated forest clearings it occupies a total area of about 87 ha.

The Drava Forest-park is today a spatially integral part of the city of Varaždin. In terms of its natural and biological structure, the Forest-park does not form the urban and built fabric of the city, but in terms of content and functionality it is an indivisible part of it. Namely, the Forest-park with the Drava River forms the natural basis of the city. The city of Varaždin as an urban entity also necessarily needs natural areas that generate and offer facilities for recreation, sports and leisure, because they represent the "green lungs of the city" and, in addition, have an important ecological role.