Macelj

About the crossing

Macelj is a border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia on the Zagreb–Maribor motorway, about 75 km north of Zagreb — Croatia's A2 meets Slovenia's A4 here, both part of European route E59. The Slovenian side of the crossing is Gruškovje, where the checkpoint was built back in 2003 as part of preparations for Slovenia's Schengen accession in 2007. Today Croatia, too, has been part of Schengen since January 2023, making this an internal Schengen border with no routine checks — just a formal pass through the old checkpoints. The motorway continues north through Maribor toward Graz and Vienna, making this a common route for travelers from Austria and Germany heading to the Adriatic, especially in summer. According to available data, Macelj is often cited as the most congested of Croatia's crossings into Slovenia, even though Bregana, as the larger crossing point on the Zagreb–Ljubljana route, carries a greater overall volume of traffic across the whole border between the two countries.