The sun-drenched hills, favorable climatic conditions and good winegrowers who carefully care for the vines have been a recipe for excellent wine in this area for centuries. The first mentions of the place and the surrounding villages related to viticulture date back to the 15th century, making Šmartno ob Paki one of the oldest wine-growing areas in Slovenia. The viticulture was preserved here even after the devastating attacks of vine ears and peronospores at the end of the 19th century, and thus also the recognizable viticultural landscape, the best witnesses of which are the beautifully preserved vineyard cottages.
Gora Oljka is a solitary karst mountain that rises 733 meters above Šmartno ob Paki. With the pilgrimage church of St. Cross at the top, which with its specialty - two bell towers - shows the location of the place to travelers from all directions from afar.
The bourgeois villa in Rečica ob Paki was built by the important Austrian chemist and inventor Carl Josef Bayer, who lived in it until his death. It was built in 1879 and represents one of the most beautiful buildings from that era in the town.
In difficult and cruel times of war, the locals from the area of the municipality of Šmartno ob Paki responded en masse to the call of their homeland and defended freedom, language and native land. Many of them gave their lives for the nation. The blood toll in the Second World War was among the highest in Europe in this area. Their memory still lives on in many monuments and memorials throughout the municipality. These are also connected by the Path of Remembrance.
On Bezgovica, which with an altitude of 623 m is the highest peak in the municipality of Šmartno ob Paki, grows in the middle of the forest pine tree with two peaks, between which there is a spiked cross. Two locals planted it there in gratitude for coming back alive from the First World War.
In the museum you can admire interesting objects of technical culture from the time after the Second World War. One of the most attractive is definitely a driving wooden car. The museum was organized by the Society of Folk Technology from Shmartno ob Paki on their 70th anniversary.
