We have recently visited the cowboy village Roswell near Fužine (Croatia). It was a great family day out. Cowboys and Indians in Croatia?! Well, yes! I’m sure that all my German readers are familiar with the books of Karl May about the Indian chief Winnetou. Some of those Winnetou stories about the American Old West were adapted into films. Those films from the 60’s were shot at different locations in Croatia. For the purpose of filming the new movie ( Winnetou & Old Shatterhand ) the cowboy village Roswell was made. After the film crew left, the film set was turned into an interesting tourist attraction.

The cowboy village Roswell is a proper small and old Wild West town with a saloon, sheriff’s office, general merchandise store, a church and other buildings. A dirt road leads you to this tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere (you are actually just 5-10 mins drive from Fužine town with its beautiful lake). The family ticket costs only 30 HRK (around 4 EUR). We’ve spent a fun afternoon at Roswell with our two and a half year old son. We didn’t take our ten month old baby girl with us because we’d wanted to have a special day out just with our son. In my opinion it is a fun family day out whether you are a Winnetou fan or not.

The first building you see after you enter the cowboy village is the old Telegraph office. Right across it is the undertaker where you can take a picture of your husband and son in an open coffin as I did 🙂 My husband tried to throw a lasso a few times to the amusement of our son. They both tried to play horseshoes. Of course, our son is too young to be able to fire a gun or shoot an arrow. Since both my husband and I have tried archery a few times before we both decided to try shooting (was it a Winchester rifle? I don’t know). I was so bad at it but my husband could have been an excellent Wild West outlaw. You pay extra for those activities. There was also the horse riding for the kids. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a pony for young children but our son enjoyed watching others ride a tall horse. He chased chickens though. He liked the wooden swings and the wooden See-Saw. We explored all the buildings from the general merchandise store where you can buy some souvenirs to the saloon and the sheriff office with witty Wanted! posters. Our son ran around happily (this was the perfect place for our wild boy!) and picked some wild strawberries. We had a cold drink at the saloon. They don’t serve the food there. You can rent a BBQ or bring your own picnic. Sadly, the inviting big pool near the gallows isn’t for the visitors. You must see the small exhibition about the filming of Winnetou in one of the buildings.

As I’ve already said, we had lots of fun. Our boy even rang the church bell at the end of our visit. My only criticism is that I’d expected to see some Indians and cowboys, actors dressed up as the characters from the Winnetou films. There were none. Some of the staff had cowboy hats but that was all, they weren’t fully dressed as cowboys. It’s not a problem that the saloon doesn’t serve food because if you don’t bring your own snacks you can just drive to Fužine and eat a delicious meal at one of the restaurants there.

If you are driving through Croatia to the seaside make a stop in Gorski kotar region and visit cowboy village Roswell as a rather different tourist attraction. Or spend a day in Fužine as a day trip away from the beach.

ps. this is a great destination for travel during Covid-19 because you are obviously in the nature and this cowboy village still isn’t a major tourist attraction (this is true for whole Gorski kotar region )

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