The border between Slovenia and Hungary is very short. Beginning in the low sandy hills of trinational Nature Park Raab - Örség - Goricko with its traditional cultural landscape of meadows, orchards and vineyards, the border crosses forests and (on the Slovenian side) small parcelled agricultural landscape ending in the Mura basin in the border triangle Slovenia - Hungary - Croatia. The hilly landscape of the wine-growing region Slovenske Gorice shows a beautiful scenery of vineyards, meadows, fields, orchards and forests, habitats for many species.
The newest Hungarian national park 'Örség' preserves a mosaic of orchards, traditional scythed meadows, fens, marshes, streams and extended woodlands. The natural river Mura is threatened by plans to establish hydroelectric power plants. Nature conservationists from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia oppose these plans. They favour a multinational protected area to save the valuable river corridor.
The Mura-Raba region shows a big variety in landscape, culture and languages. After the First World War the Trianon Peace Treaty proclaimed new borders between the kingdoms of Hungary and Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia along the water shed between the rivers Mura and Raba. Prekmurje (Mura region) belonged to Slovenia and Porabje (Raba region) to Hungary. A relocation of the minorities in the new territories was discussed but not implemented. In 1941 the Prekmurje border region was occupied by Hungary, but returned to Yugoslavia in the peace treaty in Paris 1947. In 1945 the Democratic, later Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded by Tito. Tito's policy of non-alignment, federality and lightened economic control gave Yugoslavia a special position among the socialist states.
The border between Hungary and Slovenia was protected by barbed wire, mine fields and border guards. The Slovenian minority was controlled more intensively because of their relations to Yugoslavia. In 1956 during the Hungarian revolution the border installations were partly dismantled.