A travel guide to Slovakia.

What the guide covers

The Slovakia guide is being prepared by destinations across all regions of the country. In the west, the list ranges from Bratislava and the Little Carpathians to Trnava, Piešťany, Trenčín and Bojnice. In the centre, it includes Banská Štiavnica, Malá Fatra, Orava and Liptov, with the Low Tatras; in the east, the High Tatras, Levoča and Spiš Castle, Pieniny, Bardejov, Slovak Paradise and Košice.

Each destination groups the towns of the region, what to do in each one, the attractions with their own pages, the best time to go and how to get there. Destinations appear on the country page as they are published: while a destination is being prepared, it does not appear in the list.

Regions and groups

Slovakia is divided into 8 self-governing regions, the kraje, each named after its capital: Bratislava, Trnava, Trenčín, Nitra, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Prešov and Košice. The guide organises towns by these 8 divisions. To make travel easier, they are shown in three groups: Bratislava and the West, Central Slovakia and the Tatras, and the East.

Place names appear as used in the country, in Slovak with their diacritics, such as Štrbské Pleso and Banská Štiavnica. When there is a conventional form in Portuguese, it is used, like High Tatras, Slovak Paradise and Danube.

How to travel around Slovakia

Slovakia is narrow and long: by road it’s about 400 km from Bratislava to Košice. A main rail line links the two cities via Trenčín, Žilina, Liptovský Mikuláš and Poprad, and from Poprad an electric train climbs to the High Tatras villages. For valleys, castles and villages off that line there are regional buses, and a car makes travel easier. You drive on the right, and motorways require an electronic vignette.

The time zone is UTC+1, and UTC+2 from March to October, the same as Vienna and Budapest. The climate is continental: summers, from June to August, are warm, and winters, from December to March, are cold, with snow in the mountains.

Heritage and mountains

Slovakia has eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Banská Štiavnica, Levoča and Spiš Castle, Bardejov, the village of Vlkolínec, the wooden churches of the Carpathians and the caves of the Slovak Karst. To the north, the Tatras form the highest range of the Carpathians, shared with Poland, and the country has nine national parks, from the Tatras and Pieniny to the beech forests of Poloniny.

Why there are no prices

In Slovakia, the guide does not show tour or ticket prices because they change frequently. When a timed ticket or reservation is required, as for cable cars and caves, the text warns of it, and the cost should be checked before you go.

How the content is made

The information for each place is researched from official sources, such as Slovakia’s and the regions’ tourism organisations, national park and cave administrations, and UNESCO, and is verified before publication.

The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it. Photos sent by travelers appear separately, as travelers' photos.

If you find any information that differs, write to us: fixing it is quicker than it seems.

All of Cidade Turismo

The guide started in Brazil and now also covers other countries, always with the same organization: routes, destinations and cities.

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