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Prešov · High Tatras

Ždiar

Village of the Górale, a mountain people, nestled between the Belianske Tatras and the Spišská Magura range, with wooden houses decorated with painted bands and the Ždiarsky dom museum. Nearby is the Belianska Cave, the only cave in the Tatras open to visitors. In winter there are ski slopes in the neighbouring valleys.

Košice · Slovak Paradise (Spišská Nová Ves; Hrabušice; Dedinky)

Hrabušice

Village on the northwest edge of the Slovak Paradise, home to the tourist settlement of Podlesok, from where the trail into the Suchá Belá gorge departs — the park’s most visited gorge, with ladders and waterfalls. From the same area you can reach the ruins of the Carthusian monastery at Kláštorisko, on the high plateau.

Prešov · High Tatras

Poprad

A town of about 50,000 inhabitants in the valley at the foot of the High Tatras, with a station on the country’s main line, an airport and the starting point of the mountain electric train. The center has the Gothic Church of St. Egidius, and 2 km away the historic district of Spišská Sobota with a medieval square and an altar by Master Paul of Levoča.

Prešov · Levoča and Spiš Castle

Levoča

Former capital of Spiš, with a walled center and a rectangular square of Gothic and Renaissance houses. In its middle stand the Basilica of St. James, which houses the large carved altar by Master Paul, and the Old Town Hall with arcades. On the hill to the north, the Mariánska hora basilica hosts the country’s largest pilgrimage in July.

Banská Bystrica · Banská Štiavnica

Banská Štiavnica

Former silver-mining town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on the slopes of an extinct volcano. The center includes the Old Castle, which began as a Romanesque church, Holy Trinity Square with the plague column and, on the other side of the valley, the New Castle. On the eastern hill stands the Baroque Calvary; to the south, the Open-Air Mining Museum leads into the underground galleries.

Prešov · Bardejov (Bardejov; Bardejovské Kúpele)

Bardejovské Kúpele

Spa town in a wooded valley about 5 km north of Bardejov, of which it is part. The mineral springs have been used for treatments for centuries, and the spa is associated with Empress Elisabeth, Sissi, who visited it. It has parks, a colonnade and Slovakia’s oldest open-air museum, opened in 1965, with wooden houses and churches from the Šariš region.

Žilina · Orava

Oravský Podzámok

Village on the banks of the Orava river, at the foot of Orava Castle, which dominates the valley from a limestone rock. The name means, in Slovak, something like “under the castle.” Regional trains stop in the village, which serves as a base for the castle and for the Orava reservoir, where a boat takes visitors to Slanica Island. The town of Dolný Kubín, with more services, is a few kilometres away.

Trnava · Trnava and Piešťany

Piešťany

The largest thermal spa in Slovakia, on the banks of the Váh. The waters emerge from the ground at almost 70 °C and, together with sulfurous mud, are used in treatments for rheumatism. The baths are on the Spa Island, linked to the centre by the Colonnade Bridge, where the sculpture that became the symbol of the town stands. The Balneological Museum tells the history of the spa.

Nitra · Nitra

Nitra

Regional capital of Nitra, at the foot of Mount Zobor, and center of Prince Pribina’s principality in the 9th century. The castle, on a hill surrounded by the river, houses St. Emeric’s Cathedral. The 1911 synagogue contains the national exhibition on the Holocaust, the Slovak Agricultural Museum has an open-air area and a field railway, and Zobor offers trails and a viewpoint.

Banská Bystrica · Banská Bystrica and Kremnica

Kremnica

City of gold in the Kremnica Hills, at 564 m altitude, one of the richest towns of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its mint, recorded since the royal privilege of 1328, is still in operation. At the top of the square, the town castle houses the Gothic Church of St. Catherine, and the Museum of Coins and Medals tells the story of money in the Slovak territory.

Bratislava · Little Carpathians

Modra

A small winemaking town at the foot of the Little Carpathians, known for majolica, the hand-painted pottery. Ľudovít Štúr, leader of the Slovak national movement, spent his last years there: the museum dedicated to him occupies the house where he died in 1856. The Slovak Ceramic Sculpture Museum shows the town’s long potters’ tradition.

Trenčín · Bojnice

Bojnice

Thermal town of about 5,000 inhabitants in the upper Nitra valley, next to Prievidza. The castle, rebuilt at the end of the 19th century in a romantic style, dominates the town from a travertine hill. At its foot are the park, with Slovakia’s oldest zoo, and the center, with the thermal spa and the small square.