What's in Slovakia besides Bratislavia?

I have heard there were wonderful castles. I think you would only want to make an excursion if you had consider time to wander among more rural places or a rental car.
Fodor's has not yet separated Slovakia from the Czech Rep under Destinations, so check out http://www.lonelyplanet.com/slovakia.

We spent several days in eastern Slovakia two years ago, in the area of Slovakia's largest, most well-known castle (hrad), Spissky Hrad. It's just south of the Tatras mountains, which might be the location of the hiking people have mentioned. There are many other castles in Slovakia to visit, further west and closer to Bratislava.

Although we ended up not going to Slovakia last year, it was on our radar. I was told by a native Slovakian that Trenčín is a nice place to visit.

hi hayestrip,

when we spent a night in Bratislava prior to travelling onto Vienna, our hotel [the wonderful hotel Marol's] had a whole load of excursions on offer - trips to wineries, castles, mountains, plus a bike ride around town, or you could take the hydrofoil on www.twincityliner.sk to vienna for the day.

I'm sure you'll have a nice time.

regards, ann

Hi H,

>What's in Slovakia besides Bratislavia? <

Excellent slivovitz.

Enjoy your visit.

Quite a few years ago I went driving through the Tatra mountains (Tatry in Czech and Slovak) about this time of year. It's a beautiful region and I really enjoyed the small town of Poprad. I then crossed into Krakow, Poland, which is not too far away and is really lovely, but it doesn't sound as if you have that much time, if you plan on getting to Budapest. Enjoy!

The last time I visited Slovakia was in '89 when it still was part of Czechoslovakia. My Czech cousin took us for a few days in the Tatra mountains (Stary Smokovec), which were very beautiful. Back then there were no western tourists at all, when people realised we weren't Czech, they assumed we were East Germans and nobody spoke any English. I'm sure all that has changed - but not the beauty of the mountains and villages.

Personally I wouldn't stop in Bratislava (I'm passing through it tomorrow). It is not that special. The Tatra mountains are great and should have a coating of snow by now - you could probably stay in one of the small villages in the foothills. I stayed in Zdiar, near the Polish border. Banska Bystrica is one of my favourite Slovak towns with a nice central square and impressive onion-domed church.
I have some pictures from Slovakia and of Slovak food if you're interested.
http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/slovakia_1.html
http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/slovak_food.htm

I just entered "Tatra mountains" into Google images. Wow!

I have been to High tatras for skiing, very nice place.

Oh! There is way too much in the clean and pretty and safe country of Slovakia to do in 2 days! I grew up in Chicago, never realizing so many of my friends had Slovak names! And yes, they have tons of castles!! From ruins to perfectly restored. In Bratislava itself, of course the newly restored castle overlooking the Danube is worth a visit, and is contiguous with the "Korso" which is the foofoo shopping and cafe area, DEFINITELY worth a visit! Also there is much art, architecture and people watching here - it is similar to Taormina Sicily area, where people go to socialize as well as shop, eat, and be seen. Some say it is the new Prague, but on a smaller, more intimate, and more affordable scale. Be sure to walk from Laurentska (the beginning of the Korso) to the Castle, every step will be interesting, including outdoor statues, architecture, cafes, beer, churches, etc. If you walk fast you can do it in 25? minutes, but you will want to spend 1 or 2 hours at least. And then 1-2 hours atleast for the castle itself!

Oh! Just a short electric trolley ("electritchka")ride up river from Bratislava Castle is Devin castle, also well worth a visit.

If you have a car, almost any highway will have a castle in view every 40-60 mins, (maybe this is an exaggeration, but not much) but prepare to get lost a lot, road signs are not anything like in US, it takes a while to get used to seeing and knowing how to interpret them! maybe better if you have GPS, I have not succumbed to that yet. Spissky hrad has been mentioned, and is magnificent and by some measures the largest castle in Europe. Takes a min of 2 hours to even glance over the whole thing! Luckily they have a cafe with beer, and also Vinea (the local Sprite, but better) and Kofola ( the local cola, but, you guessed it, better).

Trencin has been mentioned and is cute, clean, quaint and safe like all Slovakia I have seen. If you are flying from US, consider flying to Vienna (VIE) which will cost less than half of flying to Bratislava. Then walk 10 steps out of the airport to the luxury tour bus that will take you to downtown Bratislava for about $10, in 55 minutes! You will see many sights along the way! Buy a ticket from the Postbus office, on your right, just before you exit the bldg. The bus runs hourly during the day!

thanks for the info, ankboy.

we spent a night in Bratislava last year, having been deliverred there c/o Ryanair en route to Vienna. on the way there we took the hydrofoil; on the way back we used the Postbus you mention.

for us it was cheaper and easier to fly into Bratislava than into vienna and we were glad we did; we wished we'd had longer there and would happily go back.