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We're planning on stopping in Bratislava for about 2 days on our way towards Budapest next week and I was wondering if the rest of the country is worth a detour to visit. I've heard the hiking is good but is there anything else? We've been traveling for a while now and I haven't met anyone who's actually been there.
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What's in Slovakia besides Bratislavia?
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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!