Where to Stay in Slovakia
Currency: EURTimezone: Europe/Bratislava🇪🇺 EU memberSchengen area
Slovakia is most often a day trip from Vienna (Bratislava is an hour by train) but the country deserves more than that. Bratislava's old town is small and walkable; Košice in the east is genuinely beautiful and almost free of tourists. Both city stays are among Europe's cheapest.
What Slovakia is known for
Slovakia is known as the country travelers visit on a day trip from Vienna or Budapest and miss. The actual draws: the High Tatras (Slovakia's share of the Carpathian peaks), Bratislava's compact Old Town, the medieval cities of central and eastern Slovakia (Levoča, Bardejov, Banská Štiavnica), and dozens of well-preserved castles.
Top attractions in Slovakia
Compact Old Town walkable in 20 minutes. Bratislava Castle on the hill above; the strange Cumil ('the Watcher') sculpture peeking out of a manhole on Panská Street.
Largest castle complex in Central Europe (4 hectares). UNESCO. In eastern Slovakia near Levoča.
The Carpathian Mountains' highest peaks. Hiking in summer, skiing in winter. Mountain lakes at Štrbské Pleso.
UNESCO mining town, once the third-largest in the Habsburg Empire. Cobblestone streets and renaissance houses.
Romantic 12th-century castle with a fairy-tale silhouette. Day-trip from Bratislava.
Walled medieval town. Master Pavol of Levoča's altarpiece (1517) is the tallest wooden Gothic altar in the world (18.6m).
Hiking through gorges with ladders and chains. The Suchá Belá gorge is the famous route.
UNESCO Renaissance town in eastern Slovakia. Largely undiscovered; the Town Hall Square is intact.
Major cities in Slovakia
Other cities worth considering
When to visit Slovakia
May-September for hiking the Tatras, exploring eastern Slovakia, and Bratislava's outdoor terraces. June-August is Tatra peak season with the cable cars running. December-March is ski season in the High Tatras (Jasná, Tatranská Lomnica) and Christmas markets in Bratislava (late November to December 23). January-February is the deadest tourist month outside ski areas — Bratislava is workable but cold.