Tourism in Slovakia

Tourism in Slovakia offers amazing natural landscapes, beautiful mountains, interesting caves, old castles, charming towns, relaxing spas, and exciting ski resorts.

Many people visit Slovakia. Popular places to see are the capital city of Bratislava and the High Tatras mountains. Visitors come from nearby countries, like the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany. Most visitors are from Slovakia itself.

Statistics

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is also the country's most visited city

Most visitors to Slovakia who stayed in tourist places come from:

Rank	Country	2015	2016	2017
1	Czech Republic	509,700	621,475	645,195
2	Poland	168,358	188,284	209,524
3	Germany	158,857	178,047	192,328
4	Hungary	69,563	91,175	101,406
5	Austria	81,589	88,123	96,777
6	United Kingdom	64,891	77,837	79,797
7	China	28,154	41,332	61,346
8	Italy	59,294	65,050	59,775
9	Ukraine	51,591	52,850	53,024
10	United States	40,553	45,670	46,728
Total foreign		1,721,193	2,027,009	2,162,384

Natural environment

About 40% of Slovakia is covered in forests, home to animals like brown bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, muskrats, chamois, and lynxes. Many of these animals live in protected areas, and almost all of Slovakia’s mountains and regions have some kind of protection.

One of Slovakia’s top attractions is the Tatra Mountains, especially the High Tatras, the highest part of the Carpathians. These mountains have special plants and animals and are great for skiing, hiking, and mountain climbing.

Rivers and streams in Slovakia’s mountains are popular for rafting and other exciting water sports. Rafts have been used for a long time, and trips on the Dunajec river are very popular with visitors.

High Tatras are Slovakia's highest mountains.

Slovakia has many mineral springs and spas. The spas include:

The Demänová Ice Cave has attracted visitors since its discovery in the 13th century.

Balneological spas: Bojnice, Brusno, Dudince, Lúčky, Piešťany, Sklené Teplice, Sliač, Smrdáky, Trenčianske Teplice, Turčianske Teplice
Climatic spas: Nový Smokovec, Štós, Štrbské Pleso, Tatranské Matliare, High Tatras
Mixed spas: Bardejovské Kúpele, Číž, Nimnica, Rajecké Teplice and Vyšné Ružbachy

New water parks are being built across the country. Recent ones include Tatralandia in Liptovský Mikuláš, Aquacity in Poprad, and Aquathermal in Senec.

Slovakia’s karst areas have many caves, and the list keeps growing with new discoveries. Eighteen caves are open to visitors, and the longest one is 9 km long. Some of these caves are UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. One of them, Ochtinská Aragonite Cave, is one of only three aragonite caves in the world.

Architecture and landmarks

Slovakia has many amazing castles, often in ruins. Some famous ones are Bojnice Castle, Spiš Castle (the largest fortified castle in Europe and a UNESCO site), and Bratislava Castle. Many towns and cities have beautiful old centers with squares, like places in the Czech Republic and Austria.

The country also has many historic churches in styles such as Baroque, Romanesque, and Gothic. Slovakia has rich folk traditions, including songs, dances, folk art, and special clothing. You can find souvenirs like dolls in folk costumes, wooden carvings, and special instruments such as fujaras. There are also many museums and places for sports, like skiing.

Folk architecture is well preserved in Čičmany.

Food and beverage

Objects on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Slovakia has many special places that are important to the world. These places are listed by UNESCO. They include old mining towns, beautiful historic towns, and amazing castles.

Some of the special places are:

Banská Štiavnica, an old mining town, and tajchy, ancient water reservoirs
Bardejov, a historic town
Levoča, Spiš Castle and associated cultural monuments, including Levoča, Spiš Castle, the town of Spišská Kapitula, church paintings in Žehra, and Spišské Podhradie
Vlkolínec, known for its traditional houses
Caves in the Slovak Karst, such as Dobšiná Ice Cave, Domica Cave, Gombasek Cave, Jasovská Cave, Krásnohorská Cave, and Ochtinská Aragonite Cave
Primeval beech forests in Poloniny National Park and Vihorlat Mountains, including Havešová, Stužica, Rožok, and Kyjovský prales
Wooden churches in central and eastern Slovakia, located in Hervartov, Tvrdošín, Kežmarok, Leštiny, Hronsek, Bodružal, Ladomirová, and Ruská Bystrá

History

Tourism in what is now Slovakia started to grow in the mid-1800s when people began visiting the High Tatra and Low Tatra mountains. The first hotels and restaurants were built late in that century. Growth sped up after 1918 when Czechoslovakia was created.

During World War II, tourism slowed down. After 1948, when a Communist government took control, visitors from Western countries were no longer welcome, which hurt tourism. The government controlled tourism tightly and didn’t invest much in new facilities, except in the High Tatras area. However, because most people in Czechoslovakia couldn’t travel abroad, the government had to create more places for them to relax. By 1989, there were almost 1,000 places to stay with nearly 150,000 beds, used by about 4 million tourists. Popular spots included Bratislava, the High Tatras, Košice, Banská Bystrica and Piešťany.

After the Communist government ended in 1989, Slovakia’s tourism changed. Many buildings were sold to private owners, and new ones were built with help from other countries. New travel agencies opened, and more tourists from abroad visited. Slovak people also started traveling more, first to nearby countries like Croatia, and later to places around the world.

Tarantino - Roth film

In 2006, the Czech Republic and Slovakia asked to stop the film Hostel. They thought it made their countries look scary. The director, Eli Roth, said he got the idea for the film from a website.

Slovakia worried the film would hurt its reputation. A news article in The Denver Post joked that travel warnings might be issued. A review in New York Magazine also made comments that didn’t help.