Culture & Traditions

If you take a step back and think about the beauty of castles, and the employment of spas and thermal springs for relaxation and health benefits, you start to see the similarities in humans across great swaths of time. The people of Slovakia today, and its inhabitants over time have appreciated beautiful architecture and comforts of Mother Nature. Check out some of these spots to experience these centuries old sites.

Bardejov is a spa town in northeast Slovakia, with a completely intact medieval town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There’s a stunning wooden church, the Gothic St. Egidius Basilica. The town square has an astronomical clock from the 16th century and its spa has been around since 1247.

Orava castle, on a skinny rock cliff, was used in the 1922 silent film Nesferatu, the story of Dracula. Today you can see the torture chamber and a knight’s hall and the views of the surrounding landscapes are gorgeous.

Banksa Stiavnica is a medieval mining town in central Slovakia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was a major centre of mining and metallurgy in the Habsburg Monarchy. Complete with Renaissance palaces, medieval churches, and beautiful squares and castles. Get out into the surrounding landscapes and witness relics of the mining sites and metallurgical activities of the past.

Levoca is an amazing medieval town surrounded by walls with a unique Renaissance town hall. It was an important trading and cultural centre in the Middle Ages. The resort village of Strbske Pleso, near the Tatras, with its picturesque lake, and skiing in the winter has been popular with nature enthusiasts for a long time. 

Osturna, incredible view of the High Tatras from here, with their white snow peaks and the incredible landscapes surrounding them. The area is well known for the preserved folk architecture wooden houses with ornate painted decorations. And nearby, Spis Castle, a national cultural monument, in partial ruins, built at the beginning of the 12th century, was an important political, economic, and cultural centre for the Kingdom of Hungary and several kings and families who owned the castle. Roman coins were found in a cave under the castle and the kitchen has been restored – you can imagine it alive with cooking and commotion, in action for the ladies and lords of the past.