8-day road trip in beautiful Slovakia
Slovakia is a small European country which is commonly unknown to foreigners. We decided to travel across our homeland and spread photos, videos to inspire others to visit this beautiful country. In this article, we are sharing our 8-day itinerary and recommend places you should definitely visit.
Day 1
Our road trip started in a traditional Slovak village called Čičmany. After a short walk, we drove up to the north of Slovakia and visited Zraková pyramída with a great view on Súľovské skaly. (Súľov rocks) We continued to Šútovký vodopád (Šútovský waterfall). It takes an hour to reach the place from the car park. The last monument we saw on our journey to Tatranská Lomnica was Oravský hrad (Orava castle) which belongs to dominants of Slovakia. You should definitely stop by this place! We advise you to spend the night close to Vysoké Tatry (High Tatras mountains) to get ready for the next day’s hike. We chose the village Tatranská Lomnica.
Day 2
The alarm rang at 4 am. Shortly after, we were heading to reach one of the most famous Slovak peaks – Kriváň. There are two main starting places for this hike – Štrbské pleso and Tri Studničky. We opted for the latter – steeper and less frequent route. Since we started our hike at 5 am, we only met a few people climbing the hill. So, we got to enjoy this beautiful national park fully and without distractions. After 2,5 hours, we reached Rázcestie pod Kriváňom (last crossroad under the peak). That was the beginning of a really tough hike. In the end, we were literally crawling. When we finally reached the peak, we became speechless. Not because of the tiredness, but thanks to the stunning view on other peaks. On our way back to the village we met dozens of tourists. Therefore, we were even more pleased that we woke up so early and had the opportunity to spend the whole day in the undisturbed environment and enjoy the wonderful nature. We finished our day with well-deserved Slovak traditional dish – Bryndzové Halušky.
Day 3
When you are in Vysoké Tatry (High Tatras), you cannot miss a walk around a lake called Štrbské pleso. It is a “MUST DO” activity. We were also planning to go for a cable car trip up to Lomnický štít. We recommend that you book the tickets in advance in order to avoid long queues. You can purchase the tickets by clicking here. Unfortunately, due to the high wind we were not able to enter the cable car. Hopefully, you will be luckier! Therefore, we drove towards a town called Ždiar to enjoy a Treetop walk. Be prepared that it is a very popular place full of Slovak and Polish tourists. It takes around an hour to reach the Treetop walk and we strongly recommend that you take your mountain shoes on. Our emotions were a bit miscellaneous because the project is great and the view is amazing, but there is a construction work going on which disrupt the atmosphere.
Day 4
Our trip continues in Červený Kláštor – a town laying at Polish borders, surrounded by Pieniny National park. We were sailing on a traditional wooden boat for 1,5 hour while enjoying the amazing nature of this region. You should understand that it is a linear voyage. When we were done, we got three options to return back to the village: take a shuttle bus, rent a bike or walk. Since we came here early in the morning, we had plenty of time for a 10km walk. It allowed us to explore the town Červený Kláštor as well. If you have more time to spend in Pieniny, we recommend that you hike Polish mountain Tri Koruny (Three Crowns) which is quite easy and famous. We, however, had to hurry up and drive to “Spa Town” Bardejov. You will love the city centre. It is beautiful, historic and romantic.
Day 5
This day was really busy because we decided to visit the two largest cities on the east of Slovakia and two UNESCO heritage monuments. That is the reason why we briefly walked across the city centres and visited just the main landmarks of Prešov and Košice. After these shortstops, we went to Levoča. We saw a church with the highest late gothic wooden main altar in the world. Our historic day finished in Spišský hrad (Spiš Castle), the dominant of east Slovakia. It is one of the largest castles in Central Europe. We spent the night in a car close to Slovenský raj (Slovak Paradise National park) where we were planning to hike the following day.
Day 6
We aimed to be the first hikers of the day in Slovenský raj. Our chosen route – Suchá Belá – is the most popular tour in the national park. Obviously, we wanted to avoid most of the tourists. It was an easy few-hour hike which invites you to touch nature and enjoy the atmosphere. When we were done with the hike, we visited Dobšinská ľadová jaskyňa (Dobšinská Ice Cave) and continued our trip to Chmarošský viadukt (Chmarošský viaduct) close to Telgart. We finished our long day in Banská Bystrica by wanderlust in the city. Our dinner was a very typical Slovak Fried cheese with chips. You should taste it! For sure!
Day 7
Sunrise in the calvary of Banská Štiavnica, picnic lunch close to Dražovský kostolík (Dražovský church) with a pleasant view on a city called Nitra. Afternoon snack on Courtyard of Europe in a town laying at Hungarian borders Komárno. Where do you guess we ate dinner? Yes, correct! In Bratislava – the capital of Slovakia.
Day 8
The last day of our road trip around Slovakia started in world-known spa town Piešťany. Then we drove to one of the biggest treasures of Slovakia – Bojnický zámok (Bojnice castle). We also stopped at the newly opened view tower in Bojnice to enjoy the last view on beautiful Slovakia.
Slovakia is a country which brings you not only to wonderful natural spots and historic towns but also rich cultural heritage. Every traveller obtains a piece of satisfaction and a bit of smile when visiting Slovakia. Let’s spread this information across the world and encourage adventurous people to experience our great touristic opportunities.
I hope you find this article inspiring and you are motivated to travel to Slovakia. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@davidharing.net