Slovakia Tips

May, June and September are the prime visiting months, with April and October as chillier and sometimes cheaper alternatives. Most Slovaks take their holidays in July and August when hotels and tourist sights are more than usually crowded, and hostels are chock-a-block with students, especially in the Tatras mountain resort areas. Luckily, the supply of bottom end accommodation increases in large towns during this time, as student hostels are thrown open to visitors. Centres like Bratislava and the mountain resorts cater to visitors all year round. Elsewhere, from October or November until March or April, most castles, museums and other tourist attractions, and some associated accommodation and transport, close down.

Bratislava (Slovak pronunciation (help·info): [ˈbracɪslava], historically known by foreign and alternative names) is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of 426,000, the country’s largest city.^[1] Bratislava is in the south-west of Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two other countries.^[2]

Bratislava is the political, cultural, and economic centre of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak presidency, the parliament, and the government. It is also home to several universities, museums, theatres, galleries and other important economic, cultural, and educational institutions.^[3] The headquarters of many of Slovakia’s large businesses and financial institutions are in Bratislava as well.

The history of the city, long known by the German name Pressburg, has been strongly influenced by various peoples, including Austrians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews and Slovaks.^[4] The city was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary under the Habsburg monarchy from 1536 to 1783. Bratislava was home to the Slovak national movement of the 19th century and to many Slovak, Hungarian and German historical figures.

Slovakia (long form: Slovak Republic; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (almost 19,000 square miles). The Slovak Republic borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, OECD, WTO, and other international organizations.

The Slavic people arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia between the 5th and 6th century AD during the Migration Period (Migration of Nations). Various parts of Slovakia belonged to Samo’s Empire, the first known political unit of Slavs, Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg (Austrian) monarchy, Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia throughout history. Slovakia became independent on January 1, 1993 with the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Divorce.