Slovakia Local Customs

  Jánošík country?
by GentleSpirit
 
  • Jánošík country?
      Jánošík country?
    by GentleSpirit
  • Zlaty Bazant - Restaurant sign
      Zlaty Bazant - Restaurant sign
    by HORSCHECK
  • Zlaty Bazant - Historic tram
      Zlaty Bazant - Historic tram
    by HORSCHECK
  • Twin city: Wuppertal
      Twin city: Wuppertal
    by HORSCHECK
  • Signpost in Kosice
      Signpost in Kosice
    by HORSCHECK
 

Most Viewed Local Customs in Slovakia

51.

Cuisine and Beverages   Bratislava

Cuisine and Beverages, Bratislava

 23 Reviews  On my trips to Slovakia I always tried some of the local beers. One of my favourite Slovak beers is the lager of Zlaty Bazant (Golden Pheasant). The brewery was founded in 1967 in Hurbanovo, and is... 

 See All 107 Local Customs in Bratislava

52.

Culture and Regular Events   Bratislava

Culture and Regular Events, Bratislava

 16 Reviews  Bratislava Music Celebrations :) sounds stupid but in Slovak it is Bratislavske hudobne slavnosti and it is worth to see. There are many great musicians and good music every year in the end of... 

 See All 107 Local Customs in Bratislava

53.

Behaviors   Bratislava

Behaviors, Bratislava

 13 Reviews  Hi, since I came here I noticed people from abroad like me may actually get confused by the Slovak language cause they say "Ano" to say Yes and "Nie" to say No. So sometimes they are replying to you... 

 See All 107 Local Customs in Bratislava

Great Prices, Great Rooms
hotels.com We Know Hotels Inside And Out. Click or call now: 1-800-914-6835
Beds for all Budgets!
Hostelworld.com Sleep Easy on your travels Read 1 million+ ratings & reviews

Sponsored Links

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Folklore costume

by matcrazy1

Driving around Slovakia I rarely noticed people wearing local, folklore costumes. They are used only for special celebrations nowadays. But I noticed quite often older women walking along highway with shawl over their head. One of them sold "syrove korbaciki" on a highway somewhere close to Parnica recently (Oct. 2003) but she refused me to take her a picture.Instead I took a picture of Parnica coat of arms dipicting a guy in local folklore costume. Hmm... they use rather mowing machines than scythes nowadays.

Tip Photo
Local, smoked sheep cheese

by matcrazy1

Natives make delicious sheep, smoked cheese at their homes around mountainous region of Slovakia called Orava and Spis (north-central Slovakia, Zilina region adjacent to Poland). The cheese is called "syrove korbaciki" which means cheese, thin pigtails in Slovak as the cheese is formed in shape of a thin pigtail. Usually you can buy a bag containing at least a few cheesy pigtails. "Syrove korbaciki" are not always available in groceries but usually locals sell them directly on a street or a highway. Do they pay taxes? I doubt, maybe because of it street vendors - as I noticed recently - are less and less common. I found them driving highway 583 away of any city or village. Will they disappear soon? Hmm... it's a pity - this cheese sold in groceries (and produced by food factory) tastes somewhat worse as I noticed.

Tip Photo
WC = restroom/toilet/loo

by matcrazy1

Do not look for a toilet or a restroom / bathroom / loo in Slovakia. Look for WC (water closet :-) instead - look at my picture taken in Toliar restaurant in Oravsky Podzamok.There were usually small statues of a woman/lady or a guy/gentleman put on the doors to sign a gender of WC users. Sometimes there was written: MUZI (guys) or ZENY (women) instead.

Tip Photo
What do they call the East?

by matcrazy1

Hmm... most of Europeans or more exactly western Europeans think about Slovakia as the East but citizens of say Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary call Russia, Ukraine, Belarus the East.If you look at map of Europe you will notice that the geographical centre of Europe is placed just in Slovakia, so we used to call that area central Europe or sometimes central-eastern Europe. Notice that almost half of Europe (East) is covered by three former Soviet Union countries: Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.And the most important factor at the end: there are a lot of basic cultural (religion, history, customs, economy) differences between central and eastern Europe easy to recognize when you cross the border between central and eastern Europe.Look at my picture of renaissance manor house in Vysni Kubin with wooden, onion-shape dome. Its shape remained me a little a few old orthodox churches/temples I...

Tip Photo
Wood for fire

by matcrazy1

I noticed a lot of cut wood stored around local houses in mountainous part of Slovakia. Usually locals bought or brought from forest larger wooden logs and cut it in smaller pieces by themselves with an axe and hand saw or more and more often with electric/diesel saw. They used wood for fire on a grill in Penzion Timea in Zuberec. Some (minority) natives used wood to heat their houses as well. But most houses were heated with hot water heated in coal stove.

Tip Photo
Where do they work?

by matcrazy1

Unemplyment in Slovakia is high, in some countryside areas of northern and eastern Slovakia even over 20-30%. What does it mean for visitors?Lower prices but less tourist facilities and higher crime rate in urban areas due to lack of money as well, I think.Looking at empty villages I often thought over: where do all the natives work there? I think that there was no much choice although usually we found a few commercials of local, small companies as you can see on my picture. But we usually could meet a lot of natives (unemployed?) tasting beer in local pubs/beer houses.After WWII Czechoslovak regime spent a lot of energy for development of unefficient heavy industry (cold war) but luckily mainly in Czech land. Since, say 1990, when much more "normal" economy started, this industry started to go bancrupt. A lot of people lost their jobs. Few of them started to run their own small...

Tip Photo
Where were friendly locals?

by matcrazy1

I always met many very friendly natives in Slovakia both in the past and recently. And I met ... unfriendly police, salesmen/saleswomen in stores, custom officers at the borders before, say, 1990.Where to meet Slovak friends there? Hmm... for me it was easier than for non-Slavs as Polish language was similar to Slovak and most my Slovak friends coudn't speak foreign languages or could speak very little English.So I met them:- in cheap accommodations (campgrounds and "chata" especially, pensions as well),- in cheap local pubs/bars called "hostinec",- on mountain trails. Once I was hiking alone in Velka Fatra Mountains in 1989 that was before "velvet revolution" in Czechoslovakia and after talks of "round table" and just before creating first non-communist government in Poland. I met a very funny guy who was walking across Czechoslovakia (Czech + Slovakia), haha - we spent great time...

Tip Photo
Trash boxes

by matcrazy1

Slovakia seems to be a lttle neglected, messy and not very clean country, esp. outside touristy cities and their centers/downtowns and especially in comparison to, say, neughbouring Austria. But anyway I can't say it's dirty country, never. Rather a little bit messy like Poland and Czech. It changes fast although esp. in western Czech and Poland.Driving along countryside highways I could see a lot of round, old metal or newer plastic trash boxes put in front of local houses. I think that - like in Poland now - all inhabitants must prove what they do with their home trashes and they were obliged to make a deal with a company which takes their trash away. And - in contrast to Czech Republic - there are not many dirty industry located, oh my God, among beautiful mountain ranges. So, there are more wildlife, extremaly fresh air areas in Slovakia than in Czech, I am sure.

Tip Photo
Slovak order?

by matcrazy1

As I alreday stated there are different in architecture style housing areas to be found in Slovakia: 1. beautiful historic oldtowns in centers/downtowns of cities, 2. ugly post-soviet housing districts in suburbs. In villages I noticed a lot of nice, small, one-story houses usually made of brick or brick-like materials, painted and roofed with iron or other sheet. They had usually pitched or more steep, gable roofs, esp. in mountain areas. Add small frontyard with some trees and/or flowers. The houses along main street were often the same in design and put one by one in the same distances with wooden or metal fence in front. Slovak order?They were built after WWII when Slovak farmers were forced (by Soviet-Czechoslovak authorities) to join collective farms in which all land, houses and equipment were jointly owned. They built the same in design houses for members of collective farms....

Tip Photo
Slovak mess?

by matcrazy1

Apart from orderly designed villages I could see a lot of mess in Slovakia.Houses were often neglected, they look sometimes like not renovated for 100 years although they were inhabited all the time. Natives often changed their yards into large store area putting there a lot of old and unused house and garden equipments. Add not cut grass and livestock: goats, chickens, geese, cows walking around. Sometimes it looked very nice but sometimes not. Haha, sorry to put my camera into private properties, I couldn't resist. What a nice looking mess on my picture - typical around local houses in Oravsky Podzamok (north-central Slovakia). Difficult to find out say in Germany or Switzerland. Still easy to find out in countryside of Slovakia, Czech and Poland hehe.Poverty is widespread esp. in eastern and north-eastern where it's easiest to find a lot of messy houses.

Tip Photo
Local traditions and culture in Slovakia

Top 3 Hotels in Slovakia

Marrol's Hotel Bratislava  Bratislava

 4 Reviews and 271 Opinions  This is definitely a luxury hotel experience for much less than a luxury hotel price. At check in we... 

 See all 97 Hotels in Bratislava

Bristol Hotel  Kosice

 17 Opinions

 Hotels in Kosice

Grandhotel Stary Smokovec  Vysoke Tatry

 2 Reviews and 24 Opinions  A luxurious hotel right in one of the small towns under the peaks of Vysoke Tatry. The forest... 

 Hotels in Vysoke Tatry

258 Hotels in Slovakia
 
Explore the World
Travel Destinations
Travel Highlights

The Place

Reviews and photos of Slovakia attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Slovakia sightseeing.

Experience Slovakia
Local Customs: Cities in Slovakia
  1. Bratislava Local Customs
  2. Kosice Local Customs
  3. Poprad Local Customs
  4. Trnava Local Customs
  5. Zilina Local Customs
  6. Presov Local Customs
  7. Vysoke Tatry Local Customs
  8. Levoca Local Customs
  9. Trencin Local Customs
  10. Strbske Pleso Local Customs
  11. Oravsky Podzamok Local Customs
  12. Banska Bystrica Local Customs
  13. Trencianske Teplice Local Customs
  14. Zdiar Local Customs
  15. Bardejov Local Customs
  16. Spisske Podhradie Local Customs
  17. Oravska Polhora Local Customs
  18. Cerveny Kamen Local Customs
  19. Piest'any Local Customs
  20. Zuberec Local Customs
  21. Cicmany Local Customs

More Cities in Slovakia

 

Questions and Answers

halikowski profile photo

Q:  I have to make a bank payment to SLovakia (to buy some coupons from the excellent outdoor adventure company 'Mutton', based in... 

halikowski profile photo

A: This should be IC, DIC, IC DPH (there are 'haseks' i.e. accents on the 'c', which this internet platform does not process) 

Read 6 Replies

postQuestion_button

Click here for best deals for Slovakia

Great Rooms, Great Prices
Hotels.com Low Rates Guaranteed!  Click or Call an Expert at 1-800-45-HOTEL
Save Up To 50% On Hotels
ORBITZ.com Find great deals on Orbitz & pay no hotel change or cancel fees
Compare hotel Rates !
Booking.com Excellent choice, Save money
Save up to 50% off Hotels Everyday
Expedia.com Photos, Reviews and the Guaranteed Lowest Prices

Sponsored Links