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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members
Guidebooks
by GentleSpirit
I took a look at several guidebooks before my trip to Slovakia. Since the trip was going to be fairly short and much of it was going to be concentrated in the outdoors I chose to travel light and leave the guidebooks at home. I do, however have a few general impressions.- Since Slovakia is still a relatively smaller destination you are not likely to find many guidebooks that concentrate on Slovakia alone. Usually they are partnered with the Czech Republic. Therefore, a lot of the information might be a bit less detailed than you might want.- I noticed that the guidebooks I had seen tended to make it seem like transportation arrangements were really difficult. For example, getting from Stary Smokovec to Poprad...the guidebooks made it sound like you had to take a complicated maze of different trains. - Though I would probably prefer not to be in a train station at night anyway, it seemed...
Slovak-English Dictionary!
by lmkluque
At the time of my visit it was not possible to find an English-Slovak dictionary at any store, even a travel store, in San Diego. That may not be so where you live, especially now that this country is open. So, in those days, I had to wait until I arrived in Czechoslovakia to buy a dictionary. Then, I bought this comprehensive Slovak-English dictionary only to find out that it was not useful to me at all. If you are not language savvy like I am not, be warned not to buy a dicitonary that only translates words from the other language into your own. First, everything about the Slovak language was new to me so I hadn't a clue where to start and second, to use this dictionary I'd have to know the Slovak word and I'd have to be able to spell it in order to find out what it meant. Thankfully, family members took pity on me and gave me an English-Slovak dictionary which made a world of...
Forest damage / High Tatra
by MichaelFalk1969
This is not exactly a "danger" ... there was a storm in 2004 which knocked down large parts of the woods in the High Tatra. The devastation was incredible; it will take decades for the wood to regrow. Nevertheless the destruction afflicted only part of the Tatra; almost all the hiking trails are not affected. There ist still lots of unspoiled nature left.
Photograph at your own risk.
by Sue08080
This was the one unfriendly local that we encountered. The driver of this wagon was furious that I took his picture! He shouted that I was going to make money from it and he should be paid. He soon calmed down and resumed his ride and an international incident was avoided.
slow service in restaurants
by wojsyl
Somehow service in many Slovak restaurants can be much slower than you might reasonably expect. It does not do much harm but in any case be prepared that eating even a simple meal can take a long time. You may also need some patience, as they would sometimes mix the orders and so on. Not that it does not happen elsewhere, but it happens surprisingly frequently in Slovakia. But the food is often delicious. Just take your time ...Astralka complains that I'm wrong here. Maybe it was just by pure coincidence but it's my observation based on my few visits to the country. Or maybe I tend to pick the wrong restaurants. Then ... I'm usually not in a hurry when travelling and can enjoy a slow meal ...
opening hours
by wojsyl
Slovakia has some great karst caves throughout the country. However they tend to have strange opening hours - usually they are open only until 2 which makes it quite difficult to visit more than one in a day. They are also closed on Mondays.Plan in advance. Unfortunately some information about opening hours advertised on the Internet turn out not to be accurate, which makes it more difficult.
opening hours
by wojsyl
Slovakia has some great karst caves throughout the country. However they tend to have strange opening hours - usually they are open only until 2 which makes it quite difficult to visit more than one in a day. They are also closed on Mondays.Plan in advance. Unfortunately some information about opening hours advertised on the Internet turn out not to be accurate, which makes it more difficult.
taking pictures in tourist places ...
by wojsyl
Slovaks often expect you to pay extra for the priviledge of taking pictures (with your own camera) in places like caves, castles etc. However strange it might be, it seems to be the way for them to earn some extra funds. No big deal about it, but be aware, that you're supposed to pay this fee in advance, when purchasing your entrance ticket, and that the "photo ticket" is not included in the entrance fee. Unfortunately they will often not advise about this when you're buying your tickets, so you'd have to insist on it yourself and ask about taking photos when buying your entrance tickets.Or don't support this weird custom and don't pay them.
Guided walks
by wojsyl
For many of the tourist attractions (like castles etc.) it's not enough to buy an entrance ticket, you'll also have to wait for a local tour guide. In other words you're not allowed to enter it yourself but only with a larger group and a guide.This can be quite annoying if you don't speak Slovak or other similar language. Strangely, the guides will usually speak only Slovak (but there are exceptions). You'll also have to follow them at their pace which does not necessarily have to be the same as yours. However the biggest problem with this idea is, that you may be forced to wait quite some time for the next scheduled guide to appear. This can take anything from 15 minutes to infinity depending on your luck and the particular object you're visiting.Check in advance how often do guided tours start and how long do the last. Allow some extra time.
Older cars
by Skipka
In towns - especially those bigger ones - is better to travel by ordinary or older car not to take attention of public and thieves of cars. However, you will see more nice cars of western origin in towns that's normal. But there is the risk of being stealed every day and dealing with police here isn't very nice procedure LOL :)
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