The rich brewery owner M. Speech had the rococo Palace from 1770 named after the former owner, Dr. Emil Mirbach. At the gable end is a big golden coat-of-arms and inside the palace you'll find e.g. some 300 year-old copies of old paintings by Rubens.
Hidden in a small street south of the giant super market Tesco in Bratislava lies this wonderful Art Nouveau Church, Modry Kostilík. An architect from Budapest was in charge of the construction of the church, which was built in the period 1910 to 1913. The church is unique on the inside as well as the outside with its wonderful decorations, ornaments and colours, which have no equals in all of Slovakia.
When you walk down the street Ursulinska you suddenly encounter the 13th century Gothic Franciscan Church. The city's oldest church was consecrated under the presence of Hungary's King Ondrej III, who granted Bratislava several privileges of autonomy in 1291. Inside the church is the striking St John's chapel from 1380, which experts describe as 'a Gothic pearl'.
The Slovak National Museum owns and tends the greatest collection in Slovakia. It houses e.g natural history collections of mineralogy, botany, zoology, insects, health and the fauna of the sea.
The museum, which is situated in Tatranská Lomnica, is one of the greatest attractions in the Tatras. You can see e.g. an extensive exhibit on flora and fauna in the mountain area as well as learn about the geological conditions in the area.
In one of the towns at High Tatra, Lomnica, you can go by a cable car from 1941 to Lomnicky Stit at a height of 2,632 metres, the second-highest summit at High Tatra. The fare is 600 Skk and the cable way is running year round, except in November.
From 1550 and 250 years onwards the Niklas Tower worked as prison. In the basement you can see the old chambers of torture as well as the hangman's chambers, which will give you the shivers. Upstairs you can visit the city museum, which has a range of historical exhibitions of Kocise.
Close to the main square lies the Museum of Eastern Slovakia, which has quite a few interesting collections. However, the most interesting object is the Gold Treasure from Kosice, which was discovered by chance in 1935 and consists of almost 3000 gold coins. The Gold Treasure originates from around the 15th to the 17th century and consists of coins from different countries.
The present theatre in Kosice, designed by Adolf Land, was built at record speed between 1897 and 1899. Ede Mayer made the theatre's ornaments from Budapest, and the Austrian decorator Peregrin Gastgeb painted the ceiling. Between 1987 and 1994 the building went through an extensive restoration on the basis of drawings by the two architects Ratislav Janak and Miroslav Mudrovcik.
If you move up the steep steps to the castle, Zámocké schody, to the medieval Corvinus Gate you'll be rewarded with an amazing view of the Donau River and the Petrzaka residence bloc, which houses a third of Bratislava's population. The four-tower castle originates from the 900s but was rebuild several times.
Demänovská jaskynna Slobody was discovered in 1921 and is the most popular cave in Slovakia with almost 200,000 visitors a year. The cave of freedom lies in the Demänovská valley on the northern side of Low Tatra. The cave contains impressive stalactite formations, deep gulfs and underground streams.
This beautiful ice cave in the southern part of the country was opened as early as in 1870. The cave is only a 15-minute drive away from the villages Dedinky and Mlynky and is an amazing sight with its striking ice formations and massive base of ice.
At the end of the main street lies the only preserved gate in Bratislava, Michalská brána, from the late 14th century. Inside the gate's octagonal tower there is a museum of the city's fortification.
In Slovakia's second-largest city, Kosice, lies the most impressive Gothic building in the whole country. St Elisabeth Cathedral, which was built in the period from 1380 and onwards, is the largest church in Slovakia. It houses e.g. a unique wooden altarpiece from 1474 and the Urbanova Belfry, which dominates the rhomboid main square in front of the church.
In Bratislava lies Stará Sladovna, which, despite the scarcity of pubs in the city, is one of Europe's largest public houses. If you want to experience a very Slovak place you should visit this pub, which offers local food, beer and music.
High above Bratislava on the hill north of the centre of the city stands the Slavin Monument to remind the fallen Soviet soldiers who fought during the fight for freedom against the Nazis. On top of the 37-metre high pillar stands a Soviet soldier who crushes a swastika.
More than 50,000 works of art are open to the public at The Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. You can see e.g. impressive Gothic woodcarvings, modern art and works by foreign artists such as Messerschmidt, Donner and Maulnertsch.
The common name for Banská Bystrica is City of Rebellion as this was the place where the Slovaks organised the rebellion against the Nazis in 1944. In the town you'll find the mushroom-shaped SNP Museum, which displays Slovak military equipment from the war.
Piles of chalk-white ruins scattered over a dull green hill makes up the ruins of Spissky Hrad, which was once the largest castle in Middle Europe. The ruins are without comparison the most beautiful ruins in Slovakia, and it is even visible from a distance of several kilometres.
Next to Kezmarok's variegated 19th century Lutheran Church stands its predecessor, a striking wooden church, which houses more than 1500 visitors. The evangelical church was built in 1687 and shows traces of the Scandinavian sailors who helped building it.
When you arrive at Malá Fatra from the north you run into the famed and romantic Vratna Dolina Valley which lies at the small village Terchová. The valley is a good point of departure for treks, which will bring you to flocks of sheep, painted wood houses and idyllic villages.
