General: Slovakia > Reviews (8)

In 2003 a friend of mine was living in Slovakia teaching - foolishly I agreed to visit in April.

I flew to Prague (perhaps I'll write about that later) and I took a coach 12 hours to Banska-Bystrica anyway. Now that Easyjet flies to Bratislava go that way. Never take a 12-hour coach.

AND NEVER LEAVE YOUR PASSPORT IN THE SUITCASE WHICH IS IN THE HOLD OF THE COACH BECAUSE THE DRIVER GET VERY P***ED OFF, AS DOES THE BORDER GUARD WITH A GUN!!!

Anyway so I arrived and the first thing that strikes you as the sun rises in the sky is how incredibly beautiful the hills are. Slovakia is surrounded by hills and the hills are covered in fir trees. I guess it is similar to parts of Wales. So that was nice, but as the coach neared the towns it just became rubbish.

THE TOWNSCAPE

and this is the annoying thing about Slovakia to date, the governments love to spend money on the town squares, but the rest is broken, derelict, battered and dull. If you visit the town squares are very nice with fountains and clock towers and all well paved, pedestrianised with nice cafes and shops. But that really is it.

ACCOMMODATION

I have no idea about accommodation I stayed with friends, however most of the buildings are huge tower blocks, which are tatty and battered. The insides are usually very nice (thin walls!!!) but well decorated.

PRICES

As everyone else has said this place is cheap you could get a skiing holiday for about £30 including hire. In winter the snow really falls so you could have a great time here, especially for beginners, but for everyone really.
Drinks are about 10-50p and a meal would set you back at least £1. I was there during the EU referendums in Slovakia and Czech Republic so no doubt prices will rise very soon.

LANGUAGE

You will need a phrase book. There is not much English spoken although some people can and the young usually can better than the adults.
Two words of advice
Note the difference between the words
"black" and "red"
I ended up asking for 'red tea' and 'black wine'
Also many countries in the area speak similar languages:
Czech republic, Slovakia, Poland, etc. Pronunciation is everything; although I didn't really see any problem apparently people thought I was from Poland with my pronunciation which I guess may mean something who knows.

Anyway the language is not that difficult to get by on.
CORRUPTION

I thought I ought to mention this.
All post gets looked at and anything that looks like a birthday card, etc will be checked for money and then taken. The police at times may demand money off you, perhaps those in tourist groups are avoided - that would be too obvious - but just be aware.
A good phrase for causing trouble is "Ten je meisme" (I hope this is right) It means "This is not allowed" But please check and by the way the police don't like a foreign smart ass. They do carry guns.

So why did they join - simple.
Because the Czech Republic joined. and you don't want to be the poor cousin to anyone when you already are.

Still I wouldn't go out of your way to go there yet there are better places to spend your money - however I would buy stuff here until the prices go up.