Country info for backpacking in Slovakia

Slovakia has a temperate climate with sunny summers and cold, cloudy, humid and snowy winters. Much of the central and northern part of Slovakia is rugged and mountainous. Gerlachovský štít at 2,655 m in the High Tatras is the highest point. The Tatra Mountains in the north, shared with Poland, are interspersed with many scenic lakes and valleys. The lowlands are in the south with the lowest point of the Bodrog River being 94 m above sea level. Slovakia is also a country of massive medieval castles built on the rocks, beautiful detailed ones located on plains (there is about 180 castles and ruins) as well as country of caves. Most of 12 biggest caves (traditional karst caves, ice caves, aragonite cave etc) are open for public for several hours daily only, Tuesday to Saturday. In 1918 the Slovaks joined the closely related Czechs to form Czechoslovakia. Following the chaos of World War II, Czechoslovakia became a communist country within Soviet-ruled Eastern Block. Soviet influence collapsed in 1989 and Czechoslovakia once again became free. For many years overshadowed by their north-western Czech neighbors, political representations of Czech and Slovak decided to strike out on their own. The Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully on 1 January 1993 and Slovakia became a country in its own right. Historic, political, and geographic factors have caused Slovakia to experience more difficulty in developing a modern market economy than some of its Central European neighbors. Finally, however, Slovakia joined the European Union and the NATO in 2004.

Ethnicities

There are some similarities between the Czech and Slovak cultures. However, although the Slovaks may talk and eat like the Czechs, they are not the same. One of the most striking differences is that while Czechs are largely atheists, Slovaks are largely Catholics. This they share with the Poles. As a Hungarian territory for approximately thousand years, there is a Hungarian-speaking minority of 9.7%, mostly in southern Slovakia. The Slovak language is similar to Czech and Polish, but it is different. On the other hand, you won´t have a problem to understand the Slovaks, if you speak Polish or Czech. In the eastern part of the country, there are many Romas/Gypsies and some Rusnacs/Rusins and Ukrainians. The Gypsies usually are the poorest, worst educated members of the society. They have higher levels of unemployment, criminality, and alcoholism than ethnic Slovaks. Most of the Gypsies do not give "Gypsy" as their nationality in censuses, but their true number is around 300.000. There are also some Czechs, Poles and Germans living in Slovakia.

In case of an emergency, call 112, the universal emergency number. For police you can call 158, ambulance 155, and firefighters 150. When visiting mountain areas of Slovakia, especially the High Tatra, inform hotel personnel of your trip plans, so that rescuers can be sent to find you if you don't return to the hotel. Also, when visiting High Tatras, contact local mountain rescue service of your intent, they may even provide you with a safety guidelines. Beware: the weather in High Tatras is prone to sudden changes, especially during spring and autumn. The 2006 film Hostel is an American work of complete fiction, and there are no documented cases of tourists being kidnapped and tortured in Slovakia. It is considered a safe travel destination for all tourists, as is much of Europe. Do not mention it in conversation with Slovaks, as the film did to Slovakia's image approximately what Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" did to Kazakhstan.

No vaccination is necessary to visit or stay in Slovakia although if you plan to visit countryside areas, tick vaccination is recommended. Also Hepathitis "A" and "B" vaccination is advisable as with all European countries. Tap water is drinkable everywhere - according to one study, water used as tap water in the Bratislava-Vienna region is the cleanest in the world. If you prefer mineral waters, you can choose from multitude of marks, since Slovakia has probably highest numbers of natural mineral water springs per capita. Blue label usually indicates carbonated ones ("perlivá"), a green label indicates mildly carbonated ones ("mierne perlivá") and white, pink or red indicates those without carbon dioxide ("neperlivá").