Slovakia UNESCO Sights Tour 2020

Day 1
BANSKA STIAVNICA – the silver town / UNESCO

Welcome to Slovakia! Welcome drink and itinerary introduction.
Your lovely holiday has just started.
Morning
Meet and greet at the airport (Bratislava and/or Vienna Schwechat) and scenic drive northeast. After 2hrs driving we’ll be in one of the most beautiful, most romantic and most special town, a picturesque Banska Stiavnica. It is like to step in the past centuries. Get an overview of the rich history of this town connected with the mining of silver, copper and gold. Visit of the Old castle – a majestic fortress, 16^thcentury New castle, the heart of the Old town – the Holy Trinity square with beautiful sights such as the gothic 15^thcentury St. Catherine church, admire Renaissance buildings and the baroque Holy Trinity column.
Afternoon
Lunch break at restaurant Monarchia is about home-made specialties and great atmosphere. Do you like beer? Then, ERB restaurant will satisfy you with its high-quality microbrewery and a delicious cuisine. Which of these special beers from Slovak ingredients will be your favorite? Will it be Erb Pale lager 10 or 12, Erb Weizen 12, Erb Dark special 13 with balanced bitter and sweet tastes? Free time for souvenirs, coffee & cake break.

Overnight: Banska Stiavnica

Day 2
HRONSEK WOODEN CHURCH AND VLKOLINEC VILLAGE, UNESCO

Morning
Meeting at 9am and drive to a village Hronsek to see a unique wooden church. It is one of the best preserved sacral buildings of this type.
The church in Hronsek is an articular church which means it was build based on articles (articles of a treaty). In the time of strong Catholicism a Lutheran church could only by build in accordiance with strict conditions. This church had to be made entirely of wood, with no tower and without a single iron nail in its main structure, it had to be bulit within a single year and the main entrance could not face the village.
Drive to another sight will be Vlkolinec (UNESCO), a remarkably intact settlement with the traditional features of a central European village. It is the region’s most complete group of these kinds of traditional log houses, often found in mountainous areas. Great opportunity to try samples of honey wine (mead), from local wine makers. Go back in time and see how people used to live two centuries ago.

Visit of a little square, baroque chapel, wooden belfry and folk museum showing all the instruments of daily life and work.

Afternoon
Lunch break in Spisska Sobota – a lovely little medieval square with a great restaurant.
Continue to Levoca and at leisure.

Evening– At your own

Overnight: Levoca

Day 3
LEVOCA – highest wooden wing gothic altar & SPISS CASTLE / UNESCO

Morning
Meeting at 9am, quality sightseeing tour in this hidden jewel Levoca. Start with the visit of Basilica St. James to see the highest wooden wing, late-gothic altar of the world, a famous work of Master Paul of Levoca (measures: 18.62 metres high, 6.72 metres wide, created between 1507-1517). To get even more information, visit of museum of Master Paul (he used to live and work in a little house on the main square where nowadays you can admire his work).

Afterwards, visit of museum of Levoca, located in a beautiful former town hall. Walk around Levoca’s narrow historical streets, admire fortification walls and bastions.
Lunch and continue with one of the largest castle ruins in Central Europe, the Spiss castle. Climb up and enjoy the views, former rooms such as kitchen, chapel, torture chamber and get the story. Afterwards, Zehra church (famous fresco of Tree of Life), Spiss chapter (800 years old religious place). Back to Levoca.

Overnight: Levoca

Day 4
HERVARTOV WOODEN CHURCH & BARDEJOV TOWN, UNESCO

Morning
Meeting at 9am and drive up to the north. Our first stop is in a little village Hervartov to see a unique wooden Roman-catholic church of St. Francis of Assisi from 15th century.
Then, drive to one of the most beautiful medieval towns – Bardejov, settled in the 14th century, fortified with stone walls and bastions to repel foreign tribes. Most of the walls and bastions are still standing. Our exploration we start with Bardejov Spa – trying the healing water. It was a place where prominent European rulers and personalities spent some time, among the most famous belong the empress Elisabeth, known as Sissi. Try the healing water from eight springs, Main, Medical, Claire, Elisabeth, Napoleon, Francis, Hercules and Alexander.
Next to the Spa resort there is the the oldest open-air museum in Slovakia, let’s visit and go back to the life of the 19-20^thcentury of the Slovaks and Rusyns, walk into the houses of peasants, middle class, mayor’s house, then we come back to the Old town for a walking tour. St. Egidius church, climb the church tower with its fantastic view on former fortification walls around the city, the Old Town Hall, see the City walls – seven of the original bastions are still standing.

Evening– At your own. We recommend to take an evening stroll around this special town. No crowds, beautifully lid up the main sights and special atmosphere.

Overnight: Bardejov

Day 5
WOODEN CHURCHES & POLONINY NATIONAL PARK / UNESCO

Morning
Meeting at 8:30am, firstly, let’s visit St Michael the Archangel, the 18 century Greek Catholic wooden church in Ladomirova village. We’ll enter the church to see the precious iconostas and altar.Drive further to the east to Poloniny national park. It is the Slovak easternmost national park near the Polish and Ukrainian borders.
Take a light enjoyable walking tour (3-4hrs) and find here original extensive beech and fir-beech forest. Drive to Kosice and At leisure.

Overnight: Kosice

Day 6
KOSICE – EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITAL OF 2013

Morning
Meeting at 9am and quality sightseeing tour around the spectacular, historical Old Town of Kosice. Kosice- the second largest city of Slovakiay is an Eastern Slovakia’s hub of industry, commerce, science and culture. It is a city with an eventful and illustrious past.

Visit of St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral, considered to be one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in the world, St. Michael’s Chapel, The State Theatre, St. Urbain’s Tower. See Jesuit and Franciscan churches as well as lane of arts and crafts, similar to Golden lane in Prague, but definitely with less tourists, authentic and worth to visit. Did you know that Kosice is proud to have the oldest coat of arm in Europe? And also the European oldest marathon (International Peace Marathon) takes place every year on the first Sunday in October.

Afternoon– At leisure. We will give you tips which museum is worth to see, where to enjoy a coffee or glass of wine. Do you like hot chocolate or a great ice scream?

Optional trip – wine tasting & dinner in Tokaj (not included)
Trip to Tokaj wine region (10 samples of wine) including tasty dinner (roasted duck, dumplings, red cabbage)

Overnight: Kosice

Day 7
OCHTINSKA ARAGONITE AND DOBSINSKA ICE CAVE / UNESCO

Morning
Meeting at 8:30am, first visit of Ochtinska Aragonit cave (1hr 30min drive), a unique natural phenomenon. There are only 3 such caves in the world. (Slovakia, Mexico and Argentine). Admire variety and abundance of aragonite filling and a rare development of underground space.

Another special cave is Dobsinska Ice cave (50min drive) which belongs among the most important ice caves in the world. Lunch on the way and drive to Bratislava.

Evening – Enjoy an evening in Bratislava.
What about having a drink on the Danube promenade next to Eurovea Shopping mall ?

Overnight: Bratislava

Day 8
BRATISLAVA QUALITY SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Morning
Meeting at 9am at your hotel and drive to Devin castle (15min drive) – situated at the confluence of the Danube & Morava rivers. Its owners could control the important trade route along the Danube as well as one branch of the Amber Road. After admiring the beautiful castle ruin and enjoyingviews on Austria, we show you where once the “Iron curtain” – the former border between the West and the East used to stand. An overview of the communist history (1948-1989). Devin area is also famous for its current wine. Have you ever tried current wine? Try now, It’s a regional specialty. Drive back and visit Slavin (World War2 memorial) and symbol of the city – Bratislava castle – to enjoy stunning views of the Danube river and know more about its rich history.

Afternoon
After lunch break in the Old town (we will recommend you a great restaurant), continue with the quality sightseeing tour to show you the highlights of the Old town.

Walking through the main square (admire a beautiful former town hall), the Primate Palace (outside) – the largest in Bratislava where the Treaty of Pressburg was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Take pictures of some of our funny statues such as Cumil – the worker. Visit of the St. Martin’s Cathedral, the coronation place of 18 rulers including Austria-Hungarian empress Maria Theresa, walking through the only preserved entrance – Michaels gate. Late afternoon at leisure.

You’ll get tips which museum, gallery is worth to see, where to enjoy coffee & cake, a glass of excellent Slovak wine, where to buy good quality souvenirs.

Evening– We recommend you a cosy place for dinner.

Overnight: Bratislava

Day 9
FAREWELL TO OUR TRAVEL FRIENDS !

Your memorable holiday comes to an end today. We are ready to arrange for you an airport transfer, a comfortable door-to-door service for discounted rates.