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Where Slovakia is located and how you can find us!
Slovakia is located in the central Europe.
Our neighbouring countries are Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria.
We can pick you up right from you hotel (in Slovakia or in neighbouring countries) or just from your airport!Country Profile: Slovakia:
Area: 49,000 sq km (11,400 sq mi)
Population: 5,391,000 (2002)
Capital City: Bratislava
People: Slovak 85.8%, Hungarian 9.7%, Roma 1.4%, Czech-Moravian-Silesian 0.8%, Ruthenian and Ukrainian 0.2%, German 0.1%, Polish 0.1%, Others 0.2%.
(According to the 2001 census, 1.7 percent of Slovaks identified themselves as Roma. However, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic estimates number of Roma as 400,000.)
Language(s): Slovak (official), Hungarian
Religion(s): Roman Catholics 60.3%, Atheists 9.7%, Protestants 8.6%, Orthodox 0.7%, Other 17.5%.
Currency: Slovak Crown (Koruna), 1 SKK = 100 hellers (halier)
Major political parties: People’s Party for a Democratic Slovakia (LS -HZDS), Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU), Party Direction – Third Way (SMER), Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK), Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), New Civic Alliance (ANO).
Government: Government coalition: SDKU, SMK. (ANO left the coalition in September 2005; KDH left the coalition in February 2006.)
Head of State: President Ivan Gasparovic Prime Minister/Premier: Mikulas Dzurinda Foreign Minister: Eduard Kukan
Membership of international groupings/ organisations: Council of Europe (COE), European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IFC, International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Interpol, IOC, NATO, Non Aligned Movement (NAM), (guest), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), Partnership for Peace (PfP), United Nations (UN), Western European Union (WEU), (associate partner), World Health Organisation (WHO), WIPO, WMO, WtoO, WtrO.
General
On 1 January 1993, Slovakia became independent following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Slovak Government signed the EU Accession Treaty in Athens on 16 April 2003 A referendum in May 2003 gave them an overwhelming mandate to become a full member of the European Union on 1 May 2004. Slovakia received an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002 and joined on 2 April 2004.
GEOGRAPHY
Slovakia is a landlocked country in Central Europe and shares common borders with Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine. Mountains dominate the central and northern parts of the country while the south is mainly lowland. It has a temperate climate.
Recent History
At the end of the First World War in 1918, a Slovak National Council was formed and under the Treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920, Slovakia was separated from Hungary and the Czechoslovak State was created. Following the German annexation of the Czech Lands in 1938-39, a Slovak nationalist government was set up under Father Tiso, who in March 1939 established an independent fascist state. Under post-war Communist rule, the Slovaks were reunited with the Czechs. However, after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989, latent tensions in Czech-Slovak relations re-emerged. Vladimir Meciar, leader of the “Movement for a Democratic Slovakia” (HZDS), led the demand for Slovak state sovereignty. Meciar became Prime Minister following parliamentary elections in June 1992. An independent Slovak Republic came into being on 1 January 1993 and in February 1993 Michal Kovac was elected its first President.
Meciar’s particular brand of authoritarian leadership made him a highly controversial figure. His party governed in coalition with other smaller parties, notably the Slovak National Party (SNS), the most nationalistic party in Slovak politics and intensely hostile to the Hungarian minority. At the elections of September 1994 Meciar’s party formed a new coalition, with the SNS and the far-left Association of Slovak Workers (ZRS). During the next 4 years, Meciar deprived the opposition parties of any meaningful role in parliament or elsewhere. In September 1998 Mikulas Dzurinda, the current Prime Minister, won a general election. In December 1999, the EU recognised the progress Dzurinda's government had made in overcoming the democratic deficit of the Meciar years, and invited Slovakia to open negotiations on EU membership.
Longer Historical Perspective
The earliest records of Slavic inhabitants in present-day Slovakia date from the fifth century AD. Following their invasion in 907, the Magyars established the Kingdom of Hungary, which included much of modern-day Slovakia. This invasion had profound long-term consequences as it meant that the Slavic people of the Kingdom of Hungary – the ancestors of the Slovaks – were separated politically from the western areas, inhabited by the ancestors of the Czechs, for virtually a millennium. This separation was a major factor in the development of distinct Czech and Slovak nationalities. The Hungarians ruled the Slovaks for a thousand years until the end of the First World War.The Slovak TOP
The highest location: Gerlachovský Peak, 2,655 m above sea level
The lowest location: Bodrog river level, 94 m above sea level
The highest church tower: Spišská Nová Ves (87 m)
The largest of the 170 castles: Spiš Castle
The oldest ice cave in Europe: Dobšiná Ice Cave
The longest Slovak river: Váh
The highest located municipality: Štrbské Tarn Lake, 1,355 m above sea level
The largest river island in Europe: Rye Island in southern Slovakia, 132,612 ha
The largest national park: Low Tatras National Park, 81,000 ha
The oldest protected plant in Slovakia: edelweiss
The largest and deepest lake in Slovakia: Great Hincovo Tarn Lake - 20.1 ha, 53 m deep
The place with the lowest annual average temperature: the top of Lomnický Peak (2,632 m above sea level) - 3.7 °C
The location with the highest annual precipitation average: Zbojnícka Lodge (1,960 m above sea level) - 2,130 mm
The first printed book: the Latin textbook by Lucas Fabinus at Prešov in 1573
The first newspaper: Prešporské Newspaper, at Prešporok (Bratislava) July 1783
The largest village in Slovakia: Tvrdošovce (5,400)
The biggest wooden altar in the world: Levoca - St. Jacob´s Church by Master Paul of Levoca, early 16th century, 18,6 m high and 6.3 m wide
Geographic location of Slovakia
Slovakia is a land-locked country almost in the heart of Europe. Important traffic and trade roads between the Baltic and Adriatic Seas and between the Black and North Seas have crossed Slovakia since ancient times. Slovakia is neighbouring with the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Austria. The longest border, 678 km, is the one with Hungary and the shortest, 92 km, is the one with Ukraine. Slovakia covers a part of the Carpathian Range, the Pannonian Basin is located to the south of the Carpathians, where the Danube Lowland extends along the Danube; the East Slovak Lowland is situated in the east of the country.
The most northern point is at Babia Mountain in Orava, the most southern point is at Patince close to Komárno, the most western point of Slovakia is at Záhorská Ves, the most eastern one at Nová Sedlica. The length of Slovakia from Záhorská Ves to Nová Sedlica is 428 km. The height range of Slovakia is from 94 m above sea level at Streda nad Bodrogom in the southern foreland of the East Slovak Lowland up to the 2.655 m above sea level high Gerlachovský Peak in the High Tatras.
Climate and weather:
Slovakia is located in the northern moderate zone with regularly alternating four seasons, transitional effects of continental and ocean climate causing dry conditions and hot weather in summer and frost in winter. The ocean air brings precipitation and moderate temperatures. Temperature inversion is typical for mountainous areas mainly in spring and autumn. The average annual temperature ranges from 5.5 C to 10 C.
In Slovakia the lowest temperature was measured in the basin of Zvolen: - 41° C ( 11 February 1929), the highest temperature in Komárno +39,8° C (5 July 1950).
Waters:
The main European watershed crosses the territory of Slovakia. The biggest central European river – the Danube linking Slovakia with the Black Sea – flows into Slovakia from Austria. In Slovakia, the largest ground water reserves are found in the river sediments of the Danube in the area of the Rye Island (Žitný ostrov). The longest Slovak river is the Váh – 390 km. There are many mountain lakes – tarn lakes – in Slovakia, in particular in the Tatra Mountains. The largest and deepest lake is Great Hincovo Tarn Lake of an area of 20 ha and depth of 53 m, Blue Tarn Lake in the High Tatras with its 2,157 m above sea level has the highest location.
After World War II many water dams have been built in Slovakia, the most of them – 19 – on the Váh River. Liptovská Mara on the Váh, Zemplínska Šírava and the Gabeíkovo water works on the Danube are the best known ones.
Slovakia is exceptionally rich in quality mineral springs and thermal water. Their healing capacity stimulated the establishment of many well-known spas, e.g. in Pieš?any, Treneianske Teplice, Bardejov, Vyšné Ružbachy.
Thermal swimming pools, e.g. Vrbov, Bešeoová, are also popular.
Caves:
Till today more than 1,200 caves of different size and shape have been discovered and registered, out of them 12 have been opened for public (Cave Driny, Harmanecká Cave, Bystrianska Cave, Demänovská Ice Cave, Demänovská Freedom Cave, Važecká Cave, Belianska Cave, Dobšinská Ice Cave, Ochtinská Aragonit Cave, Gombasecká Cave, Cave Domica, Jasovská Cave). In many of them findings proving settlements older than 5,000 years were found; some of them are used for speleotherapy.
Flora:
The diversity of types of rocks, soil, climate, elevation and the like resulted in more than 3,000 species of plants, including many precious endemic species, identified in Slovakia till today. Slovakia is located in the zone of mixed forest. Forests cover some 40 % of its territory.
Fauna:
Several animal species live in Slovakia. Typical representatives include e.g. hare, partridge, field mouse, wild boar, doe deer, hawk, woodpecker, squirrel, bear, lynx, grouse, fox, red deer, wolf, wild duck, goose, stork, frog, fishes - e.g. trout, carp, barbel, etc. Some animals, e.g. chamois and marmot, are highly protected.
Nature protection:
In Slovakia nature protection has a long history and has achieved a very good level. Currently, there are 9 national parks in Slovakia. Tatras National Park, Pieniny National Park, Low Tatras National Park, Slovak Paradise National Park, Low Fatra National Park, Muráoska Plain National Park, Poloniny National Park, Slovak Karst National Park and High Fatra National Park.
Tha main functions of national parks include protection of natural processes, regulation of tourism, environmental and ecological education.
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