Itinerary

Sunday

We rendezvous in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Crossing the border into Slovakia, we drive to the medieval city Banska Stiavnica, the centre of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the evening, we meet for our Welcome Dinner and Introductory Talk in the hotel.
Overnight: Banska Stiavnica
Monday

This morning we walk through the Stiavnica Hills to lunch. The afternoon highlight is a walking tour of Banska Stiavnica, where the old medieval mining centre has evolved into a town with Renaissance palaces, 16th-century churches, elegant squares and castles.
Overnight: Banska Stiavnica
Tuesday

After a short drive we arrive in Kremnica, one of the world’s leading mining centres in the Middle Ages, where we stop for a short walk. Later we drive high into the hills and walk across to Banska Bystrica, a picturesque town on the banks of the River Hron, whose lovely medieval architecture is testament to the properity brought by copper mining in the Middle Ages. We stay overnight in Donovaly, a centre of anti-Nazi resistance in World War II and now a modern ski resort.
Overnight: Donovaly
Wednesday

We take a chair lift (cable lift) from Donovaly up to the Velka Fatra mountains and enjoy a day of alpine flora, orchids, and bird life, amid mountains that offer great views across open ridges and deep limestone gorges. We visit Vlkolinec, a uniquely preserved village, unspoiled by modern development and originally the settlement of loggers, shepherds and farmers. The two-storey log belfry and the log-well, still the only source of water, are amongst the most-photographed sites of all Slovakia.
Overnight: Stary Smokovec
Thursday

We spend the day hiking in the High Tatras National Park, the largest and most varied Nature Reserve in the country. It’s a day of waterfalls and gorges and rugged peaks, of remote communities amidst a breathtaking landscape; we may see chamois or lynx. We end our day in Liptovsky Hradok.
Overnight: Stary Smokovec
Friday

In the morning we transfer to Levoca, one of the most interesting cities of Slovakia, an architect’s dream, with its gothic, renaissance and baroque houses and well-preserved city walls, bastions and watch-towers. It has a unique medieval church with a number of gothic altar-pieces, paintings and sculptures. We hike in the nearby Levoca hills, with a backdrop of the High Tatras, across meadows with sheep and flowers.
Overnight: Levoca
Saturday

We hike from Zehra, small village with a picturesque 13th century church, and along limestone hills to Spis Castle. Built after the invasion of the Tartars to central Europe in 1240, Spis is one of the largest castles in Central Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the lunch in the fortified Spis chapter-house, we continue to Kosice for our Farewell Dinner in our hotel in the shadow of the great Gothic cathedral in the historic Old Town.
Overnight: Kosice
Sunday

After breakfast, we return by train to Budapest.

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