Slovakia is one of those countries that people tend to easily forget. Countless are the times that we have heard people use the old name Czechoslovakia, which was the name of the countries that nowadays are the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These are two separate countries since the first of January 1993 and very few seem to show an interest in Exploring Slovakia.

So what does the country of Slovakia have to offer? We lived in the capital Bratislava from the fall of 2012 until the spring of 2014. That is around a year and a half in an amazing city. Our life at that time consisted of working during the week and exploring Slovakia and the surrounding countries during the weekends.

This is a list and page that we are still working on. In case you would like to help us to add your city, please contact us and we will discuss it.

Exploring Slovakia: Places of Interest

Below you find the links to our posts about places around Slovakia, just click on the dots and follow the link.

Exploring Slovakia: Some Interesting Facts

History

The area that today is Slovakia has throughout the history been part of several other countries. These countries include Great Moravia and the Kingdom of Hungary. After World War I the Slovaks formed an independent republic with the Czechs, Czechoslovakia. Throughout the years the area has played an important role in history. Its capital, Bratislava, was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, from 1536 to 1783 and has been home to many Slovak, Hungarian and German historical figures.

Slovakia first gained its independence in 1939 as a client state of Nazi Germany. Slovakia was once more incorporated into Czechoslovakia after World War II.

Czechoslovakia split in 1993 into the states of today’s Czech and Slovak Republics. Since then the capital of Slovakia has been Bratislava, just on the border with Austria.

Population

Slovakia has a population of around 5.426.000, out of which around 660.000 people live in and around the capital Bratislava. According to the 2011 census, approximately 80% of the population is Slovak. There is a large Hungarian minority making up around 8,5% of the population, as well as Roma (2%) and Czech (0,6)%.

The official language of the country is Slovak. Minority languages, such as Hungarian and Rusyn, hold co-official status in the municipalities in which the size of the minority population meets the legal threshold of 20%

Administrative divisions

Slovakia is divided into 8 regions (it is these regions that we use here while Exploring Slovakia). They are all named after the main city in the region. The Slovak word for the word region is “kraj”.

These regions are: