Guide to Slovakia

General Information

Slovak Republic is the official name, but the geographical centre of Europe is mostly known just as Slovakia (or Slovensko in Slovak language). The republic was established on 1st of January 1993 after splitting Czechoslovakia into two countries – Czech Republic and Slovakia. Since then, the political system in both countries is parliamentary democracy and the first day of the year became a national holiday. Slovakia as the smaller country was the one which had to adopt new state symbols.

Economy

The former communist country went through deep social changes and huge economic reforms when it had to transform the centrally planned economy to a market-driven economy. The Slovak economic transition is usually said as very successful (sometimes as the most successful of all post-communist countries), eventhough especially in the 90’s it was a very hard process.

In the meantime, Slovakia is one of the best emerging markets in Europe and it is a member of many international organizations including European Union, NATO, OECD, WTO, UNESCO, INTERPOL.

Slovakia has a high average GDP growth, that is why it is called the Central European Tiger or the Tatra Tiger. The cheaper, well-educated labour force, low tax rates (19% flat rate tax) and stable economy with Euro as its official currency, attracts a lot of foreign investments.

Geography

Slovakia is a landlocked country and fully enclosed by 5 neighbours: on the west by the Czech Republic (Prague) and Austria (Vienna), on the north by Poland (Warsaw, Krakow), on the east by Ukraine (Kiev) and by Hungary (Budapest) on the south.

The territory of 49035 square kilometres is divided into 8 large regions and 79 smaller districts/counties. Each of the 8 so-called Higher-Tier or Upper-Tier Territorial Units (VÚC – Vyššie Územné Celky) are named after the largest city in that region: Bratislava (no. 1 on the map below), Košice (8), Banská Bystrica (6), Žilina (5), Trenčín (3), Trnava (2), Nitra (4), Prešov (7).

Demographics

Slovakia has a population of 5.4 million, Bratislava with 430000 inhabitants is the largest city and the capital at the same time.

Ethnicity is mainly Slovak (86%). There is a large Hungarian minority (10%) in the South of Slovakia, the second largest ethnic group is Romany (2%, the exact percentage can differ a lot between sources depending on the measurements, because many Romas subscribe themselves to other minorities, mostly Hungarian) and the third group are Czechs (1%). Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian, German, Polish and others have less than 2% alltogether.

87% of the population are believers and most of them (69% of the population) belong to Roman Catholic church. Other religions have only small shares – Lutherans (6.9%), Greek Catholics (4.1%), Protestant Reformers (2.0%) and Orthodox Church (0.9%).

Despite the modern European economy and society, Slovakia has a significant rural element. About 45% of Slovaks live in villages with fewer than 5000 inhabitants, and 14% in villages with fewer than 1000.

Travel & Tourism

Tourism in Slovakia is growing every year. In the late 90s, the number of foreign visitors to Slovakia was around 500k, since then it grew up to almost 1.8 million tourists in 2008:

Sources: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic & Slovak Tourist Board

Destinations

The most attractive destinations are the capital of Slovakia – Bratislava and High Tatras. For several years now, the tourist-shares for most visited Slovak destinations are quite steady:

1. Bratislava: 40 – 41%
2. High Tatras: 24 – 25%
3. Košice: 7 – 8%
4. Piešťany: 6 – 7%
5. Nitra: 3.5 – 4.5%
6. Poprad: 3.5 – 4.5%
7. Liptovký Mikuláš: 3.5 – 4.5%
8. Žilina: 3.5 – 4%
9. Trenčianske Teplice: 2.5 – 3%
10. Banská Bystrica: 2.5 – 3%

Accommodation

There are thousands of in accommodation possibilities in Slovakia. In cities like Bratislava or Košice, the most common accommodation facility is a hotel. Hotels are rated with stars as usual and the Slovak services do not differ much from European standards. Cheaper hotels are rated with one (tourist class – hostels) or two stars (economy class), the standard class hotels are rated with three stars and those more expensive are rated as four star (first class) or as five star hotels (luxury class).

Recently, short-term apartment rentals are getting very popular in cities, but in mountainous areas, too. Apartments can be sometimes cheaper than hotel rooms, still offering the same luxury and even more space and privacy.

In regions such as Tatra Mountains, more usual than hotel it is to have accommodation booked in pensions or guest-houses, but for the best holiday it is very recommended to rent a chalet. Chalets always give special feeling to the vacation, visitors feel more connected to the nature.

Visitors can use a travel agency for the accomodation booking, which is very advisable in case they don’t know the region or where to look for. Travel agencies usually put a booking fee to the price, but it is not too much and it is absolutely worthy for the help. Of course, for knowledgeable travellers it is usually cheaper to book the accommodation directly at the facility provider.

Sports & Adrenaline

Thanks to the mountainous topography of Slovakia and the fact that much of these mountains are covered by snow from late October till late March / April, the conditions for skiing and other winter sports are perfect. On such a small territory there are more than 1000 ski-tows and 40 ski-lifts and more than 50 ski resorts can make an artificial snow in case it is not snowing. Many of the ski slopes comply even with the international criteria for ski competitions. U-ramps and other opportunities for snowboarding are offered by all of the bigger skiing centres.

In summer, Slovakia’s mountains offer a lot of rivers and streams that can be used for rafting and other white-water activities – Dunajec river with its beautiful scenery is one of the most popular. Also, Slovakia is home of one of the best artificial whitewatter channel in the world, 20 km from Bratislava, in Čuňovo where many international competitions were held. The proof of long tradition of this sport is that Slovak rafters belong to the top in the world and they’re always winning medals on Olympic games or World Chanpionships.

High peaks and deep valleys give opportunities for hiking and walking tours. Sceneries of a beauty which probably can’t be found anywhere else are available for tourists whether they are beginners or experienced hikers and in any season of the year.

Sightseeing & Tourist Attractions & Relaxing

40% of Slovakia’s territory is covered with forests. Slovakia’s forests contain a wide biodiversity; animals include brown bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, muskrats, chamois and lynxes. There are hardly any mountain ranges and areas not under some form of protection. The highest form of protection is a National Park; there are 9 of them in Slovakia:

• Tatra National Park
• Low Tatras National Park
• Lesser Fatra National Park
• Greater Fatra National Park
• Muránska Planina National Park
• Pieniny National Park
• Poloniny National Park
• Slovak Karst National Park
• Slovak Paradise National Park

Slovakia has the highest number of castles per capita. The best known castles are Bojnice Castle, Spiš Castle (the largest fortified castle in Europe, on the UNESCO list), Orava Castle, Bratislava Castle, and the ruins of Devín Castle. Čachtice Castle used to be the home of the world’s most prolific female serial killer, the ‘Bloody Lady’, Elizabeth Báthory.

The country is also a European leader in the number of caves per capita. Caves are mostly located in the karst areas. Thirteen caves are open to the public, the longest one is 9 km long. Some of them have been proclaimed UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Among them, Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is one of three aragonite caves in the world.

7 sights of Slovakia are inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List – 5 cultural and 2 natural:

• Banská Štiavnica
• Bardejov
• Levoča, Spiš Castle and associated cultural monuments
• Vlkolínec
• Caves in the Slovak Karst
• Primeval beech forests in Poloniny National Park and Vihorlat Mountains
• Wooden churches in central and eastern Slovakia

Slovakia has numerous mineral springs and spas where people can relax or have health treatments:

• Climatic spas: Nový Smokovec, Štós, Štrbské Pleso, Tatranské Matliare, High Tatras
• Balneological spas: Bojnice, Brusno, Dudince, Lúčky, Piešťany, Sklené Teplice, Sliač, Smrdáky, Trenčianske Teplice, Turčianske Teplice
• Mixed spas: Bardejov Spas, Číž, Nimnica, Rajecké Teplice and Vyšné Ružbachy

New water parks are being built, such as Tatralandia in Liptovský Mikuláš, Aquacity in Poprad or Aquathermal in Senec.

Living in Slovakia

Safety

Slovakia is a peaceful country, not any more dangerous than any other EU country. According to the Global Peace Index, it is the 24th safest country of the world (20th in 2008 and 17th in 2007). Slovak people are usually very kind and helpful.

However, that doesn’t mean that people should not watch their things. Mostly on large public places a wallet or a purse can be stolen. People should be very cautious when dealing with money on such places.

Standard / Cost of living

Because of the deep economic changes Slovakia went through, Slovakia belongs to the less developed countries in European Union. However, the standard of living is growing very fast and in some areas of social life it is already on average or above the average of EU countries.

In general, the cost of living (utility costs, prices, etc.) in Slovakia is lower than in west European countries like UK, France or Germany. Living costs vary from region to region and are also dependent on fluctuations in the prices of food, energy and other everyday necessities.

* Slovak Korunas were changed to Euro, the official exchange rate: 1 EUR = 30,126 SKK

Source: EURES

Source: EURES

Jobs & Business

One of the main pillars of European Union (particularly of the European Economic Area) is the free movement of work force which means that any national of an EEA country is allowed to work in another EEA country on the same conditions as that member state’s own citizens.

However, after Slovakia and 9 other developing economies joined the EU in 2004, a transitional period of 7 years was set by some of the “old” members. During this transitional period certain restrictions on the free movement of workers are applied (differ by the member state – i.e. UK fully openned up its job market, France openned it up only for certain jobs, Germany’s job market stayed restricted for newcomers) in order to prevent huge shifts of people from the new member states to the old ones and to prevent massive job taking and lowering the salaries in old member states (The salaries in new member states are usually lower than in the old ones, so the new-EU-country workers are happy to work for less and this way pushing the salaries down for the locals as well.).

* Slovak Korunas were changed to Euro, the official exchange rate: 1 EUR = 30,126 SKK

Most of economic life and the most of job offers are in Bratislava and surrounding area, followed by other main western cities – Trnava, Žilina, Trenčín and Nitra. These areas are also likely to create the best conditions for investors who are willing to do business in Slovakia.

Slovakia is one of the most attractive country for investing. The reasons are: solid economy, growing investments (foreign as well as domestic), great infrastructure and favorable business environment. In many areas of business the competition is quite low, so there are potentially high returns.

Healthcare

Health care system is one of the least developed areas of life in Slovakia. The healing by itself is on a high level, comparable with other EU countries, but the whole system is underfinanced. Health care services provided by public hospitals/ambulances do almost never include any additional care than is strictly needed. Private and non-public health care institutions tend to be more hospitable places.

Everyone living & working in Slovakia is obliged to have health insurance. There are several private health insurance companies and one public. Initial examinations are carried out by general practitioners for all adults and children. Everyone is free to choose their own doctor, who will provide primary health care and who can also provide a referral for examination or treatment by a specialist.

Although in accordance with the Health Care Act patient should not need a referral from a general practitioner, the fact is that specialists do require it. However, if someone is in serious need of examination or treatment, a specialist may never refuse him/her and must provide examination or treatment even without a referral.

Education

Public education system in Slovakia is free and can be characterized as very good, although it suffers the same problem as health care system – not enough finances.

The education usually starts in kindergarten (for children 3–6 years of age) which prepares children for primary school. Compulsory education starts in the age of 6 with primary schools which have 9 grades and are divided into Level 1 (junior: 1st-4th grade) and Level 2 (middle: 5th-9th grade).

Secondary schools provide education preparing students for professional occupations and for university study. Full secondary education is completed by taking the Leaving Certificate examination, usually after 4 years of studying on High School.

Universities and colleges prepare qualified professionals with tertiary education in technical, scientific, economic, social and artistic disciplines. At present there are 20 public, 10 private and 3 state universities and colleges in Slovakia. Study programmes are organised on three levels and studies are completed by presenting and defending a thesis or dissertation and taking the State Examination.

The first level of study for a Bachelor degree (bakalár – Bc.) takes usually 3 years, the second level is a Master of Science or Master of Arts (both called as magister – Mgr.), Master of Engineering (inžinier – Ing.), or Medical Doctor degree (doktor – MUDr.) which takes 6 years. The third level is the Doctoral degree which takes a further 2–4 years.