Exploring Northern Slovakia | Slovak Adventure 2025 (2/5)

It was early Sunday morning and my visit to Bratislava had come to an end. It was time to head out and explore other parts of Slovakia. The Slovak Adventure of 2025 had not come to an end, it was still just beginning. It was time to board a train to Považská Bystrica, a city in the northern part of Slovakia. There I would meet up with a former colleague from the time we worked in Bratislava. Together we would explore part of northern Slovakia and stay two nights in their cabins in the mountains. The second part of this adventure just began.

Train to Považská Bystrica in Northern Slovakia

I had booked my train ticket to Považská Bystrica a few days earlier. I was going to board the Tatran, one of the express trains between Bratislava and Košice. The ride from Bratislava to Považská Bystrica took just over one and a half hours. I Riding in first class meant that I had some extra space to stretch out and sleep. Considering the departure time of 07:27 in the morning I had some sleep to catch up on.

Exploring Považská Bystrica and its Surroundings

Our former colleague met me at the train station when I arrived in Považská Bystrica. The plan was to spend a few hours here as she showed me some of the main sights of her home town. It really is a luxury to have a local guide you around. I would never have seen many of the places I did otherwise.

Považská Bystrica is a city that grew around the large industrial area in the 20th century. There is a much older history before the industrial development, witnessed by ruins of the castle Považský Hrad. The castle was our first long stop as we parked at the foot of the hill. It was not a long climb, but it was still possible to feel it in the legs. The castle ruins are impressive and the view offered from its walls are even more magic. While watching the valley below, formed along the Vah River, it is really possible to imagine the power castles like this once had of its surroundings.

Our second stop for the day was the Manínska Tiesňava, the Manínska Gorge. We parked at the outskirt of the village of Považská Teplá and walked through what is known as the narrowest canyon in Slovakia. There was a festival in the village on this specific day and plenty of people were walking through the gorge. It is actually a very nice walk in nature with the cliffs on both sides of the small road. We walked all the way through to the village of Záskalie, before we turned back to the car.

After the gorge, we visited the center of Považská Bystrica where we picked up supplies for our trip and took a look at the small city center. It was not a center that attracts visitors, which is sad. It is not in any way ugly, just plain boring. But for an outsider, still interesting to see and explore.

Continuing to Martin

Between the Malá Fatra and Veľká Fatra mountains lies the town of Martin. The town played an important role in the establishment of the Slovak nation in the 19th century and the establishment of the national culture at a time when Slovakia was still a part of Austria-Hungary. Our walk through the center took us eventually to the memorial of the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation. The memorandum was a political program defined in 1861 to establish a Slovak cultural institution. Other than that we mostly enjoyed the main pedestrian streets in the center before it was time to head out into the surrounding countryside.

We drove to two nearby watchtowers on the nearby hills. The first one didn’t offer much more than a view of the nearby hills and countryside. The clouds has started to gather and any higher mountain was hidden in the gray skies. The second viewpoint did, however, offer a view of the whole town of Martin in the distance. Yes, very far away, but with a great view of the valley. It had began to get quite a lot colder now as the sun had disappeared completely behind the clouds.

Just a short distance to the east of Martin are the ruins of the Sklabiňa Castle. This became our last stop in the vicinity of Martin. We climbed the hill and were met by a very talkative owner. The castle is open to the public in exchange for a small entrance fee. The owner was more than happy to tell the whole story to my friend in Slovak. I didn’t understand much, but luckily got the big picture explained while we walked around the ruin. Slovakia has hundreds of castles, many ruins like this one. It just let us dream about a time that these castles were active. They must have been an impressive sight.

Evening visit to Ružomberok

We actually had time for one more stop before it got dark. Well, two actually. We drove to the area around the town of Ružomberok. Here we began with visiting the small village of Vlkolínec. The village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and consists of several traditional log houses. The number of them in such a small village do create a fascinating sight. We took a short walk through the village. Yes, it is a quite short walk to walk through the whole village. Unless you decide to get lost along one of the many hiking trails in the area.

From Vlkolínec we continued to the center of Ružomberok. We just wanted to see how it looked and what there was to see. We soon ended up at the Mausoleum of Andrej Hlinka. Well, that is the empty mausoleum. This priest and politician played an important role in the Slovak politics at a time when Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia. We remembered his name from a more horrific part of history. His name was after his death used by the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia during the Second World War. It was used for the Hlinka Guard, a militia connected to the ruling party and an active participant during the Holocaust. The mausoleum was the most interesting sight in a quite sleepy Ružomberok.

A Day in Nižná Boca

It was already dark when we reached the cabin in the small village of Nižná Boca. It wasn’t until the following morning that I got to see where we actually were. This was, however, a rainy day and we spent most of the day inside to stay dry. At around lunch time we decided to head out for a walk. We walked through Nižná Boca and all the way to neighboring Vyšná Boca. Both villages lie in the valley and we walked along the small stream. It is a beautiful scenery with the surrounding mountains. We found a good viewpoint close to a smaller ski slope and got a good view of Vyšná Boca before it was time to walk back to Nižná Boca.

We later also headed to the local restaurant for a late lunch. It was actually quite nice with a simpler restaurant for once. Even the pivovars of Bratislava can be a bit too much sometimes.

An Evening Exploring Liptovský Hrádok

In the evening we headed out to see if we could actually explore something even with the current weather. The viewpoints along the road offered only a few meters of visibility. I’m sure that the view is amazing when the weather is better, but now it was impossible to see anything. Instead, we headed a bit north to the town of Liptovský Hrádok. It was time to see one more castle.

The castle was closed for visitors, but we enjoyed the view from the outside. We climbed up a nearby cliff to get a great view of the castle and its surroundings. Well, we probably saw the whole of Liptovský Hrádok from this small cliff. We continued by driving the short distance to the local arboretum. Not much of the vegetation had began to feel the spring coming yet, so the arboretum itself was quite uneventful. It was a cozy park from which we continued towards the central square before going back to the car.

A Morning Walk Through Liptovský Mikuláš

After a final night at Nižná Boca it was time to continue the trip. I had already booked my train ticket from Liptovský Mikuláš to Košice. All that was left was to get to the train station in the morning. I actually asked my friend to drop me off in the center of Liptovský Mikuláš instead of at the train station. I wanted to see the town before I left and had about 40 minutes to do so. That meant a short walk through the small center of the town on my way to the train station. It was still raining lightly as I slowly walked through the center. It was just to board the train to the east and hope for better weather in Košice.