How to get to and Around Slovakia:

Please feel free to add helpful connections ect.

Travel

Getting to Slovakia
Getting to Zvolen
Hitch hiking in Slovakia
Car Sharing

If you dont find the direct connection from your country to Bratislava, you can travel to Vienna (1,5 hour to Bratislava) or to Prague (4,5hour to Bratislava). From these cities there are quite frequent bus and train connections to Bratislava. If you are traveling via Ukraine look for the connection to Košice.

This website has a lot of information on how to get to Slovakia: www.slovakia.com/travel/

Information about trains and buses is provided at e.g. :www.vlak-bus.cz

Page with usefull travell info: CheapTravel

About travel reimbursement and Eyfas flying policy., We do not support flying to ecotopia, or general: TravelReimbursement

From all the three biggest cities in Slovakia (Bratislava, Košice, Banská Bystrica) there is a direct connection to Zvolen. From Bratislava and Košice there are direct busses at least ones a day, from Banská Bystrica (city very near to Zvolen) there is very frequent direct bus. All of the connections you can find on the web http://www.cp.sk. Problem is that this web is in Slovak, so here is some help with translation:

Odkiaľ = from

Kam = to

Cez = via

Dátum = date

Čas = time

Odchod = departure

Príchod = arrival

Bez prestupov = direct

S max. množstvom prestupov = max. number of interchanges

Vyhľadať = search

Attention Always look for the direct connection first, otherwise system could give you more complicated connection first.

There are direct roads from Bratislava and Košice to Zvolen. In Bratislava you can start hitchhiking in Zlate piesky (tram no.2 or 4 end station). In Košice you can start in Moldavská cesta after roundabout.

Hitchhiking in the Slovak language is called 'autostop' and to hitch a ride is to 'stopovat'. The hitchhiker is 'stopar'. It is, mostly among younger people, one of the most popular ways of traveling in the country or discovering other places in Europe.

Random hitchhiking, as a rule does not involve financial compensation. If the journey is a longer one, the hitchhiker should ask the driver, whether he would like a payment for his kindness. Most drivers, however, are happy to have a companion for the trip and don't ask for anything more.

Hitchhiking in Slovakia is relatively safe. Of course, one has to follow the commonsense rules: to be careful, to take note of the registration number of the car, not to get in a car if the driver or any of the passengers look strange, etc. Just the same rules as in any other European country apply. Although there are odd cases of violence involving hitchhikers, the numbers are very few considering the number of happy hitchhikers who got to their destination safely.

Of course, young couples with backpacks on sunny days on well frequented roads have much better chance to stop a car than individuals on dark, lonely stretches of highway.

The customery signal for a hitchhiker to use is a slightly raised straight hand with a raised thumb and closed fist.

If you are on a busier road or plan to travel to a more distant location, it is advisable to write the destination on a sheet of paper or cardboard. For foreign destinations, use 'WIEN' for Vienna and 'PRAHA' for Prague. Inside Slovakia, two-letters code of the district is usually the best way to communicate. The codes for the ten largest cities are the following:

On local roads, you will be probably happy to get to the nearest larger town, so no identification of the destination is necessary.

For those that come by car , it might be interesting to list themselves on a ( yet to be created? ) Forum , or by adding where and when they leave - and what route they take , on this wiki page : CarSharing ( and/or do we also use the Mailing List for this ? )

HowtogotoSlovakia (last edited 2008-04-26 16:28:10 by localhost)