SLOVAKIA

Location: 

The Slovak Republic lies in the Central Europe. The country geography is characteristic with major differences in the height above sea. The central and northern Slovakia is a mountainous region - the Carpathian Mountains cross this area. The southern and eastern Slovakia is a lowland region, being an important agricultural area of the country. The Danube River connects Slovakia with Vienna, the Rhine-Main channel, and harbours at the Black sea.

The Capital:                            Bratislava (population: 428 672) (31. 12. 2007)

Area:                                      49.035 sq. km (18.933 sq. miles)

Population:                             5.400.998 (population census in 2007)

Official language:                  Slovak

Common foreign language:   Czech, German, English, Russian, Hungarian (on the south of country)

Monetary unit:                       Euro (EUR)

                                               1 EUR = 100 Cent 

                                               Banknotes: 500, 200,  100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 EUR

                                               Coins: 2, 1 EUR and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Cent

                                               Nationalbank of Slovakia (NBS) www.nbs.sk

Electricity:                             230 V/50 Hz, two-pole socket with safety pin

Membership in internation organization:  EU (till 1. Maj 2004), NATO, OSN, UNESCO, OECD, OBSE, CERN, WHO, INTERPOL, ect.

Schengen: Mitglied den Schengenraum (till 21. 12. 2007)

Biggest Cities (population): Bratislava: 452 288; Kosice: 240 915,

Presov: 92 687; Nitra: 87 357; Zilina: 86 685; Banska Bystrica: 84 919

Districts:8 districts (Bratislavsky, Trnavsky, Trenciansky,  Nitriansky, Zilinsky, Banskobystricky, Presovsky, Kosicky)

Borders: Hungary (679 km), Poland (597.5 km), Czech Republic (265 km), Austria (127.2 km), Ukraine (98 km)

Elevation above sea level: 95 m (Bodrog) – 2656 m (Gerlach)

Nationalities: Slovak (85.4 %), Hungarian (9.5 %), Romany (1.9 %), Czech (0.9 %), Ruthenian (0.4 %), Ukrainian (0.2 %), German (0.1 %), Polish (0.1 %), Other (1.5 %)

Religion: Roman-Catholic (68.9 %), Greek-Catholic (3.4%), Protestant (6.2%), Reformist (1.6%), Orthodox (0.6%), Without any confession (9.7%), No data (18.2%)

Climate: 

The Slovak Republic lies in the mild zone with continental climate, with distinctive rotation of seasons. The average daily temperature is -2 °C in winter, 21 °C in summer. The coldest month is January, the warmest months are July and August. In average, the snow keeps up in the highest locations 130 days a year.

PRACTIC INFORMATION

Time Zone: 1 hr ahead of GMT, the summer time which lasts from March to October is 2 hrs ahead of GMT, as in all European countries.

Telephone: Direct international telephone calls can be made to many

countries in the world. IDD is available. Country code of Slovakia is +421

and number of town (for example Bratislava 2). Outgoing international code:

00+the code of the appropriate state + area code + telephone/fax number.

Important telephone numbers:

SOS, tiesòové volanie                                  112

Police                                                        112

Medical emergency                                      112, 16 155

Fire emergency                                           112

Road emergency (ASA Slovakia)                    18 124

Slovakia Information service                         1181

International telephone information service     12 149

National and public holidays:

1. January          New Year’s Day, Establishment of the Slovak Republic

6. January          Three Magi, Othodox Christmas

April                  Good Friday

April                  Easter Monaday

1. May              May Day

8. May              Victory day / The End of the second World War

5. July               The Holiday of the Constatntinus and Methodus

29. August         The Anniversary of the Slovak Nation Uprising

1. September     The Day of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic

15. September   Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows

1. November      All Saints‘ Day

17. november     The Day of  Figth for Freedom and Democracy

24. December    Christmas Eve

25. December    The First Christmas Holiday

26. December    The Second Christmas Holiday

Travellers cheques:

Thomas Cook, American Express and Visa travellers cheques are accepted in most major banks (VÚB, TatraBanka, Slovenska Sporitelna) and at bureaux de change. Exchange rate charges are at least 1% of the nominal cheque value. To avoid additional charges, travellers are advised to take travellers cheques in US Dollars or Pounds Sterling.

VISAS:

Vísas are required by everybody except:

a)       Citizens of EU,

b)       Citizens of Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia,

           Brazil, Brunej, Bulgaria, Guatemala, Honduras, Hongkong, Chile, 

           Croatia, Israel, Japan, Canada, Republik of Korea., Malaysia,

           Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamy, Paraguay, Romania, Salvador,

           Uruguay, USA a Venezuela until 90 days

c)       Citizens  of Monaco, New Zeland until 3 months

d)       Citizens of  San Marino and Vatikan until 30 days

Duty-free items allowed to be brought by the travellers to Slovakia:

Tobacco products:

1.       25 cigarettes

2.       5 cigars

3.       10 cigarillos

4.       25g tobacco

5.       or a combination in the respective amount

Alcoholic beverages:

1.       0,25 l of spirits and liquors

2.       0,5 l of spirits, liquors  and aperitives

3.       or a combination in the respective amount

Onother item in the case that an amount will not over 20 EUR.

Accommodation:

There are more than 2500 hotels in Slovakia (hotel guide- www.travelguide.sk), the hotel typ creats 470 and the number of private lodging facilities is increasing. The hotels are classified in accordance Slovak low standards with the international standards from one-star to five-star - according to their equipment and services offered.

Tourists may also stay in private lodgings, guesthouses, quarters and camps. There are many small villages in the mountains and below, with well-equipped family houses, partly serving as lodgings for tourists. In holiday resorts there are many individual cottages to rent.

Shopping - opening hours:

Most shops are open on Mondays-Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.,the bif shoping houses and shoping centres are opend in Thusday and Friday until 7, 00 or 9,00 p.m.The shops are opened in Saturday since 9,00 a.m to 1,00 p.m. Shops ne tas a TESCO, Carrefour, Billa and onother are opend in Saturday and Sunday. The hypermarkets TESCO (Banska Bystrica, Bratislava, Kosice, Nitra, Trnava) are opened 24 hours non-stop. Basic food can be bought in smaller shops (Veèierka) open seven days a week and also during the nights.

Gastronomy:

Europian kontinental cuisine is served as well as regional and neighbouring country specialities. The are meny variety of choisies in Bratislava within franch cuisine, systhem of swedish table on highest level in luxurius hotels, there are many pizzerias, china, india, juwish or arabic cuisine. Motorests and motorway restaurants present all kinds of regional specialities - from Slovak cooking in the north of the country to Hungarian and fish meals in the Danubian region in the southern part of the country.