Spišská Nová Ves District: Slovak Paradise, cycling routes and culture

Spišská Nová Ves District combines Slovak Paradise National Park with marked hiking and cycling trails, historic sites and museums. The national park extends into the district and is the only large protected area there. This gives you a variety of reasons to travel here: trails through the landscape, a cycling loop starting and ending in Spišská Nová Ves, and cultural attractions ranging from medieval history to railways.

Hiking in Slovak Paradise

Slovak Paradise has 268.2 kilometres of marked hiking trails. In addition, 13 educational trails run through the area; together, they cover almost 89 kilometres. This distinction is useful when choosing your activity: you can choose between classic marked trails and educational trails that focus on interpreting the landscape.

Historic sites in the national park include the restored remains of a Carthusian monastery from the 14th century in Kláštorisko. The Múzeum Spiša also highlights the region's natural environment: its natural history exhibition focuses on plants and animals that can be encountered on walks in this area.

Cycling between the national park and the towns

Cyclists have 110 kilometres of marked cycling routes in Slovak Paradise and its buffer zone. Of these, 65 kilometres run through the national park and 45 kilometres through the buffer zone. One specific loop is the 74-kilometre cycling route around Slovak Paradise. It starts and ends in Spišská Nová Ves; the bus station, railway station and car park are listed as starting and finishing points.

The marked Spišská cyklomagistrála connects Hrabušice, Spišské Tomášovce, Smižany, Spišská Nová Ves and Markušovce, then continues towards Spiš Castle and Kežmarok. A second connection, the Hnilecká cyklomagistrála, runs via Mlynky, Hnilec and Nálepkovo.

Culture between the town hall, monastery and railway

The district has more than 1,560 registered movable and immovable cultural monuments. Three heritage zones are located in Spišská Nová Ves, Spišské Vlachy and Markušovce. In Spišská Nová Ves, the Múzeum Spiša has been housed since 1954 in a historic building that was formerly the medieval town hall. There are branch locations with exhibitions in Markušovce and Smižany.

The permanent exhibition of the ethnographic museum in Smižany presents the folk culture of the central and lower Spiš region from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its focus is on textiles, clothing and their production. The Spiš Artists Gallery offers a different perspective on regional history: it is housed in a historic burgher house in the centre of Spišská Nová Ves, whose history dates back to the second half of the 16th century, and presents 1,898 works of art in three permanent exhibitions.

At the Roman Catholic Parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, you can climb 155 steps to the 87-metre-high tower top. From there, you can see Spišská Nová Ves, the surrounding area and the panorama of the High Tatras. The Railway Exposition complements the cultural offerings with a model railway, train models, opportunities to try driving a locomotive and performing the duties of a train dispatcher. It also features a railway communication system, visual materials and historical memories of the Košice–Bohumín railway line.

In Krompachy stands the railway blast furnace, known as “maša”, dating from 1831. Spišské divadlo has operated under this name in the Reduta building since 1992 and has a history spanning more than 40 years.

Events and a selection of regional towns and villages

Spišský trh is a four-day event based on the market tradition of Spišská Nová Ves, which dates back to 6 December 1380. Fairground food is part of the event experience. Dni mesta Spišská Nová Ves takes place annually at the end of summer and includes a folk crafts market with almost 100 stalls.

For further orientation around the area, the following destinations are available: Harichovce, Slovinky, Arnutovce, Poráč, Betlanovce, Odorín, Jamnik, Spišské Vlachy, Teplička, Rudňany, Matejovce Nad Hornádom, Hnilcik and Letanovce.

For the broader travel overview: Košice.