Stará Turá: Hiking, Museums and Slovak History

Stará Turá combines short hiking experiences with a remarkably diverse cultural history. From here, you can follow a yellow-marked trail from the railway station to Holubyho chata on Veľká Javorina or choose an easy educational trail with information about nature. At the same time, the town museum, railway museum, churches and Calvaries lead into different chapters of regional history. Stará Turá is therefore suitable for a stay where nature, local history and tangible discoveries stand side by side.

Hiking Trails with Different Levels of Difficulty

A longer hiking option starts at Stará Turá railway station: The yellow-marked trail leads to Holubyho chata on Veľká Javorina in approximately 3.5 hours. The station continues to serve as a railway stop and is therefore also a clearly identified starting point for this route.

Less extensive is the Drgoňova–Durcova dolina educational trail. It is 4.9 km long, has an elevation gain of 100 m, takes approximately 1.5 hours and includes four stations or information boards. The route is considered easy and is also suitable for families with small children. This gives visitors to Stará Turá a choice between a longer hiking destination and a short, informative trail with a distinctly different character.

Pavúkov jarok Natural Area

The Pavúkov jarok protected area is part of the natural profile. It covers 22.49 ha, belongs to the European Natura 2000 network of protected areas and is subject to the fourth level of protection. It protects floodplain meadows and relatively well-preserved riparian vegetation with rich populations of Maculinea butterflies. The name Maculinea refers to a group of butterflies whose presence is among the specifically stated conservation features of the area.

Churches, Tower and Calvary

One of the notable buildings is Stará veža, also known as Husitská. It is the oldest surviving building in Stará Turá and a three-storey stone tower. The Tolerance Evangelical Church combines classical elements with a baroque influence; it has galleries on three sides. The church also contains an organ made in 1873, which is listed as a protected monument. Regarding the church tower, it is recorded that a tower was probably added to the church in 1624.

The Calvary of Stará Turá is located in the Roman Catholic Drahý Cemetery. Its access path is lined with fourteen Stations of the Cross. The Calvary complex includes the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a Neo-Gothic building with a semicircular end. These places add another religious and architectural layer to the townscape without needing to be treated as a single building complex.

Museums of History, Technology and Literature

The Stará Turá Town Museum displays fossils, remains of Quaternary mammals and archaeological finds from the Stone and Bronze Ages. Its ethnographic section focuses on the development of crafts, guilds, trade and businesses in Stará Turá. At the Railway Museum, you can try out a Morse apparatus, look at old timetables and learn more about railway operations in past decades. Another exhibition is dedicated to the Veselí nad Moravou–Nové Mesto nad Váhom railway line and the surrounding branch lines.

The Roy Sisters Museum covers literary and music studies as well as the social and spiritual work of Mária and Kristína Royová. Visits can be arranged in advance by telephone or email. This distinguishes the museum from the offerings of the town and railway museums, which are explicitly described as exhibitions.

Crafts and the Bryndza Tradition

Craft markets and events have become a tradition in Stará Turá. The Javorina Cultural Centre organizes four craft events every year, in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Slovakia’s bryndza history is also connected with the town: Ján Vagač, a butcher and merchant from Stará Turá, founded Slovakia’s first commercial bryndza dairy in Detva in 1787. According to local tradition, the first bryndza producers in Slovakia came from Stará Turá.

If you would like to compare Stará Turá with other places, you can also find Horná Streda, Kálnica, Hrachovište, Višňové, Trenčianske Bohuslavice, Beckov, Hrádok and Bzince Pod Javorinou.

For the broader travel overview: Nové Mesto nad Váhom District.