Dripstone caves, a dry gorge, and a very large castle
Caves under the fields and a castle above them: reserve a five night stay in the Slovak Karst
The Slovak Karst is the second half of the Carpathian ridge line, five nights on a limestone plateau of caves, dry gorges and the hill fort above Spis. From $1,330 per person, two sharing a double room. The season runs from late April, when the caves open, to the end of October. The move in is marked 4: a night spent in transit.
Reserve this with the officeNothing is charged here. The form stays open at any hour and a person writes back inside one working day.
A limestone plateau under a castle ruin
The Slovak Karst is a block of limestone plateaus in the south east of the country, cut on its northern edge by the Zadiel gorge, where the walls stand about three hundred metres apart and a good deal less than that in places. Water has been working through the rock for a very long time, so the ground is hollow underneath you. Domica runs south toward the Hungarian side, Gombasek has thin soda straws hanging from its roof, and the aragonite chamber at Ochtina is small enough that visitors go in a dozen at a time. North of the plateau sits Spis, a hill fort of about four hectares, roofless since a fire in 1780. Between the two you cross ordinary farming country: sheep, maize, and a road that keeps bending around sinkholes.
What five days here are made of
Two of the five days go underground, and they are not strenuous: a guided walk of a kilometre or so on made paths, at about nine degrees, with a jumper on. One day is the gorge, roughly eight kilometres in and back along the stream bed, with scree underfoot in two places and a short scramble at the far end that you can leave alone. One day is the castle hill and the small stone town below it, which takes most of a morning to climb and look at properly, leaving the afternoon for the church at Zehra and its wall paintings. The fifth day is unallocated on purpose. People spend it on the aragonite chamber, which needs a fixed entry time, or on nothing at all in the village.
Arriving overnight, and what it costs you
This segment carries a move mark of 4, which on this site means a night in transit. Coming off the first half of the line, the ridge is in the way and the road around it is long, so the leg is run in the dark: you board in the evening, sleep on the move, and are set down on the plateau after first light. What you lose is a night in a bed, not a day of the segment. If you take the Slovak Karst on its own rather than after the Tatra foothills, the same leg can be run in daylight from the nearest city and takes most of a day instead. The operator holds the ground arrangements. This office keeps clear of aircraft and shipping altogether, and holds a contract with no carrier.
Inside the figure and outside it
From $1,330 per person, two sharing a double room, in US dollars. Inside it: five nights in small guest houses and one family run inn, breakfast every morning, the cave and castle entries named above, the local guide who takes the underground days, and every ground move once you are on the plateau, including the overnight leg in. Outside it: getting to the country in the first place, which is your own booking and not one this office makes; lunches and dinners, which run about fifteen to twenty five dollars a head in the villages; the single room difference, which the operator quotes on request; and anything you would insure, since this office sells no insurance and gives none of the advice that goes with it. The operator bills you directly, in its own name.
| Nights | 5 |
|---|---|
| From | $1,330 per person, two sharing |
| Move into it | a night in transit |
| Part of | Carpathian ridge |
| Taken alone | Yes. Nothing obliges you to take the rest of the line. |
| Inside the figure | Rooms, the ground arrangements named on this page, and the local operating company's own charges. |
| Outside the figure | Getting to the country, meals not named above, anything personal, and anything you add later. |
Asked before people commit
Can I pay you a deposit to hold the dates?
No. This office takes no payment and holds no card details, so it has nothing to hold the dates with. It lodges the reservation with whichever company operates the days, and that company bills you directly, in its own name, on its own terms. What it pays this office afterwards is a commission from it, never a charge to you. If anyone asks you for card details in this office's name, it is not this office.
Is the aragonite chamber certain to be open on my dates?
No, and nobody can honestly say otherwise. That chamber takes a small number of visitors a day, closes for conservation without much warning, and can shut on humidity readings alone. The reservation asks for a time slot and the operator tells you within a few days whether it was given. If it was not, the day goes to the gorge rim instead, and the figure does not change.
How hard is the underground walking, really?
Concrete or gravel paths, handrails on the stairs, and between one hundred and three hundred steps depending on which cave. The air sits near nine degrees all year and the floors stay wet, so grip matters more than fitness. If steps are a problem, say so when you write. Two of the underground days can be swapped for the gorge rim path and the castle, and the operator rebuilds the week without a fee.
Segment 2 of 2 on Carpathian ridge
You can take this segment on its own and leave the rest of the line alone. Nothing here obliges you to walk the whole thing, and the figure for one piece is the figure for one piece.
Reserve one segment, or a whole line
This form is open at any hour, and whatever reaches it is read by a person who answers inside one working day. Nothing you send commits you, and no figure is charged at this end at any point.