Banská Bystrica



Banská Bystrica is a city in Central Slovakia.

Understand
Banská Bystrica is in central Slovakia between the national parks Great Fatra and Low Tatras (north of the city), the national park Poľana (east of the city), and the Štiavnické Vrchy (southwest of the city). Banská Bystrica is the capital of Banská Bystrica region (kraj) and the department (okres) of the same name. It has approximately 78,000 inhabitants.

By plane
Banská Bystrica is serviced by The airport is 15 km from Banská Bystrica, however, there are no regular passenger flights, only charters.

The closest international airports are Budapest (200 km), Bratislava (205 km) and Vienna (260 km).

If you are flying from Vienna, work out the connections well. A mid-afternoon flight from Vienna (at about 15:00) probably involves leaving Banská Bystrica on the 06:27 train or a bus between 07:00 and 08:00. It is also possible to take the 08:27 train to Bratislava and reach Vienna airport for a mid-afternoon flight, but this leaves little time buffer.

Transport to Budapest is relatively complicated with no direct bus or train. As of summer 2015, it was not possible to make it with less than 2 transfers (significantly bypassing the shortest route).

By train
There are train connections from the major Slovak cities. Banská Bystrica can also be reached from Vienna, Budapest, Poland and the Czech Republic (direct train). The city is not served well in the evening. Plan your connections from Bratislava carefully, as there are no trains between 18:01 and 23:49 (the midnight train arrives at 05:19, with the train stopping in Zvolen at 02:57, with a long wait -- to 04:47 -- for a local train to Banská Bystrica). Many of the trains from Bratislava have Wi-Fi.

There are two stations:

By bus
There are bus connections to all major Slovak cities, and international routes to Vienna, Czech Republic and many other cities in Western Europe. Buses from Bratislava cost around €9.50 (RegioJet buses cost €5). As of mid-2015, the last bus leaves Bratislava for Banská Bystrica at 20:35, so be careful about connections if booking flights to Bratislava airport or to Vienna airport.

By car
Banská Bystrica has road connections from all major Slovak cities. It can be reached from Bratislava (210 km) via highway R1. Banská Bystrica also has road connections from: Ruzomberok (52 km) road 59/E77, Martin (59 km) road 65, Zvolen (19 km) road R1/E77. From Zvolen it is possible to continue further south by E77 to Sahy (70 km - Hungarian border) and Budapest (160 km).

Get around
Banská Bystrica is a walkable city and all the main sights can be reached by foot in 15 minutes.

Public transport
Public transport is useful if staying outside the city center or for trips around the city. It consists of buses and trolleybuses and a single trip costs €0.70 (as of mid-2015). Regional buses from the main bus station (or adjacent "Parkovisko Mičinská" stop) service surrounding villages for a slightly higher price. For more information and current schedules visit this page.

Taxi
Due to increased competition (triggered by complete absence of public transport over night), prices of taxi in Banská Bystrica have plummeted to flat rate of around €3-4 per trip anywhere inside the city (trips outside the city are charged per km). With the official city area being quite large, it makes taxi really convenient transport option.

See
Banská Bystrica has a beautiful position between the mountains. Therefore, it's a popular summer and winter resort. The heart of the old city is the SNP square (Námestie SNP) which dates back to the 13th century. You can find a lot of renaissance and jugendstil buildings here. These sights include:

Out of the main square:

Do
Two big parks for relaxation near city center are available:


 * Football: FK Dukla Banská Bystrica play soccer in 1. Liga, the top tier. Their home ground Národný Atletický Štadión (capacity 7300) is 2 km west of town centre.
 * Football: FK Dukla Banská Bystrica play soccer in 1. Liga, the top tier. Their home ground Národný Atletický Štadión (capacity 7300) is 2 km west of town centre.
 * Football: FK Dukla Banská Bystrica play soccer in 1. Liga, the top tier. Their home ground Národný Atletický Štadión (capacity 7300) is 2 km west of town centre.
 * Football: FK Dukla Banská Bystrica play soccer in 1. Liga, the top tier. Their home ground Národný Atletický Štadión (capacity 7300) is 2 km west of town centre.

Cycling
Surrounding of Banská Bystrica is great for cycling sport (cross, mountain). You can do many cycling trips according to your preferences. Villages around the town are connected by asphalt roads. In the countryside and mountains there are many paved or gravel roads used for forestry in the past but now used mainly for trekking and cycling. Treks for cycling are not marked very well but the situation is improving as cycling is becoming very popular sport among locals. For more information visit cyklobb.sk There are very useful information about cycling treks including length, profile, directions, photos, eating opportunities. Unfortunately, page is available only in Slovak language but it is very intuitive and you can use google translator. During summer weekends and holidays there are also regular bus services for cyclists with bikes to 3 cycling destinations (Malý Šturec, Harmanecká jaskyňa, Donovaly).

Drink
At the central square in the city several small bars serve beer and other drinks and dishes.



Go next

 * Liptov area is an hour-drive away.
 * Great Fatra and Low Tatras are very near.
 * Zvolen and Banská Štiavnica are similar cities.

Banská Bystrica