Slovak Karst National Park

Slovak Karst National Park (Slovenský kras) is in Eastern Slovakia. Known for its caves, together with the Aggtelek cave systems they make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst".

Understand
The main attraction of the park are the caves, of which more than 700 have been discovered here and in Aggtelek on the Hungarian side of the border. The park is made up of three parts.

Landscape
The plains (plateaus) have many karst formations, such as karst pits with diameters of up to 250 m and depths of about 45 m, conical hills, blind and half-blind valley and dales. The subterranean karst is known for its deep vertical abysses, such as:
 * Čertova diera – literally Devil's Hole, depth 186 m
 * Brázda – depth 181 m
 * Malá železná priepasť – Little Iron Abyss, 142 m
 * Diviačia priepasť – Boar Abyss, 122 m

Some of the abysses are collapsed, especially the Silická ľadnica (Silica Ice Abyss, 110 m)

Get in
Towns and villages can be accessed by bus or train from Košice and Rožňava.

Get around
While the hills are not too high (600–800 m), the hiking can be demanding—especially in terms of orientation. There are not too many of water sources or villages around, and the signage is not ideal. Use OsmAnd or Mapy.cz, which use OpenStreetMap and seem to have good coverage of the area's hiking trails.

Caves
Thanks to the nature of the park, there are many caves and other similar nature features present. Open to visitors are the following caves:



Smaller caves:



Eat
Possibilities to eat around the park are mostly limited to restaurants around the main roads and in the villages/cities.

A somewhat underwhelming hut with basic food (soup, beer and some snacks) is about 3 km up the Zádielska valley, open on weekends during the tourist season.

Go next

 * Slovak Paradise National Park
 * Aggtelek
 * Rožňava
 * Betliar
 * Krásnohorské Podhradie
 * Jasov
 * Turňa nad Bodvou