Skip to content
Mixroutes
Banská Štiavnica
City in Slovakia

Banská Štiavnica

Banská Štiavnica is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano.

Plan a trip to Banská Štiavnica→From Budapest

For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountains. Banská Štiavnica has a population of less than 10,000. The town was an important medieval mining centre. The surviving urban centre was formed during the 16th century. Because of their historical value, the town and its surroundings were proclaimed by the UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site on December 11, 1993.

Get in

Getting to Banská Štiavnica

Buses and trains are about the same price, there are numerous options: Bratislava: By bus: 2 or 3 buses a day, 185 km. By train: Take a quick-train to Hronská Dúbrava (Direction Zvolen), and change there for Banská Štiavnica, 220 km Zvolen: (35 km from Banská Štiavnica): By bus: Direct connection established; By train: Both direct and indirect trains run, for indirect change at Hronská Dúbrava railway station.

See

Worth seeing

The area inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List includes a wide territory surrounding the town of Banská Štiavnica, located in the centre of the Štiavnica Hills. They are the largest volcanic mountain range containing minerals and rock from all the periods of neovolcanism (andesites, rhyolites, rhyodacites, dacites, whinstones, their tuffs and pyroclastics).

  1. 01
    The Holy Trinity Square

    It was built in the early 16th century and it forms the architectural heart of B.

  2. 02
    Town Hall

    This house, built as a single floor building, dates back to the 14th century and it used to host the sessions of the town council.

  3. 03
    The Knocking Tower

    This tower-like building with Renaissance and Baroque features dates back to 1681.

  4. 04
    The Old Castle

    In the early 13th century a Romanesque basilica with three naves was built on a projection shooting off the Paradajz hill - the Church of Saint Mary.

  5. 05
    Glanzenberg
  6. 06
    Church of St

    Its only nave is topped by a star-shaped vaulting.

Do

Things to do

Reservoirs - Artificial Lakes Around Banská Štiavnica. The Banská Štiavnica area is famous now for its unique hydro-system of artificial lakes - reservoirs. Its construction had begun in the early 16th century and lasted until the mid-19th century. The whole system consisted of 60 artificial lakes with the overall capacity of 7 million m³. The reservoirs were connected by ditches.

  1. 01
    Počúvadlianske

    Visited often by locals during summer, with boat rentals, fast-food, camping and hotel (Topka) nearby.

  2. 02
    Veľké Richňavské
  3. 03
    Klinger
  4. 04
    Veľká Vindšachtská

    Veľká Kolpašská Veľká Vodárenská Evička The Slovak mining museum in Banská Štiavnica has locations: Open - Air Mining Museum (Banské múzeum v prírode): 1 km outside the town.

  5. 05
    Kammerhof
Eat

Where to eat

  1. 01
    Monarchia
  2. 02
    Pizzeria na Trojici
  3. 03
    Restaurant Kachelman

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Pudelek (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.