PODBIEL is a typical village lying in the region of Orava (north of Slovakia) with interesting compound of original log houses called Bobrova rala built in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The compound consists of 47 two or three room houses with shingle roofs and original ornamentation. The particular feature of these buildings is the ventilation opening shaped aschalice in the gable of the house.
The fundamental feature of homesteads is opened common yards. In the front part of the yard are two or three houses built in row with the corresponding farm buildings. Individual parcels ends by a perpendicularly situated barn. The log houses with saddle roofs covered by shingles stand on stone foundations.
Some wooden houses of this unique reserve have been restored in the 20th century. They offer an attractive accommodation to visitors.
The water reservoir Orava is the result of artificial blocking of the river Orava in northern Slovakia as the remedy to frequent floods. It spreads as far as the Polish frontier. There is an island in the middle of the reservoir called Slanický ostrov – the favourite destinations of trippers.
The villages Prosiek a Kvačany in region Liptov are generally known as starting points for the trips to the most beautiful and most visited of the Slovak valleys - Prosiecka dolina and Kvačianska dolina.
Roháče are often and justly praised as the most beautiful part of the West Tatras. A crown of wonderful peaks dominated by the majestic Baníkov Mt. surrounds the extensive Roháčska dolina valley. In turn, the Ostrý Roháč and Volovec Mts. are the princes of the Roháče Mts. They form an indivisible couple of slender rock mountains in the principal ridge and look like two devils horns, expressed by their names (Ostrý Roháč means a sharp horn and Volovec means an ox).
The mountain Veľký Choč towering above the dividing line between regions Liptov and Orava is one of the most beautiful in Slovakia. Prevailingly spruce woods cover the mountain and in the highest parts a continuous growth of dwarf pines (unique in this whole mountain range) can be seen. For well-conserved forest bioncenoses with rare flora which in places acquire the nature of virgin forest, it was designated the National Nature Reserve.
The village of Bešeňová is one of the few precious places with occurrence of "freshwater" limestone, so-called travertine. These precious calcite forms arised thanks to mineral contents of water, its temperature and, of course, the surface and structure of the landscape. If you have some free time, come and visit this "forsaken" pit situated to the north of the village.
Passing through the region of Liptov, from Liptovský Mikuláš to Ružomberok, one must notice a huge water area of the dam Liptovská Mara. It is the largest water reservoir in Slovakia in terms of the confined water volume.
AquaRelax is a modern aqua park in Dolný Kubín, outstanding for its unique pyramid architecture. It uses only crystal-clear water in stainless steel pools.
The modern thermal park is built in the wonderful surrounding of Orava, close to the border with Poland. The highly mineralized thermal water, which springs in the depth of more than 1 kilometre, works curing/healing on psychic and stress and is used/utilised in balneotherapy.
Spa Lúčky lying on the limits of regions Liptov and Orava is the one of oldest in Slovakia. It is popular for it provides complete therapy of gynaecological diseases, and it is the only spa in the county specialised in womens diseases.
Spa Lúčky lying on the limits of regions Liptov and Orava is the one of oldest in Slovakia. It is popular for it provides complete therapy of gynaecological diseases, and it is the only spa in the county specialised in womens diseases. Locals know the mineral springs since 1761.
The Tatralandia Holiday Resort is the largest year-round water park with accommodation in all of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. It’s located in the Liptov Region with its many cultural monuments and unique folk culture, and is surrounded by the Low and High Tatras, the Greater and Lesser Fatra and the Choč Mountains.
This fine park, which is located in the beautiful setting of the Choč Mountains overlooking both the Low and Western Tatras, boasts a wide variety of three indoor and thirteen outdoor pools, nine outdoor water slides, a number of children's slides and hot tubs. The resort also features a new pebble beach that includes a nudist area. Relaxation and entertainment for the whole family are provided all year long.
In the vicinity of the distinctive village of Podbiel, with its unique complex of folk-architecture buildings, located in the region surrounding the Orava dam, we can find the precious technical monument Františkova huta (Francis’s Smelting Plant).
The pride of Tvrdošín and its oldest preserved building is the Gothic wooden Roman-Catholic All Saints church (Kostol Všetkých svätých) situated in the local cemetery. In 2008, along with seven wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area, it was included on the UNESCO Word Heritage List.
The most attractive tourist locality of the northern Slovakia is the Orava Castle lying on the river Orava near the village Oravský Podzámok, below impressive cliffs. In 1370, it became a county castle and the seat of the Orava Castle estate, which included almost the whole region of Orava.
The birthplace of the first man to codify the literary Slovak - Anton Bernolák -disappeared under the level of the Oravská priehrada dam. A church was the only building to remain of the village. It stands on the Slanický ostrov island. A memorial was built there to commemorate its famous native.
Permanent expositions of the traditional folk art from the collections of the Orava Gallery (Oravská galéria) have been located in the beautiful natural scenery of Slanica Island of Art, in the centre of the Oravská priehrada dam.
Experts classify water mills in the valley Kvačianska dolina among the mountain type of mills. They stand in what is often referred to as a most beautiful Slovak valleys, in the mountain range Chočské vrchy. This is one of the last surviving monuments of its kind and in its natural environment.
The Late Gothic wooden church of St Elizabeth is the dominant structure in the Museum of the Orava village - open air museum situated only 3 kilometres away of Zuberec near Brestová. It stands in cemetery in the middle of wonderful mountain scenery. The church was originally built in the 19th century and moved here in the 20th century from village Zábrež.
Three kilometres away from Zuberec, at Brestová, a unique open-air Museum of the Orava Village (Múzeum oravskej dediny) can be visited. Over an area of about 20 hectares, and on both sides of the crystal clean Studený potok brook, is a village containing the typical folk buildings moved here from various regions of Orava.
The wooden articled Evangelical church of 1688 with wooden belfry was included in 2008, along with seven wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area, on the UNESCO Word Heritage List.
