The 10 Best Things to do Good for Kids in Banska Bystrica Region, Slovakia

City Game is an adventure activity for groups of 2-5 people (more teams can play at once). You fulfill a mission in the center of Banska Stiavnica and encounter a lot of entertaining and original tasks. As a bonus, you find out interesting facts and myths about places on the route so you can try it also as an interactive city tour. The game has two versions - Silver (basic) and Gold (longer).

The only LOVE BANK in the world is a unique place where people from around the world store their symbolic keepsakes of love, friendship or another special moment of happiness. LOVE BANK - is inspired by the true love story between Marína and Sládkovič - is created from the verses of the World's longest love poem - consists of 100 000 Security Boxes You can find the only LOVE BANK in the world in the basement of the house that is a part of 500-year-old gold mine. It is the house where Marína Pischlová lived for the most of her life. This house is a building of national and cultural significance as well as being part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The clock tower, also known as the green, weigh officeand lately also as the leaning tower, stands on the upper end of the Námestie SNP square in Banská Bystrica. It is one of the dominating features forming the outline of the historical centre of the town. Initially, the tower had also another purpose besides the one of the clock support - that of the watch tower. From the tower people could communicate with other watch towers on Vartovka and on Šachtičky, from where they were notified of any potential danger threatening the town. There used to live buglers in the tower, who in case of a fire went to the tower gallery and sounded the bugle alarm. The clock tower also used to be referred to as the weigh office tower, as it stood next to the town weigh officebuilding. Below the clock tower, there were the town torture chamber and prison. Since its construction, the tower has burnt out several times and undergone several modifications and changes. Since the start of the 20th century the tower has been leaning from the center line, which is visible even with the naked eye. At present the tower is leaning by as much as 68 cm. An old legend also provides an explanation as to why the tower is leaning: It was tilted by angels who crashed and seized its top while flying over its roof at night. Currently, the clock tower is open to the public, you can get to its top using the wooden staircase with 101 steps and from the tower gallery you will have a beautiful view of the cityscape of the whole square under your feet and the distant summits of the Kremnické vrchy Mts., or the Low Tatras.

The Old Castle - whose origins reach back to the early 13th century - is a review of all existing architectural styles by itself . Originally an Romanesque Chapel of St. Michal built by the community of miners was in the period of Turkish invasion in the 16th century fortified with walls, bastions and towers – and from that time it was used for military purposes. In modern times Old castle was used as a police station, an ice – stock, a town’s archive and library even as a gym! A museum since 1900 offers archaeological exhibition, exhibitions of tobacco pipes manufacture (a famous craft of Banska Stiavnica), blacksmithing, Baroque sculptures, old interior watches, torture devices, gun dartboards, exhibitions “The miners are coming”, “Calvary in exile” and more. The baroques tower offers magnificent view of the city.

Centuries of mining brought intensive use of wood and surrounding forests came to its limits. This - among aesthetical values - was the reason why the Botanical garden was established in 1838 on the ground of Mining Academy. Would exotic plants adapt and grow fast enough in Middle Europe climate? More than 250 different kinds of domestic and exotic plants make the scenery. Lean on our Giant Sequoia or Lebanese Cedar to refuel energy or just sit on the bench and relax.

The baroque-classicist manor house in Svaty Anton (St. Anton) was built at the route connecting Southern Balkan with Cracow and northern Baltic Sea. Inspired by the symbolic of the calendar, the building has 4 entrances, 7 arcades, 12 chimneys, 52 rooms and 365 windows. A number of famous European architects and artists participated in its building and decorating. The Kohary and Coburg families made an essential contribution to the history of the manor house. Here, they concentrated beautiful pieces of furniture, artwork and crafts from all around the world. Elderly people in the village still remember its last user - Bulgarian Tsar (emperor) Ferdinand Coburg, who lived here in exile until 1944. The manor house is a museum of art, history and hunting.

The Pocuvadlo Lake surface mirrors the Sitno Hill since the 18th century. Pocuvadlo is the largest lake in Stiavnica´s water system and one of the most visited natural sites in general. It is popular for romantic walks in the nature, sailing, water biking, swimming in summer and little animal farm loved by children. Pocuvadlo is also the starting point for climbing the mythical Sitno Hill. The legend says, that inside the Sitno hill there are mighty Slovak knights sleeping for thousands of years. When Slovaks got in real trouble, knights will wake up. In fact, Sitno hill was inhabited already in prehistoric times, and a stone castle stands here since the 13th century. The castle played an important role in the provincial defence system and defeated Turkish troops more times. Preserved ruins of the castle are open for visitors; moreover at the very top of the hill you can visit a stone watchtower, supposedly the first in Europe. The landscape around is a mosaic of forests, meadows and pastures with many rare plants and animals. The cliffs at the top of the hill offer a panoramic view, under good visibility the Slovak Tatra and the Hungarian Matra Mountains can be seen.