Are you wondering which is the better travel destination, Slovenia vs Slovakia? We’ve explored both thoroughly as tourists. Read on to see which we liked better, and why!

Welcome to the second round of our ill-advised pursuit of comparing two countries and figuring out which is best for travellers. Last time we tackled the Croatia or Italy question. This time it’s Slovenia vs Slovakia. (Or is that Slovakia vs Slovenia?) Which country will reign supreme and which country will be left in the dust?

If you do decide to visit you can find the best hotels in Ljubljana, Slovenia or book accommodation in Bratislava, Slovakia!

Read on to enjoy the fun of…

Slovenia vs Slovakia: A Guide to Choosing the Best Country for Travel

Among the relatively few people who have actually heard of them, Slovenia and Slovakia are often confused for each other.

Both are small, Central European, mostly landlocked countries that start with “Slov”. Neither is a well known tourist destination. Both wrestled with dictators and communist rulers after WW2 and both became independent republics in the early 90s. Both joined the EU in 2004 and both use the Euro. These are two tiny young countries, still finding their feet among their larger and more powerful neighbours.

You might think the question of Slovenia vs Slovakia might just end in “What’s the difference?”.

You’d be wrong.

So, to give you some idea of what to expect should you choose to visit Slovenia or Slovakia, here are two travellers opinions, based on our travels in two complicated countries.

Slovenia vs Slovakia: Which Has Better Food?

Having just been bored to death by the limited vegetarian menu in Croatia, Slovenia offered us some much-needed variety food-wise, with soups, salads, and other delights making a comeback. However, we did eat the world’s worst pizza on our first night there.

We saw the first ‘ethnic’ restaurants of our trip in Slovenia, too. There were Chinese and Mexican restaurants in most towns, though the one Mexican meal we had was baaad. In Ljubljana, we ate great Japanese and Indian food, which was a welcome change for our palates.

We also discovered the joys of Mercator and InterSpar, huge American-style grocery stores that stocked everything from peanut butter, to seitan, to almond milk. There were also health food stores almost everywhere we went, so we were also able to cook our own meals.

Bakeries are not abundant in Slovenia, and when they were available, the quality was just not great. Bread is better than it is in the US and Britain, but the sweets tend to be heavier, doughier, and undercooked.

There was a trend towards filling turnovers with walnut paste or poppy seed paste, which we decided made them healthy!

In Slovakia, bakeries seem to vanish altogether. We didn’t see a single bakery until the last day we were in the country. Cafes were also pretty hard to find, but bars were a dime-a-dozen, and people seemed to drink in the morning as much as any other time.

There are giant Tesco stores everywhere in Slovakia, and the in-store bakeries are not too shabby (for a supermarket bakery). We were also happy to see tofu available in even the tiniest grocery stores in Slovakia. In addition, they sold little tubes of soya-based paté, in about 6 different flavours, which were… weird, but did pretty well in a sandwich.

Restaurant meals mostly consisted of potato pasta with cheese sauce, pirohy filled with cheese and potato, or deep-fried slices of cheese with, you guessed it, potatoes.

This was a little stodgy even for hungry cyclists, so we tended to avoid restaurants and cooked our own food. Specialty tea houses started making an appearance in the bigger towns (at least in the mountains). They all had tea menus that went on for days, and we drank some of the best spiced chai of our lives in Banska Stiavinica.

I wouldn’t say either country is a huge winner food-wise – definitely not the great sole reason to venture to either Slovenia or Slovakia.

Slovenia vs Slovakia: Which Has the Best Accommodation?

If you’re considering visiting Slovakia or Slovenia chances are you’ll be spending more than one day and you’ll need somewhere to sleep. “How do the two countries compare when it comes to accommodation?”, you ask? Well, I’m glad you did…

In Slovenia, we found ourselves planning ahead a little more, to ensure we’d get a place for the night. Because it’s such a small country, the main cities are close together and we ended up hosteling for much of our stay. The hostels were bright, modern, and well-designed. Since we were there off-season, they were also quiet, clean, and empty.

The campgrounds we stayed in were quite basic, with rows and rows of campers and relatively little green space for tents. The facilities were also more basic, but still decent enough.

In Slovakia, we found the accommodation to be a little less ample, and therefore a little more expensive. A decent guesthouse cost around €30 and there wasn’t really anything cheaper on offer.

Also, considering we were in a forested outdoorsy area, we were surprised to find very few campgrounds, and none on our route. There were lots that were supposed to have been there, but had obviously ceased to exist at some point.

Slovakia seemed the perfect place for wild camping though, with lots of land that looked unowned and unused. Just beware, they do have bears in Slovakia, and on one night wild camping we had a visit from a wildcat.

Slovakia vs Slovenia: Which Has Friendlier People?

Slovenians are open and friendly. The ones we spoke to all complained about the government (citing corruption) and the economy (blaming the government). They also were quick to point out that the standard of living in Slovenia is higher than in most of the countries that surround them. From what we saw, this appeared to be true.

Villages are better kept up, houses are larger, and people seem to be out spending their disposable income.

In contrast, most Slovakians tended to be closed off and rarely seemed the least bit happy to see us. One day, we wandered along a fishing lake surrounded by fishermen and their families, and despite our best efforts to smile and seem friendly, not a single smile was returned.

Many Slovakians have mastered the fine art of the disgusted sneer, which was aimed at us from time to time. We still don’t know if they were aiming their nasty looks at us, or if they have a national case of resting bitch face. Either way, we often felt unwelcome!

By the way, there is no judgement one way or another about this. We understand that cultures vary and people’s circumstances vary, leading to different behaviour. But, it is our job to give an honest account of how we felt when we travel. You may have a very different experience in the same place.

Having said that, we also met a few really nice people who genuinely seemed to love the places they were living and the lives they were leading in Slovakia.

There is a healthy middle class but we also saw a lot of areas that looked very poor and people who seemed to be struggling. This may account for the unfriendly, unhappy atmosphere in some areas.

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Slovenia vs Slovakia: Which is Best for Tourists?

In small-town Slovenia, we discovered an odd trend. There were public works going on everywhere. High streets were getting facelifts and town squares were being remodelled. But, there didn’t seem to be any tourists or any locals around to take advantage of the new facilities.

In one town we visited we were told that the high street renovation had been going on for two years, and that a lot of the businesses had left because of the disruption! Oops.

Most foreigners don’t really know anything about Slovenia, so the places we went, with the exception of Postonja caves, seemed more set up for locals than tourists, and we felt like we got to experience the “real” country.

In the cities, almost everyone we encountered spoke at least a little English, but outside of cities, German was the most common second language. We ended up learning more German than Slovene before we left.

Slovakia’s tourist infrastructure, at least in the part we visited, was even less developed. There wasn’t even a “Welcome to Slovakia” sign when we crossed the border.

Many hotels and restaurants that had existed are now closed down, or at least closed for the summer. The great exception is for ski tourism, which looks to be well served in the areas we rode through. So, if you’re there in winter, you’ll probably find lots of options. For us, it was sometimes impossible to even find an open cafe, let alone a place to stay.

English is spoken widely enough that it was never a problem asking for what we needed, or finding things, but it was rare to meet someone in the countryside who spoke enough English to carry on a conversation with us.

Slovenia vs Slovakia: Which has Better Roads?

In Slovenia, the roads were comparable to Italy. That is, not very good. On the other hand, the cars were the nicest (and least smelly) we’ve seen in Europe so far. Go figure.

Most of the roads we took were pretty devoid of traffic, so we found the riding to be easy. In busier places, there were almost always bike paths painted on the wide, smooth sidewalks. The network of bike paths in Ljubljana was amazing, and took us everywhere we need to go in and out of the city.

We did end up on a few busy roads with very narrow shoulders. At these times, cars and trucks tended to give us a wide berth, but sometimes they forgot to give any space to oncoming vehicles. A few times I thought we were going to cause a head-on collision between the cars passing us and those coming in the other direction.

Slovenia is famously supposed to be very flat, but on the western side of the country, we encountered lots of steep hills.

Slovakian roads were in great condition for the most part and almost all empty. I don’t remember a single uncomfortable or crowded road during our entire stay.

Slovakia also has a huge mountain range running right down the middle of it, so on a bike this makes for some challenging climbs. We love the mountains though, and there’s great satisfaction in speeding down an empty well-paved road after a morning of hard uphill work.

Slovenia vs Slovakia: And The Winner Is…

Slovenia and Slovakia are two very different countries, despite their shared geography and similar histories. Overall, we enjoyed our time in Slovenia more, but the riding in Slovakia was some of the best and most beautiful we’ve done (even with all the rain).

The finally tally? At least until we visit Bratislava, Slovenia wins because Ljubljana is one of the best cities we’ve ever visited!

We hope this helps you figure out if you want to spend you holiday visiting Slovenia or Slovakia. Let us know if you have any questions by commenting below.

Visiting Slovenia? Check out these tour options:

Visiting Slovakia? Check out these tour options:

♥  Happy adventures, Stephen & Jane