Liptov

Understand

History The first known inhabitants came to Liptov during the Neolithic age around 6000 years ago. Celts represent an important time period of Liptov during the Iron Age. The Celtic tribal village can be seen in the archeological site of Havránok near Liptovský Mikuláš. The first settlements of Slavic people in Liptov region began approximately in the 6th century BC. The first written evidence about Liptov came from 1231 AD. There are three remains of castles that were built in the Liptov region. They are the Likava castle, the Liptov castle, and the Liptovský Hrádok castle. Liptov is also a place where the legendary Slovak figure of the 17th and 18th centuries, Juraj Jánošík, was sentenced to death.

Geography The region is surrounded by multiple mountain ranges. The longest Slovak river Váh flows through it and fills the important water reservoir Liptovská Mara - which functions both as a water electric power facility and recreational area. There were multiple villages in place of the reservoir, buildings of which are new preserved/moved to open air Liptov village muzeum in Pribylina.

Getting there

Trains and interstate buses go to the major cities from east to west. The smaller villages in general have public inter-city bus connections available.

Getting around

Public transport is pretty well organized in the area, although sometimes the time schedules are sparse (some villages only few times a day).

See

There are several caves in the area - Demänovská Cave of Liberty, Demänovská Ice Cave (at Low Tatras) and Važecká Cave (Važec).

Liptov village museum in Pribylina is a reconstruction of a historical village destroyed while creating the Liptovská Mara dam. Havránok is a Celtic archaeological site with a small museum, showing history of former Celtic settlements near Liptovska Mara on the road around Bešeňová from Ružomberok.

Do

Ski areas include:

Jasná -- detailed in Low Tatras Malinô Brdo in Ružomberok Donovaly, at the edge of Liptov. Water parks near Liptovský Michal.

Go next

Nearby regions: Culturally similar Orava, Spiš - and Banská Bystrica on the south.