I love the beautiful historical old town, walking around, sightseeing, visiting castles and museums. The history of this silver mining town is very interesting too, but I am not sure in which places you could really find and English speaking lecturer. According my opinion Banská Štiavnica is one of the most beautiful towns in Slovakia.

This is a must when you come to Slovakia. Real historical gem, with authentic genius loci. Historical places, museums, galleries, small shops and cafes in old buildings, good restaurants, breathtaking views... surrounded by beautiful mountains suitable for light hiking, beautiful artificial lakes called "tajchy" - their water is maybe too cold for swimming but a few kilometres from Banská Štiavnica you will find spa Sklené Teplice with thermal water.

Great for those ready to explore the town on foot. Wouldn't recommend it to people with mobility problems but it's great for family trips as there's so much to see and do. We walked for miles and highlight of the trip must be the 360• views from the top of Calvary hill and visit to nearby manor house in Svaty Anton. We used local bus to get to Svaty Anton and spent 3hrs there and left the Stiavnica town exploring for late afternoon on foot. We had just 1full day in Stiavnica so this was clearly not enough to see all attractions in the area but was a great experience to plan our time here.

Really nice city only 2+ hours away from Bratislava Old town very good preserved. Nice to walk around, interesting museums - visited Bartolomej mine (it is worth to bring warmer cloths & solid shoes) and Old castle (you can use the guide or just stroll around the courtyard and climb the walls as we did), short hike to Kalvaria (nice, quite place, panorama view)...you can spend easily two days in city. Just bring or withdraw some cash as not all places accepts card. Enjoy your trip!

Beautiful city, which has preserved the historical spirit. On the main street are cute cafes and souvenir shops. Favorite place for coffee and beer was Archanjel with very nice staff. BS streetfood restaurant for food to eat fast (it is little by hand, but you can order home delivery) and Monarchy restaurant for longer lunch or dinner with typical Slovak food. A little hidden is tea house Klopacka with selection off tea from around the world. The city has many historical monuments which are worth seeing but to all of them need to go uphill. :-) The surroundings are beautiful places and on nature walks. Is certainly worth visiting the gold and silver mine. The ideal time of stay is four days.

Absolutely beautiful city! The old castle was great! I suggest viewing it using the pre-printed manual without a tour guide so you have more time to view everything. The new castle had a nice view and interesting exhibits about past invaders and Turkish advances, but if you're short on time, this can be let go. Go into the underground mine tour! Really neat and you get to wear a cape and a hard hat. Be mindful of time of day when visiting certain attractions - for example, go to the Calvary in the morning so the sun is behind you and you can view the city landscape below (we went in the afternoon and the setting sun affected our view). Also, walk everywhere (except Calvary) - less stress and things are closer than they seem, but wear comfortable shoes and pants! Lots of hills. Trip to the St. Anthony Kastiel (Chateaux) is also worth it - just a 10 minute drive and it's has a really neat exhibition! We mostly ate in our Penzion restaurant (Kachelman), but we had dinner at Matej Cafe and it was delicious as well.