"Living abroad" Forum

Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

yazan Andrea OLS Community Manager -
Yanıt sayısı: 4

Hello to the community,


Living abroad can be an enriching experience filled with unique challenges and opportunities. Adjusting to a new environment can involve navigating different social norms, cuisine, and daily routines, which can be both exciting and occasionally overwhelming. In this forum thread, we will bring you practical tips and information to make your life in Slovakia a bit easier.


Let’s start with a fact one can easily forget and then end up surprised: during public holidays, shops and many other services in Slovakia are closed. 


So if you need to shop your groceries or anything else, make sure you do it a day before. Also if you are planning a trip that falls on a public holiday, be prepared that transport services (mostly buses) can have different schedules and other services can be closed.


A gold picture frame with chalk board inside, written text: Closed, see ya tomorrow
Source: Unsplash

The next public holiday is on July 5 (Wednesday)


You can find the list of all public holidays here



Enjoy the summer days and take care!


Andrea, OLS Community Manager – Slovak

Andrea OLS Community Manager yanıt olarak

Re: Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

yazan Andrea OLS Community Manager -

Hello to the community,


For everyone who is planning to travel in Slovakia by bus, train or urban public transport, we highly recommend to save the page (or download the mobile app) called cp.sk (cp stands for cestovné poriadky - timetables).


On this page (or in the app) you can find all the public transport timetables with information about departure details, prices or current delays. This page/app is a true friend for your travels in Slovakia.


Šťastnú cestu / Happy Journey


Andrea, OLS Community Manager – Slovak

Two big hiking bagpacks on the train platform, blue-red train in the background

Source: Unsplash


Andrea OLS Community Manager yanıt olarak

Re: Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

yazan Andrea OLS Community Manager -

Hello everyone,


In many places in Slovakia, you can find various products from sheep or goat milk from small farmers. However, be careful with consuming unpasteurized milk products, especially during the season of increased tick infestation. Banská Bystrica region (Central Slovakia) has reported an increased incidence of patients with tick-borne encephalitis. All of them got infected after consuming unpasteurized sheep or goat milk products. Thus, it is recommended to consume only pasteurised versions of these products.


Stay safe


Andrea, OLS Community Manager – Slovak


A macro image of a tick on the green leaf
Source: Unsplash

Andrea OLS Community Manager yanıt olarak

Re: Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

yazan Andrea OLS Community Manager -
Hello everyone,

Do you know that Slovakia has a deposit return system for plastic bottles and aluminium cans? That means you do not need to compress them and put them in recycle bins but you can return them to a collection point in a store. The drink containers that are part of this system are labelled with the small symbol “Z” (Z stands for Slovak “zálohované” - refundable).

When buying a drink, you are charged the price of the drink plus deposit for the container (15 cents). You can return the bottles and cans to any of the collection points (available at almost every bigger grocery store). However, the bottles and cans cannot be compressed and they need to have a readable barcode. The machine at the collection point will give you back the deposit for the returned containers in the form of a receipt. The receipt can be used only in the store where you returned the bottles.

a symbol of letter "Z"
Source: Andrea, OLS Community Manager


Have you experienced this system somewhere else? If so, were there any differences?


Andrea, OLS Community Manager – Slovak


Andrea OLS Community Manager yanıt olarak

Re: Tips to Make Your Life in Slovakia Easier

yazan Andrea OLS Community Manager -

Hello everyone,


Whether it’s home or abroad, it's essential to be prepared for any emergency situations that may arise. That's why we're here with a summary of important emergency numbers in Slovakia that you need to know:


112 General emergency number, which you can dial for police, fire, medical, or any other emergency services.


150 Firefighters (Hasiči) 


155 Ambulance (Záchranná zdravotná služba)


158 Police (Polícia)


159 Municipal police (Mestská polícia)


black background, neon light text saying: EMERGENCY and an arrow pointing left
Source: Unsplash


These numbers are toll-free and can be dialed from any phone, including landlines and mobile phones. 


Stay safe!


Andrea, OLS Community Manager – Slovak