On foot, bicycle, in-line in Piešťany and its vicinity

On foot, bicycle, in-line in Piešťany and its vicinity


Piešťany – it is not only the best known Slovak spa specializing in the treatment of the human muscular-skeletal systems, but the Piešťany Spa also offers a variety of ways to spend your free time – with relaxation, recreational activities, colourful as well as varied cultural, sports and social events. Whether you decide to take a walk in one of the parks, or to have a drink or a quick bite in one of the numerous coffee shops, or attend a concert or to take a boat trip – it is certain you won’t be disappointed.     
    
Piešťany is one of the few towns where one can participate in almost any kind of sport – from athletics to horse riding to golf. The town possesses a wide range of sporting areas and facilities and it often hosts important international events. Piešťany, thanks to its location, has ideal conditions for hiking and biking. In Piešťany, you will find plenty of paths in the forests suitable for bike tours as well as a new asphalt covered path ideal for bicycles and in-line skating.

Piešťany, the town in the western part of Slovakia, lying at the foothills of the Považský Inovec Mountain Range, belongs to the most important Slovak and European spas. It entices thousands of tourists every year with its unique health sources and interesting historical landmarks. Winter Street makes up for its main arterial street. The coffee and patisserie shops with summer terraces lure for few moment sitting in the centre of the pedestrian zone that is a protected memorial area with many buildings constructed in Art Nouveau and Modern Style. It is just here the Piešťany visitors can start Piešťany sightseeing
tour that would lead them from Winterova Street along the “unruly line” to Colonnade Bridge and than back to the main part of the pedestrian zone.

Piešťany is, above all, a town of spas and parks; the parks surround the treatment and spa houses and accommodation facilities; the parks make-up the greater part of the local greenery. The Piešťany Parks spread along the banks of The Váh River. On its left bank, is the Spa Park, and on its right, is the Town Park. Both parks are of interest for the variety of trees and shrubs that grow there. Many rare and foreign plants can also be found here. The Spa Park is also rich in water and marsh flora in the popular water-lily ponds.
Walks in Piešťany parks also offer opportunities for cultural entertainment, mainly in the form of open-air concerts.

Piešťany also offers a different and fun way of getting to know the town. The project “Piešťany paths” is meant for both the inhabitants of Piešťany as well as its visitors. The project is based on thematic hikes – taking one or another, you can visit important monuments, see works of art, monuments and landmarks, drink from healing springs, get to know the Spa, admire Piešťany’s foreign flora, or learn about distinguished personalities who lived and worked in Piešťany. You can book any of these excursions in the Piešťany Information Centre.

If you are interested getting to know the Piešťany Region better, the Piešťany Information Centre offers opportunities to visit various other sites of interest within the surrounding area. History lovers can trace the footsteps of ancient history at the archaeological site on Kostolec Hill, or the ethnographical museum in Krakovany; you can also visit the Móric Beňovský manor in Vrbové, or the Beckov Castle ruins. A venture to Bašovce fish pond is for the more adventurous. It offers, apart from a chance to fish and catch your own dinner, an adrenaline-speciality - a unique rope walkway suspended over the pond.

The bicycle path Sĺňava is a circular path; it is a recreational and educational asphalt covered track around the water reservoir Sĺňava suitable for riding a bike, walking and also in-line skating. The asphalt surface is 3 – 4 metres wide. Its route leads, on a flat surface, from Krajinský most (“Krajinský Bridge”), on the right bank of the Váh River, towards Lodenica, Drahovská hať  (“Drahovce Dam”), Ratnovská zátoka (Ratnovce Bay); there are also some restaurants and refreshment stands near the Krajinský most.

There is a bicycle path along the stream Dubová, which allows pedestrians, bikers and skaters to get from one part of town to another amidst pleasant surroundings full of trees, water and benches.

 

Bike tourism, apart from the fact that it is the most ecological kind of transport, brings many other advantages; it puts low stress on joints; it is the fastest means of transport driven by human power, it offers physical and psychological relaxation, and parking is never a problem… these are enough reasons to encourage you to take up this relaxing sport and to discover all the wonderful surroundings from your saddle on two wheels. Whether you are a recreational bike tourist or an adrenaline-seeking rider – you have enough options. The only problem is – to choose.

The Banka educational path is near Piešťany. Its goal is to inform Piešťany residents and visitors about the value of the local nature and history. There are four information signs and two shelters for rest.

 

 

If you fancy a little break outside in a beautiful forest environment outside the hustle and bustle of the town, you can find it only 5 km from Piešťany, at the turn off for Bakchus Villa that leads to Havran Hill. Here you can find the Furman Restaurant, which authentically replicates a furman (“coachman”) residence – the area is filled with decorated wooden coaches and wheels with flowering plants. You can find traditional Slovak meals and “furman’s” specialties here, as well as a wine cellar, winter garden and summer terrace with a nice view of a children’s playground as well as of an enclosure with roe deers, fallow deers and horses. Children will be delighted to pet and feed the animals, and also to have their picture taken with them.

If you turn towards Veľké Orvište from the road to Piešťany Airport, an information sign next to a church will direct you to Bašovce fish pond. A visit to this place will certainly turn into a pleasant experience whether you are looking for relaxation or sport. For those in search of a more quite experience, it offers fishing, a fishing school for children and beginners as well as the opportunity to simply relax in a stylish fisherman environment.  For those more adventurous, it also offers an adrenalin specialty unique to Slovakia: a rope walkway suspended  over the pond. The walkway is 429 m long and there are 22 sections with obstacles of different levels of difficulty. Sports loving people and recreational adrenalin junkies will find their playground here.

There were some 250 castles in Slovakia in the past. Some of them were reconstructed, many of them are in ruins and others have simply vanished. If you would like to know what they looked like some 300 – 500 years ago in their full glory, when their masters ruled the regions with their reigns forever memorialized in history, legends and tales, do not miss the opportunity to visit the castle miniatures park in the village of Podolie.


Top