I love Banska Štiavnica but the service in the city is almost everywhere a tragedy which I am really ashamed of as a Slovak living abroad when I am taking my friends and family from abroad there. I was in the old castle once in summer and it was open to roam around free which was nice. The gate was open the whole time. I visited at the end of November now with my in-laws from Germany. There are opening hours. We went there at full hour and the gate was closed. We went back to our hotel and asked why is it closed. They advised me to call the castle. Sooo - you have to wait there 10 minutes prior to entry (which is written on the opening hours NOWHERE). If you want a tour in foreign language be sure to book weeks ahead. Foreign tourists get A4 format brief description of the parts of the castle. I mean it has such a cool history and there is no proper brochure???!!! To our surprise we were taken only to the former church part of the castle which in my opinion is the least interesting one. The tour lady had a good knowledge in Slovak but her attitude was somewhat special too. At one point the guests were chatting and she couldn't start her line in a second and she raised her voice to a screaming volume like the teachers did in Slovakia in 80s and 90s with unbehaved kids. This is something that I found completely unacceptable. People were not disrespectful or anything. I rolled my eyes. I am disappointed in service in Banská Štiavnica. As much as I love it the attitude is just not to a standard that you get in Austria or Germany. You have to pay for everything a PROPER entry fee and you get for the price nothing back. You should be happy the enter the "sacred" city and pay for everything. Banská Štiavnica konečne zvýšte vas standard. Je zahanbujuce, ze turisti za vsetko platia a vy nemate vhodne materiály, neinformujete nikde o tom ako vstup funguje alebo ze v zime je mozna len obmedzena obhliadka alebo ze vasi sprievodcovia nakricia na ludi, lebo nedrzia hubu a nepocuvaju aby si odrapkali svoju agendu. Ceny sa rovnaju v baroch a muzeach uz tym zahraničným ale vy len dojíte kravu kade sa pohnem. Zdedili ste poklad a viete to, ale servis a kvalita je na zaplakanie a urcite nepatrí do roku 2023.