Orava Castle — Attraction in Oravský Podzámok

Not quite what we expected.

First words we heard there were 5 €. OK. 5€ it is and hello lady. :)

We didn't need to wait in line too long for the tickets and for the start of the English tour. This was really OK. 45 min from the line to tickets to English tour. There was 3€ extra to pay (for each person) that will take photographs inside the castle. You get a special yellow sticker. My girlfriend bought one, thinking OK there really must be something special inside to photograph. (but was it?) Without a sticker you can take photographs when you are on the outside parts of the castle, but not inside rooms.

The big surprise was that the inside was pretty dull. On the inside there was nothing that special to see. We missed more original pieces from the castles past. There was so few. The castle itself is interesting.

The "castle story" is approximately 60% of the tour. Besides that, the guide shows you various exhibitions. For instance exhibitions of all kind of items items that ordinary Slovak people used in the past, items from bronze age found in the area, animals that lived there in the past, etc... We really missed description tags on the displayed items. There were really interesting items and we were left scratching our heads. Some items that had tags, were written in Slovak only.

Outside of the castle the scenery is really nice. While on tour. You get out of the castle and than in back again many times, as you climb the steps to the higher and older parts of the castle.

The tour guide was really friendly. Good English. But we were in a hurry all the time, as other groups were following us. There were some "collisions" with other groups etc. You couldn't even see everything in peace as we were "running" across the castle. The tour was 30 mins shorter than advertised.

Overall we were expecting story about the castle and its marvelous history. It somehow feels that they try to feel the gap with these exhibitions. Dont get me wrong it is interesting. But Is there really no more story to tell about this ancient castle? It must be. Or maybe there is just no time...

I took the main tour (15.05.18 at 10.10-11.55).

I liked the castle, it's view's both to and from the castle and nice old furniture.

However I didn't enjoy the tour with a guide who spoke slovakkian. There was an app which I downloaded, so I could hear the information in my chosen language. I had to stay together with the big group and at the same time when the guide spoke slovakkian listen to english from my phone. As they didn't provide any speakers I had to listen it loudly. For that reason I stayed behind the group so that I could hear my phone and I would not distub the group who were listening the tour guide in slovakkian with my loud english coming from my phone. As there wifi was not consistent I couldn't listen to all of the attractions information from the app, (however there was a possibility to read it). I could stay long behind the group as the doors behind us needed to be closed afther we had entered to a nother part of the castle. I didn't have the time to read the signs on the walls. I think our group size was too big. For example they should not allow big groups. It took a long time just to get in and out of the rooms. The time limit was too short to be able to look the details, read the information on the walls and do pictures from the nice views.

In the end we had to wait for a while to get out of the castle as they had shut the door.

Suggestions:

Headphones should be offered if a visitor wants to use the app.

The admission should be individual, so that visitors could have enogh time to look and wouldn't need to be backed up into groups.

I would suggest that there would be just one ticket (grand tour) and you could spend there 3 hours...

Wonderful castle but : Price are more and more crazy year after year. Employees are completely lost and they give wrong informations. I had troubles with time and language the Two last times I was there because of their wrong informations. My tourists were unhappy because of it.

It was 3 years ago, but I corrected a grammar mistake so it appeared like I posted it 6 days ago. Anyway. Look at the other comments. Lot of people will tell the same. Wonderful castles, employees are a mess. When we call, we got wrong informations about time of the visit, and about languages spoken,so results, no French, and no English when we visited it. We came from far, we were pretty mad at the organisation. For the price, no no, I'm sorry, 13 euros is a lot. I will take example around my place, many castles are around 6 euros the entrance. Concrete example, wonderful palais des papes of Avignon : 12 euros. How come? Employee's salaries and the region standard are way higher in Avignon than Orava region (I love Orava, dont misunderstand me please). To finish, its something I read also in other comments, some employees are really not friendly, to tell it in a polite way. I don't know how they go engaged for some of them but as many of them didn't speak French or English when we came, cold employees while Slovaks from Orava are generally adorable people... Anyway, you do whatever you want, I'm just telling you my opinion. I went first time to your castle in 2015, and I was coming every year, I can tell you that the quality service decreased while prices...