Family History, Genealogy, Heritage Tours in Slovakia

Have you decided to visit the country your ancestors emigrated from? Would you like to visit native land of your ancestors, Slovakia? Tell us what you know about your ancestors and you can leave everything to TRAVELSLOVAKIA.SK's experience and expertise. Maybe you know only their name and the village they came from hundred years ago and wish to see that place, or you plan to visit existing relatives and need guide, translator, driver, you can relay on our assistance.

We will organize your transfer, accommodation, journey planning, sightseeing and excellent, personable guide with a car who will share all his knowledge and experiences.

Contact us any time that is convenient for you and let us know who you are looking for, where you would like to go, what you would like to do and how long you would like to travel for. You can just see the place and feel the atmosphere, visit native house of your ancestors, visit cemetery, look for your existing relatives or any information about your family at the town hall. We will make your journey something very exceptional you will remember forever.

If you wish we will provide photos or film of your ancestral village.

Map of visited ancestral villages with previous customers »

Testimonials:

... Dear Lenka, Now that we've had some time to reflect on our trip to Slovakia and sift through the many photos we took there, we wanted to get back to you to tell you what a remarkable time we had last September. We had two goals for the trip: to visit family with whom we've corresponded for years but never met, and to see Slovakia, particularly the eastern part of the country from which my family emigrated in the early 1900's. We feel that the trip more than met our goals. First, we want to give special credit to our guide, Adam, for the great job he did in showing us your beautiful country, translating for us, especially in our visits with our family there, and being flexible in our itinerary. His English is excellent, his driving careful, and he brought along a very good sense of humor and knowledge of Slovakia. We also appreciate the advance work you did in researching my family's history and discovering new information about them. Some of the highlights of the trip were: 1. Meeting four generations of my grandmother's wonderful family, the Baca's, in Nemcovce, enjoying lunch at their house, joining them for slivovica toasts, and learning more about their fascinating family history, especially from Juraj, the familly patriarch. I'm attaching photos of our visit to their home, a dinner we hosted at a restaurant in Kapusany, and our trip to the local cemetery where we saw the grave of my great grandmother. 2. Visiting my grandfather's home town, Bardejov, a beautfiul, well-restored Medieval city, one of several UNESCO-awarded sites in Slovakia. Although we were unable to find any records of my grandfather's family there, we got an interesting clue about his family heritage from a historian who just started talking to us in the town square.... We highly recommend Travelslovakia, and hope to revisit some day. Thank you for helping to arrange a memorable trip. ... Cindy and Steve, USA - ancestors from Nemcovce

...Lenka, We were happily surprised by the way both Martin and Libby treated us during our week in Slovakia. They were always concerned about what we wished to do each day. They gave us a large number of options each day. And they met us at the time we selected in the morning and stayed ready to continue with us each day until we said we were ready to "call it a day". The highlight of the trip, of course, was the meeting we had with my relatives in Gocovo. Since Martin had met them before (with Andrew Kaylor), it was a reunion for him as well. Martin spent the several hours with my relatives always ready to interpret the conversations which went on. My relatives enjoyed visiting with him again. The hotels were all quite adequate and comfortable. When we were on our own (without Martin or Libby) someone at the hotel knew enough English that we could easily communicate. We found Slovakia more beautiful than we had imagined. We hope we can return some day. If you would like any additional information, please let me know. Thanks for all you did to make our trip enjoyable. ... Richard Shernit from USA - ancestors from Gocovo

...We would like to thank you and your entire staff for setting us up with such a wonderful trip. Each place of interest we toured was a good experience as each had something different to offer which we really enjoyed. We had a exceptional tour guide (Liby) as her concerns were always to satisfy our needs and interests. She was very fluent in both Slovak and English languages which really helped us with every step of our trip including finding family members that had no contact with their American families for over 100 years. We really enjoyed your beautiful country and seen a lot of wonderful points of interest. We hope to make a return trip soon and would highly recommend your Travel Agency. ... Thanks again. Lawrence and Pat Eurich from USA - ancestors from Hradisko

...We feel very fortunate that Lenka and TravelSlovakia is the company we found to help plan and book our custom trip to Slovakia as well as three other countries. Taking our Dad for his 80th birthday to explore where his father and grandfather emigrated from has been a longtime goal of our family and we were able to put together a very excellent itinerary only with their help. Lenka was instrumental from the start in helping to plan our itinerary and never failed to answer our questions promptly and with great insight and advice. TravelSlovakia was also helpful in both planning tours with partner companies in Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. They coordinated every detail from our arrival in Vienna on August 2nd until our departure on the 14th. Based on family records we sent Lenka, she not only provided translations of some documents, but also found the church where our grandfather was baptized in 1888. Additionally, she found a likely relative in the town where he was from and arranged to have our family info passed along to her and coordinated a visit for our day there where we were able to exchange information and were hosted for a great meal and hospitality. Lucia, our guide, was outstanding. Filling the multiple roles of driver, Slovakia native and expert, translator and guide was great fun for the eight days we spent with her. She made the trip very memorable and we consider her part of our family now too! She was very knowledgeable and had an answer for most everything we wanted to know about. I would not hesitate to use the services of TravelSlovakia in the event I am lucky enough to return for a future trip! ... Thanks for everything!! Drew, Tommy, Andrew and Don. - ancestors from Michalany

... I would like to first let you know how much we appreciated Libby's translating talents and patience while visiting in Hrabkov. She was truly a gift to us as we all bombarded her with questions to be translated and then answered. I would highly recommend her for your future clients who want to reunite with family and need help with communication. Next we all felt comfortable with Libby and enjoyed her insights, as well as her interest in our culture. We would recommend that guides be more available or nearer to accommodations due to the language barrier and unfamiliar surroundings. Thank you for the luncheon on our last day; it was very nice and much appreciated. The overall experience was positive and your tour company will be recommended by us to friends or relatives planning a trip to Slovakia. ... Sincerely, Mary Sedlock, and daughters - ancestors from Hrabkov

... We spent three whole days with them, visiting Tvarozna, Levoca, cemeteries, meeting their families, etc. etc. Unbelievably exciting. Thank you, thank you. Everyone is so impressed that you could find this family with the small amount of information I gave you. You are all wonderful and it feels like a real miracle that we could meet living relatives. Give all of your staff who helped find these people a huge thank you. If it was just you, Lenka, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ... Paula, Jill and Garn McBride - ancestors from Tvarozna

...Hello Lenka, We had a great time in Slovakia. Our guide Michal was excellent and made sure our visit to the family village was wonderful. It is something we will always remember. Michal provided excellent translation and allowed us to feel a part of the family we just met. It was a great feeling to find long lost cousins and see how much we are like them. We look forward to another visit some time and will invite Michal to be our guide. Many thanks for sending our names to Michal the most perfect guide and translator!... Rosemary and Richard Whitlock Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada - ancestors from Tasula

...Hello Lenka, I spoke to Mr and Mrs Bender and they were very pleased with your services, especially with your guide, Lucy. They said their trip "could not have been better". They were so pleased to meet 4 cousins in Belja and then to be welcomed into their homes.It was very nice of you to arrange this in advance. They also were very pleased with the hotels and location, and your recommendation to go to southern Poland to finish. So thank you for making my clients happy, and I hope to send you many more in the future. Best regards, Charles Wysor President of Ambassador Travel Pittsburgh USA Hi Lenka, Tom & I wanted you to know that we couldn't be more pleased with all you have done to coordinate our trip & accommodations with Chuck Wisor. The arrangements you made in choosing our hotels was perfect! All the staff @ the hotels were excellent. One particular gentleman @ the Golden Royal in Kosice, (his name was Robert who worked in the dining room) was absolutely super! They need to know that. Lucy did an excellent job & you should be extremely proud to have her on your staff. We enjoyed her company & her knowledge on the areas we visited was excellent. She's a lovely girl & she is certainly welcome to visit us here in the US anytime! . I was so happy to know that I have four second cousins in Belza, Slovakia! All the work you all did to co-ordinate our visit is truly appreciated! It has been a dream of mine to visit the homeland of my grandmother & to find relatives there was truly a blessing to me. We visited the entire day on Saturday, May 5th & their hospitality was beyond anything I could have hoped for. Some of the pictures I took along were the same pictures they had & we knew we were family! I know for a fact that Mr. Wisor was impressed by your quick response to his questions & the accommodations you made. We would recommend Travel Slovakia in a minute to anyone wishing to make a trip to visit or to research their ancestry. Your services were priceless & we can't thank you enough.!... Mary Ann & Tom Bender - ancestors from Belza

...Dear Michal, Thank you so much! I know that the records are incomplete, but this is more information than I would have ever dreamed possible!... Patricia from Germany - ancestors from Čemerné

...Attached are pictures of my reunion with the Slovak first cousins of my mother. Before this reunion, we had no contact with our Slovak relatives since 1959. Thanks to Michal Razus, we reconnected with great success. Michal was by my side the entire time as translator and diplomat. My family was very warm, receptive and hospitable. I was astounded. There are no words to describe the intense feeling of emotion when you rediscover the people and places that are a reflection of your own beginning. Time and space have no place between long lost relatives. I AM EXTREMLY GLAD TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH MICHAL ON THIS. HE MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE... Andrew from USA - ancestors from Presov and Terna

...Wow! We had a great vacation from Bratislava to the High Tatras and back. I cannot thank you enough for all that you did to personalize our Best of Slovakia Tour. Since this was my first trip to your beautiful country, it was a wonderful mix of tourist highlights of Slovakia with visits to my ancestral villages. I will never forget the stunningly beautiful castles, ruins, villages, vistas and churches we saw along the way. And I will cherish our visits to my grandmother's and grandfather's villages. I also want to thank you for arranging the Modra majolica factory tour, where I left impressed by the craftsmanship, beauty and ingenuity of the ceramics. It was also a special thrill for us to stay at the Hutira Relax Club and meet Pán Ivo Hutira. I hope you are able to offer his penzion for future tours. But I want to thank you especially for providing us with the remarkable Lucia Palenkasova as our tour guide. She is a knowledgeable guide, an accomplished translator and a skilled (and very safe) driver! Her patience and flexibility were a real asset. I am grateful for her ability to organize our visits to the incredible wooden churches as well as the museums and castles. I knew our trip to Slovakia would be great but it turned out to be even better than I anticipated. Thank you and travelslovakia.sk for making everything possible... Karl from USA - ancestors from Handlova and Hrustin

...Our guide Marian was wonderful. He was friendly and knowledgeable during the trip and always made sure even simple things like arranging meals for us was taken care of. Most of all, we are very grateful for his hard work in finding my relatives in Helpa. He was very determined to track down everyone he thought could help us and because of that, we were successful in finding my father's cousins. All of us on the trip appreciate Marion's work and we wish him all the best ... Randall with family from Canada - ancestors from Helpa

...Thank you again for the detailed tour of Bardejov. Although we failed to find a definitive gravesite for my Great Grandmother, we did get an appreciation for the decay of such artifacts. Your English and communication skills are excellent... Gene and Kathy from USA - ancestors from Bardejov

...I very much enjoyed the visit to Zakarovce and other cities . Your tour was outstanding (tatras,Spis castle etc.).You did a great job ! Hope I get to return soon .... Tom from USA - ancestors from Zakarovce

...All together, a very enjoyable, successful, and stress-free tour! Congratulations to both you and Travel Slovakia, as well as Lucia Palenkasova for her friendly, knowledgeable, and completely reliable guiding service!! ... Gregory from USA - ancestors from Dlha nad Oravou, Kosicke Hamre, Podbiel, Tvrdosin and Vysne Repase

...I had a fabulous time in Slovakia - all the hotels were clean and quiet, the sites that we visited were all relevant and interesting, and Marian was a great guide. I certainly hope to get back some day, and will definitely be recommending your services to anyone else that is interested in touring the country... Kate from Canada - ancestors from Podbiel

Tina from USA - ancestors from Muranska Huta

...Hi Alena, I wanted to let you know that I visited Slovakia this month. Michal Razus was my tour guide. He was very helpful and informative. He had responded to my e-mails very quickly. He has a very nice way with people and he made my trip very enjoyable. I would be very happy to recommend him to other people. Thank you for helping me out with this recommendation... Barbara from USA - ancestors from Poruba pod Vihorlatom

...I am writing today to praise Michal Razus for his assistance that he provided in May 2010, on our trip to Slovakia to research my grandparents ... We could not have gotten through the language barrier without his help. He was such a nice young man and we very much enjoyed spending the day with him... Mark and Nacy from USA - ancestors from Moravany and Hran

...I am safely back home and wanted to thank you for recommending Michal Razus as a researcher of my Slovak grandmother's ancestry and as a guide and translator. Michal was very knowledgeable, professional, helpful and responsive to my questions and requests... Karen with family from USA - ancestors from Fricovce and Kosice

...As for the tour. Lucia did a splendid job. She was very accomodating, her English was excellent, she seemed very knowlegeable about the places we visited and went to extra effort to make sure we enjoyed our tour. We were very happy and glad we took the tour... Lucia's research and our visit to the Ujlaky castles was very informative and appreciated. Lucia did an excellent job of guiding us and showing the interesting parts of Slovakia... John and Nacy from USA - ancestors from Slovakia

...I can't express what an absolutely wonderful experience we had in Slovakia and meeting with Jan Svistak and his family. We never expected to actually find family in Maly Lipnik, much less sit down and share food and drinks with them... Debbie with family from USA - ancestors from Maly Lipnik

...We all really enjoyed the trip. Thank you so much for all the work that you did on contacting our relatives and arranging to meet them. That was probably the highlight of the trip. We also really enjoyed seeing the different scenery in Slovakia. I had no idea the country was that beautiful. The fields of sunflowers were so unexpected... Kelly with family from USA - ancestors from Hrabkov

...We are happily settled here at home. I just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our trip in Slovakia and our guide Martin. From being picked up at the airport to the last moment the guides (Marion and Martin) were always extremely professional, knowledgeable and fun to be around. They were extremely flexible to what interested us, and seemed to take great pride and joy in showing us the country... Emily and Andrew from USA - ancestors from Kosice

...We had a wonderful time and we never could have done and seen so much (nor understood ANYTHING) without you... Marianne and James with family from USA - ancestors from Piestany

...Our stay was really great. We enjoyed the views, the food, and the nice people. As my mother was born in Zvolen it was a great experience for her to come back there after so many years with her daughters and we were excited too... Orly with mother and sister from Israel - ancestors from Zvolen

...We enjoyed our brief stay in Slovakia very much and thought Marian (Maio - not sure how to spell it) was very knowledgeable and helpful - a great tour guide!... Stefanie with family from USA - ancestors from Benkovce

...We had a wonderful time and Tom can't get over talking about his visit with his relatives. It was the highlight of the trip and actually all of the trips that we have taken in the past... Dottie and Tom from USA - ancestors from Nizny Slavkov

...We were very happy with our stay in Slovakia. We were fortunate to have Miro as our guide. He did a great job and we were very happy to have met him and share his knowledge of Slovakia... Jay with family from USA - ancestors from Sabinov

...It is a beautiful country, and your guides were most helpful. I am sure we saw things which we would have missed if we had been on our own... Anelle & Ted from USA - ancestors from Stebnik

...I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the magnificent tour of Slovakia that you arranged for my nephew and me... Richard from USA - ancestors from Bardejov and Regetovka

...Alena, Just a word to let you know we had a wonderful time on our tour. Matus was great! Do you have any Contact information for him?... Joseph and Teresa from USA - ancestors from Brehy and Hniezdne

...Our trip to Slovakia was fabulous!!...Alena was a real gem-we saw so many great places and we really loved the opportunity to meet the lady who makes the traditional shirts-what a treat. I know that we hope to make more trips to Slovakia. YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL AND FRIENDLY COUNTRY. We have told our friends and our travel agent about your services... Kathie from USA - ancestors from Levoca

...Thank you for putting together a very nice program. I enjoyed the entire program, especially the hike in the high Tatras and the visit to Vysoka nad Uhom. I have asked Marian to pass along to you a bottle of Tokaj as a token of thanks!... Michael from USA - ancestors from Vysoka nad Uhom

...We wanted to tell you what a wonderful time we had visiting Liptovska Tepla and Ruzomberok. Our guide/translator was Marian Gonda. He was wonderful and we would like to have his E-mail so we could write him a letter... Carol & Steve from USA - ancestors from Liptovska Tepla

...The country pleased my husband as to his heritage and my son has a better understanding of how his grandfather was brought up - even though he did not know him... Vallerie with family from USA - ancestors from Levoca

...I can't say enough to tell you how pleased we were with your services! Martin was terrific, and after only a few minutes it simply felt like we had added another friend to our trip. I had hoped Slovakia would be the high point of our trip, and it was even better than I expected. I also was ver impressed by the additional help you provided when our change in plans to add a visit to Auschwitz resulted in our missing the train to Budapest. It really was great of you to make John available to drive us there, especially so late in the day... Beth with husband from USA - ancestors from Maly Lipnik and Starina

...Our guides were nice people and quite helpful. Alena Marcinekova thoughtfully went to Pohorela in advance, selected a very nice pension operated by the Pompura family and contacted various family members, arranged for them to meet us and helped with translation. Since our knowledge of Slovak was limited to a few words all these arrangements would have been difficult if not impossible. Alena drove us safely to our apartment in Bratislava in a very bad rainstorm which we appreciated very much... Michael with wife from USA - ancestors from Pohorela, Ziar nad Hronom and eastern Slovakia

...We have just arrived home this week, jet lagged, but very happy with the experiences we gained in Europe. Martin was a wonderful guide for us. He said his sister is a friend of yours. We managed, thanks to his patience and perseverance, to find Mom's village and a family that is still there and distantly related. The whole meeting was very fulfilling for both sides of the picture. It was a handshake across the ocean that was waiting to happen for 77 years. As I left, I turned to our Slovak hostess and said, "I have been waiting my whole life for this day" and she said in reply, " So have I." I feel that a great empty place in my heart has been filled by seeing this beautiful land and love-filled village where Mom was born. Thank you so much for all your help. Slovakia is an exceedingly beautiful land. Thank you again for all your help. It was an unforgettable experience... Beth with husband from USA - ancestors from Cejkov

...Our trip to Slovakia was more than we could have ever expected. Miro was a wonderful and caring guide, Slovakia is such a beautiful country, everyone was so warm and friendly, the fodd was great, and visiting my Grandfather's hometown of Polomka was particularly special... Gene & Kathy from USA - ancestors from Polomka

...We had a wonderful time in Slovakia and enjoy the countryside very much. The guide was great too and willing to help in every way. Thanks to his efforts, we visited the mayor of Hrabovcik and visited with cousins I didn't even know about... Pat with daughter from USA - ancestors from Hrabovcik

Michael from USA - ancestors from Dubova

...I thank you for your excellent choices of places for us to visit, and thank you for the superb assistance of Mr Stanislav Jurcak to carry us to so many beautiful towns and churches in your land. I have returned home with blessed memories and now, new family connections to carry into the future of my family. My sons also say their experiences were truly life-expanding events... Ramon with sons from USA - ancestors from Jablonica and Osuske

...My great grandmother's home had been here. The small village was a mixture of traditional and twentieth century architectural styles. There was a stork nest with a pair of the monogamous birds in place. The tiny wooden church hid behind a larger gothic/baroque church in a dark grove of trees. The excesses of capitalism had not reached this place, but poverty seemed absent as well. Lukov was alive with people (and chickens). Passing through a group of smiling gypsy children near the school, we parked in front of the village hall. We were greeted by an official-looking matron. She and Martin spoke for a few minutes with an occasional glance in my direction. My great grandmother Olga had lived here and... she was probably of Hungarian descent! (I would have to pay more attention to Budapest.) Unfortunately, none of the family remain in Lukov today. We said good-bye and continued to the other end of town. We stopped again at a Communist era monument to the people of Lukov who lost their lives during WWII. Nearby was a bus stop, an ancient-looking speaker -- part of an old public address system -- and a small store. Martin pointed out that a surprising number of buses stopped here -- indicating a healthy local economy. The store was not officially open for business yet, but the smiling, rosy cheeked, shopkeeper let us in. Martin bought a snack and explained why we were here. The woman said that an American lady had been here just last week looking for her family, but had found they were gone as well. Leaving Lukov, we continued up into the valley. The road narrowed and the forest drew closer. More scarecrows in tiny fields. There were logging trails into the surrounding hills. The forest receded and we rounded a bend into Livov. The tiny village was possibly even more picturesque. Well-maintained, small, traditional homes were surrounded by gardens. There were wooden fences and small barns. My great grandfather had been born here. It could not have looked much different in his time. Veronika had learned that none of my family remain in the village. I must get my wanderlust from this side of the family!)... Rich from USA - ancestors from Livov and Lukov

...Veronika & Martin, I want to thank you for a most enjoyable trip. Your country is very beautiful... Lou with friends from USA - ancestors from Vavrisovo

...We had a fabulous time in Slovakia, thank you for arranging our trip. Mike and I had a great time in Slovakia and hope to one day return. Roman was an excellent guide and provided a nice balance between hiking in nature and giving us a taste for the local culture. He also did a good job of pacing our trip so that we had days of relatively low effort mixed with days of more strenuous hiking. The weather also cooperated nicely except for one day of downpours ... Allete with friend from Canada - ancestors from Male Borove and Velke Borove