Košice

October 21^st-23^rd, 2026

I booked a train ticket from Bratislava to the second largest city in Slovakia, Košice (I think it is pronounced “ko-seech-ay”).  The 5-hour train ride cost a mere 10 Euros or $16 CAD!  Researching online, there didn’t seem to see and do in the city of 230,000 inhabitants but the main reason for the journey was to see the Slovakian countryside. 

An older looking tram in Bratislava.

Inside the Bratislava train station.

All aboard!

The first part of the train ride was rather dull flatlands, but then there started to be the odd hill in the distance.  I thought the train would bee line across the country heading east to Košice, which is situated about 3/4s the way towards the south-eastern border of Slovakia, but it actually did a large arc towards the north, coming within 20-30 km of the eastern part of the Czech Republic.  At the time, I was emailing back and forth with one of my paragliding suppliers, whom I’d visited about 4 years ago, and realized that I was only 100 kilometres away from them.

The flatlands.

Hey, there's a little lake.

The hills are getting bigger...a borderline small mountain.

Okay, I'm liking this...

The countryside was quite lovely during this part of the trip thanks to the lovely autumn colours of trees.   Additionally, there were a few small mountain ranges in the near distance as well.

The outskirts of Košice.

Arriving in Košice around 3 pm, I did have some confusion about buying a ticket to get on the tram to get to my accommodation.  Online I had read that a regular adult ticket should cost €1.20 but the machine outside the station only sold ones for €0.60.  I did see a woman in front of me buy multiple tickets, so I decided that I’d buy two tickets and I should be covered.  You don’t have to show your tickets to the driver, just stick them in a little machine on the tram to validate it, which puts a timestamp on it as the ticket I bought was valid for half an hour.  I never encountered a ticket inspector during my stay, so it was all good.

Arriving in Košice.

Outside the train station.

The place I’d booked was a bit odd in that it seemed to be on the bottom floor of a residence for a university or college.  Luckily, I had read that online, so it wasn’t a big surprise to me.

After settling in for a few hours in my nice, clean modern room, I looked at my options for dinner and there only seemed to be one, the Seven Pub, which was a 15-minute walk away.  Arriving there, it was packed and noisy.  I thought that it’s either a really good place, or the only place in the neighborhood…it turned out to be both.

It seems like a lot of head on a beer is a-okay in Slovakia.

My waiter, Samuel, was a young guy who spoke good English and he was very friendly.  I enjoyed a delicious burger and fries while watching an exciting UEFA Champions League match between Arsenal and Bayern Munich.  It was being played in Munich, and I visited that stadium 4 years ago during one of my trips.

The following day was a rainy one, which was fine by me.  I didn’t mind having a chill-out day in my room while catching up on some blogging and doing some travel planning.  That evening, I returned to the same pub again, which I also did the following night as there really wasn’t any other option.

On my second, and final full day in Košice, the weather was much nicer, so I took the tram to the old town centre.  One of the main attractions there was Cathedral of St. Elizabeth, which towered over the surrounding buildings.  In fact, it is the largest church in Slovakia and one of the easternmost Gothic cathedrals in Europe.

Entering the historic part of the city.

Originally, there was a church from around the 11^th century which was consecrated to St. Michael, but when the German colonists settled in Košice in the 1240s, they rededicated it to St. Elizabeth.  The church was rebuilt in the Gothic style starting in 1378, but it was completed until 1508!

I started with the part that I was most interested in, which was climbing to the top of the Sigismund’s Tower, which is almost 60 meters tall.  From there, it was a nice view of the city and the surrounding area.

Passing by some bells on the way up.

The building in the middle is the National Theatre, with the Singing Fountains in front of it.

Having a look around.

In the distance you can see the Communist era apartment blocks.

Walking around the tower.

Heading back down the very narrow, spiralling staircase.

You would have a hard time passing by someone if they were coming in the opposite direction.

Afterwards, I entered the church.  A young woman checked my ticket which I had purchased in the tower and asked if I spoke English.  She told me to follow her, and we walked to one side of the church where there was a red cordoning rope between two metal stands at the top of some stairs.  She let me pass through and I descended into a small crypt.

Looking towards the sanctuary.

Not sure whose is resting in peace here...but they must be important.

Next, she led me to the other side of the cathedral and again let me pass through an area that was cordoned off which gave me access to this cool set of “helix double staircase”.  Supposedly there are only five places in Europe with this kind of staircase.  It ascended about 3 storeys up to a platform that gave a nice view of the interior.  A few tourists looked up at me with jealous eyes, wondering how I had gotten up there.  I certainly felt like a VIP.

The staircase is on the right.

The interesting stairs...at each set of three "windows" in the previous photo, you could choose to go left or right.  There would be no problem with someone going up while someone else is going down here.

Looking across the church from the raised platform.

There wasn't a sightline towards the altar, but it was still nice.

Some nice stained glass windows.

I had a bit of a chuckle at this photograph.  Nearby text stated that around the year 1352, a priest spilled consecrated wing during a holy mass.  An image of Christ's face was reportedly created on the corporal (the square white linen cloth placed on top of the altar cloth).  This became an object of adoration and church leaders considered it to be a miracle.  Obviously the photo was a depiction of what had happened.

The main altar and sanctuary.

Looking back at the awesome organ at the back of the cathedral.

Another nice stained glass window.

After the church, I walked over to the “Singing Fountain”.  It was a water feature with dancing jets and rather quiet music and at night it has colourful illuminations.  It was a far cry from the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas.

The National Theatre.

The Singing Fountain.

It was hard to hear the music.

This disheveled woman was feeding bread to the pigeons.  If you look closely, she has a couple of them on her lap.

Not sure if you can actually ring these bells, or if they were just a statue.

Another view of the cathedral.

Looking back at the church as I head to my next stop.

The last item on my list was to check out Jakab Palác (Jacob’s Palace) which was completed in 1899 by Peter Jakab.  Interestingly, some of the construction used discarded stone parts from the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth.  After the liberation of the city by the Soviet Army, it was for a time the residence of the president of the restored Czechoslovak Republic.  However now, I could only check out the outside of the building as it seems to be in a legal battle as between the city and the alleged owners in South America for years.

Okay, that was about all on my list of things to see/do in Košice.  I looked for a place for lunch and decided to mix it up and have some sushi in a place called Alia.

The restaurant.

It was yummy sushi.

They had some awesome paintings in the back area of the restaurant.

Walking back through the old part of town.

Post lunch, I stopped in an old brewery called Pivovar Hostinec for a few lovely IPA beers before heading back to my place.  It is considered the oldest pub and brewery site in Slovakia, with historical records dating back to 1542.

I wasn't sure if these were decorative tankards, or they were locals who frequent here so often that they have their own drinking vessel always ready for them.

Okay, sorry for the blurry photo, and no, it wasn't the beer talking...but this was the fanciest "pee trough" I've ever seen!

On my way back to catch the tram, the Singing Fountain had kicked into a higher gear.

For the third evening in a row, I returned to Seven Pub for dinner and retired relatively early. 

Hanging out in the Seven Pub.

There was a hockey game on of Košice vs Nitra, a small city of 70,000.  Check out the advertising on the ice...crazy!  I hope the NHL never gets this bad.

Tomorrow, I’m hopping on a train back into Hungary, to a small city called Eger.