Visiting Orava Castle: What You Need to Know

If your holiday in Slovakia includes visiting Orava Castle this post is for you.

We share tips that you need to know before your trip to this impressive stronghold in the north of Slovakia.

From which tour of the castle to choose, to how to buy tickets, to what to pack for your day of visiting Orava Castle.

The best part? 

We’re Slovakia locals, meaning we’ll share with you insider tips you won’t find elsewhere!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.

Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

Is Orava Castle worth visiting?

If you still have doubts whether it’s a good idea to visit Orava Castle, we get it.

Not because the castle isn’t amazing enough.

But because there are so many beautiful ones in Slovakia, you’ll have to choose carefully which ones to see and which ones to skip!

If you want to be blown away, check out this map of castles, manor houses, castle ruins and more – you won’t believe how many you can see in Slovakia!

But to answer your question – yes, Orava Castle is absolutely worth visiting. Let’s talk more about why you should put it on your Slovakia itinerary.

Why should you visit Orava Castle?

If you’re struggling to choose which castles to see in Slovakia, we can help.

Orava Castle is one of the most popular ones in the country, and not without a reason. 

This does also mean it gets pretty busy during the peak summer season, but the great thing about Slovakia is that there’s so much to do.

You can easily plan a holiday that includes visiting a busy castle one day and exploring quiet ruins without anyone in sight the next.

Consider visiting Orava Castle if:

• you’re heading to the High Tatras mountains and want to do a castle stopover on the way. Keep in mind, though, that if travelling without a car, you’ll need to spend at least one night in Orava, to have enough time to see Orava Castle.
• you’re travelling to or from Poland – Orava Castle is on your way, so make sure to add it to your itinerary.
• pretty palaces are not really your thing, and you’d rather explore a stronghold on a dramatic rocky hill than wander through perfectly manicured gardens and gilded rooms (although did you know you can WALK to this palace in Austria from Bratislava? Yep, you read that right).
• you want a hidden gem version of Transylvania. Did you know that a 1922 Nosferatu movie was filmed at Orava Castle? Same with season 5 of the Van Helsing TV show.

How to visit Orava Castle without a car

Are you wondering whether you can visit Orava Castle even if you don’t want to hire a car in Slovakia?

You definitely can!

We’re car-free people and we travelled to Orava Castle by public transport. 

You can read our full guide including all the extra tips, so you don’t end up wasting money (or getting a fine!).

What tours are available at Orava Castle?

You’ll have to make 2 decisions when choosing a tour at Orava Castle:

1. Do you want an individual tour or a guided tour?

• Individual tours are available year-round (with some exceptions – check the official website).
• Guided tours are only available during the peak summer months July and August. More importantly, they are only available in Slovak, unless there is more than 15 of you, which means you can do a group tour with an English guide.

2. Which parts of the castle do you want to see?

• Main tour (A) includes all the main parts of the castle and is suitable for children.
• Small tour (B) means you only do the lower parts of the castle – the Treasury, the St. Michael´s Chapel and the first floor of the Thurzo Palace. This is why the tour is suitable for people with limited mobility or those afraid of heights.
• Big tour (A + B) includes everything, as you’d expect. You will get to visit all parts of Orava Castle that are accessible to the public.

All information about the tours is available on the official website.

A little warning about tours at Orava Castle 

Access the tour information on the official website of Orava Castle at your own risk.

Like a lot of official information in Slovakia, it’s confusingly written, and overwhelming to the point where you’d rather not go anywhere than to try deciphering it.

That’s exactly why we keep writing posts on travelling Slovakia – to make the country more accessible to people!

One more thing you can do if you feel like you need a pack of painkillers just reading the official website (or a bottle of wine. Depending on the kind of person you are)?

You can book a call with us and we can help you plan your Slovak adventures stress-free!

Which tour should you choose at Orava Castle?

As promised, we’re here to help make sense of this chaos.

Choosing a tour at Orava Castle is actually pretty simple:

1. Unless you are a big group, your only option is doing the individual tour.
2. This tour comes with an audioguide – more on this below.
3. Unless you do have any reason not to access the higher parts of the castle (e.g. mobility issues), choose the big tour (A+B). That way you are not missing out on anything, you will see the full castle and, to be honest, you’ll only pay a few euros more than you would on the main tour (A).
4. At this point, take a deep breath, center yourself, and then access the Orava Castle official website.
5. First check whether your chosen tour is available during the month when you are visiting Orava Castle. Even though the individual tours do say they are available year-round, parts of the castle are actually not accessible due to weather during certain months.
6. Then check for the castle’s general opening hours for that month as well.

We visited Orava Castle car-free, in the middle of August, meaning all tours were available (but it was also super busy).

We did the big tour (A+B), with an English audioguide.

Do you know which tour you want to do when visiting Orava Castle?

Good. 

Let’s talk about how to buy tickets, because if you thought the chaotic part was over, you were mistaken!

How to buy tickets when visiting Orava Castle

Once you’ve decided which type of a tour you want to do (individual or with a guide, A, B or A+B), the confusion doesn’t end!

There are 2 more challenges waiting for you when buying Orava Castle tickets.

But don’t worry, we’re here to help you through them!

First of all, buying tickets online.

Do you have to buy Orava Castle tickets in advance online?

Good news?

You don’t have to worry about buying tickets online in advance when visiting Orava Castle.

The only tickets available online in advance are the guided tours (or the special events – we’ll get to those).

So if you’re going for an individual tour, which you most likely will, you don’t have to worry about booking anything beforehand.

Just turn up on the day and buy tickets in person.

That’s where the second challenge awaits you!

Where to buy tickets when visiting Orava Castle

The second challenge is remembering to buy tickets before you reach Orava Castle.

Wait what?

Yep.

As is often the case in Slovakia, the tickets are not being sold right at the attraction, but in a different building, in this case, a visitor centre.

Don’t worry, though, you’re not likely to miss it as you’ll be passing it on your way to the castle.

When walking from the train station (or generally towards the castle), the ticket office is the grey building on your left.

And if you forget to buy your tickets, you can always come back. It’s not a long walk to the entrance of Orava Castle, but it’s a steep hill, so try to keep the tickets in mind – unless you fancy more of a workout that day (though you’ll get plenty going up and down inside the castle, trust us!).

Is the audioguide at Orava Castle in English?

Yes, the Orava Castle audioguide is available in English, along with 12 other languages such as German, French, Spanish and Chinese.

You can download the app in advance to your phone. 

Also remember to bring your own headphones. Don’t be like those annoying tourists who listen to the guide on a loudspeaker (why are people like that? It’s so rude).

Wanna hear something typically us?

When we visited, the audioguide was rubbish.

It didn’t have great info, just a lot of names, years, and poorly translated bla.

Plus the room numbers didn’t match the audioguide’s recordings, so we had to be forever trying to figure out which part we should actually be listening to.

3 days after our visit?

Orava Castle launched a new, interactive app with a better audioguide, 3D characters and even quizzes!

This sums up our bad luck for you, but you can read more about it if you want to have a good laugh.

We weren’t able to use the app at the castle, but we checked it at home for you.

It does look pretty good – the audioguide has definitely been improved and the 3D characters can entertain your kids not just at the castle, but also before visiting (why not project Nosferatu vampire in your hotel room? Or a knight, if you don’t wanna terrify your kids).

Can we ask you for a favour?

If you do end up visiting Orava Castle and discovering anything cool you can do with the app there, can you let us know? We would much appreciate it!

Does Orava Castle host special events?

Yes, you can visit Orava Castle during a special event, such as their cool Dracula-themed midnight tours!

This is one of the things we talk about a lot – there are so many awesome events in Slovakia and you can usually do them on a budget!

And they are such hidden gems – most travellers have never heard of them!

For example, did you know there is an unlimited wine event where you can taste over 290 local wines for just €35? 

But we digress.

You should definitely check out whether any special events are being held at Orava Castle when you visit.

They will be in Slovak (99.9% chance), but it might still be worth it.

For example, if you can get into the castle after hours, on a small group tour?

Exploring a spooky castle where a vampire movie was shot at midnight is totally worth it, even if you can’t understand what the guide is saying! (And these days you have AI that can help with that.)

How long does it take to visit Orava Castle?

How long you’ll spend visiting Orava Castle depends on 2 things:

1. Which tour you pick
2. How slowly you like to explore

Here is the information on tours without a guide from the official website:

• Main tour (A): approx. 60 min
• Big tour (A+B): approx. 90 min
• Small tour (B): approx. 30 min

The issue?

This information doesn’t seem to take into account:

• Waiting for big tour groups to pass, so you can enter a room
• Having to wait at the narrow staircases, as staff let people go up and down in turns when it gets busy (castle traffic warden sounds like a good job title)
• Stopping to read signs around the museum
• Taking pictures, especially if you want to wait for people to move (although does anyone do that anymore, or is everyone just using AI to erase strangers from shots?)

We visited Orava Castle in the middle of August, so even though it was a weekday, the castle was pretty busy.

We had to wait for big guided tours to pass and try to avoid summer schools of kids running around.

According to the official website, the big tour (A+B) should have taken us around 1.5 hours. 

The reality was “a bit” different.

The timestamp on our tickets shows we bought them at 10:21, and we left the the castle at 14:05, meaning we spent nearly 4 hours there.

Having said that, we do explore sights relatively slowly, enjoying the experience rather than rushing through it.

When planning your Slovakia itinerary, we recommend budgeting more time for visiting Orava Castle. It’s a beautiful place and you don’t wanna have to skip some parts, just because you have another activity booked in 1.5hrs and the website said that’s how fast you can see it.

Can you eat and drink at Orava Castle?

The usual rules of museums apply at Orava Castle:

• Eating, smoking or drinking alcohol is not allowed at the castle.
• You can drink water in the outside areas, such as courtyards (make sure you check out this post on tap water in Slovakia, btw)

But looking through the Visitor Rules, we discovered some more fun facts:

• You are not allowed to chew chewing gum. We have to say, we didn’t see anyone enforcing this rule, but maybe don’t go blowing massive bubbles right in front of historical furniture, just to be safe.
• You are also not allowed to enter the castle if your clothes are too wet or dirty. So if you carry a backpack on trips, make sure to get a raincover. And if you’re a long-term backpacker, make yourself more presentable (we know how hard that can be, from our full-time travels!). 

Speaking of bags and restrictions, you are not allowed to bring luggage, bicycles or animals into Orava Castle.

When it comes to prams, it does say these are not allowed, but we did see a family with a pram in the courtyard of the castle.

Obviously, aside from the lower parts, the castle is not pram-suitable, so keep in mind that even if you are allowed to take a pram inside, someone will have to stand guard with it as the rest of your travel party explores.

Are there toilets at Orava Castle?

This is always a good question to ask, together with whether the tap water is going to secure you a spot in the toilet for 24 hours straight.

There are toilets in the main courtyard of the castle, but we didn’t see any other ones in the upper parts.(other than the historical ones, inside the actual castle! Did you know back in the day, toilets used to be located on the outer walls of the castle, so stuff could just…run down the castle walls? You are welcome for that lovely image in your head! Don’t forget it when exploring Orava Castle! 😆).

We recommend following the useful travel rule: always go to the bathroom when it’s available (because you never know when your next opportunity will be).

You can always come back to the courtyard if you need to, but with the steep staircases, one way systems and crowd management (during peak times like in summer), you don’t wanna be stuck in the highest part of the castle, needing a toilet desperately, as a group of 25 kids slowly makes their way up the staircase you need to descend.

(Thankfully not speaking from personal experience. A lot of 💩 might keep happening to us, but we avoided this disaster.)

Is it safe to visit Orava Castle?

Speaking of staircases, let’s talk about safety for a bit.

First, just to make it clear, Orava Castle is being maintained as a proper castle, not castle ruins, so you don’t have to worry about precarious wooden ladders, half-crumbled steps or “enter at own risk” signs.

If that is what your adventurous soul is after though, you can absolutely find it in Slovakia. Remember to check out the map of all castle ruins in the country.

Having said all that, Orava Castle is built high up on a rock and does feature quite a few steep-ish wooden and stone staircases, as well as a dizzying spiral staircase.

Here is what you should do:

• Consider the mobility of all members of your travel party. If someone cannot make it all the way to the higher parts of the castle, there are still lower areas they can explore – just make sure you buy the correct ticket for them, so you don’t waste money.
• Remember that you cannot sightsee the castle with a pram, so consider bringing a baby carrier instead.
• Definitely skip the heels and wear proper shoes, like trainers. We did see a woman in heeled sandals and, to be honest, not sure how long it took her to explore the whole castle like that.
• Keep the weather in mind. The upper parts of the castle are closed when there’s too much snow, ice or strong winds, to keep visitors safe.
• Always travel with great travel insurance, because you never know. The White Lady might suddenly appear in a window as you are going up a narrow staircase, you might trip looking up at her, fall, and break your leg.
  
  How likely is that to happen? We don’t know. What we do know is that if you choose True Traveller as your travel insurance, you’re going to get an amazing value for money and also awesome customer service (speaking from personal experience).

Can you stay at Orava Castle?

Sadly, no.

How cool would it be, though?

Maybe you’d even get to see a vampire during the night?

Or the tragic White Lady?

Since you can’t stay over at Orava Castle, here’s what you can do instead:

• Check out the special events the castle hosts. For example, the castle sometimes hosts nighttime vampire-themed tours and other cool events!
• Visiting castles after the hours is super fun. We’ve done it at what’s arguably Slovakia’s most beautiful castle, Bojnice, and loved it! So if Orava Castle’s events aren’t working out for you, check out other castles in the country – there are so many!
• If you do want to stay in an actual castle, there is a stunning one near Bratislava that you can actually spend a night (or more!) in. And it won’t blow your budget either!

What else can you do near Orava Castle?

If you’re travelling by car:

• You have many options. Orava region offers so many fun activities, from skiing, to hiking to thermal parks, to a cool logging railway.
• You should make sure you don’t waste your money when hiring a car. Use the helpful widget below to compare prices to find the best deal.

As car-free travellers though, we wanted to give you tips on what you can do when visiting Orava Castle without a car.

The village where Orava Castle is located, Oravský Podzámok, might be small, but you can easily spend a day there without being bored.

Aside from exploring the castle:

• You can travel back in time – you can go cruising down the river that runs below Orava Castle on a wooden raft, just like people used to do back in the day! We did this experience going down a different river, where you see two castle ruins, and it was so much fun!
• The wooden raft will drop you off at a stunning castle view point, where the rafting company placed a big heart for photo ops. Even if you don’t go on the wooden raft, you can still walk to the heart to take beautiful pics of Orava Castle (or dip your feet into the cold Orava river in summer!)
• If you can’t get enough of time travelling on this trip, visit the Carriage Museum where you can see not just 30 stunning historical carriages and sleighs, but also 42 mannequins, bringing the past to life.
• Keep in mind the nearest town, Dolný Kubín, which we recommend you base yourself at for at least one night when visiting Orava Castle. There are fun things to do there too, from going to an ice cream parlour with over 300 flavours (!!) to walking across a Harry Potter-like bridge.

We hope this post answered all your questions about visiting Orava Castle, but if you still have some, drop us a message on our Instagram!

And if you wish you could have the two coolest people in Slovakia plan your trip to the country, you’re in luck! That’s us (just joking. At best we’re Bad Luck Of The Year Winners) and you can book a call with us, so we can help you create the best Slovak itinerary, complete with vampire castles and maybe some cheeky wine tasting (because who doesn’t like super cheap, good wine, right?).