Kremnica: Ski hotel and winter sports in the surrounding area

Winter and trails

The “Po stopách baníckej činnosti” route is an easy walk through former gold and silver mining areas and combines nature with Kremnica’s mining history. Kremnica’s historic circuit takes visitors through the heart of the historic town centre. Another prominent route leads up to the Calvary of Kremnica: it forms part of an educational trail that continues to a viewing tower.

The Calvary comprises 14 Stations of the Cross chapels and the Church of the Holy Cross in a 10-hectare architecturally designed landscape complex used as a place for recreation and relaxation. In favourable weather, the viewing tower offers views of Kremnický Štós, Skalka, Kremnické Bane, Jarabica and Sitno in the Štiavnica Mountains.

History

Kremnica Castle is a national cultural monument. It comprises buildings from the 14th and 15th centuries protected by a double wall. At the centre of the castle stands the Gothic Church of St Catherine, dedicated to the town’s patron saint and featuring a Neo-Gothic interior.

The historic centre of Kremnica is surrounded by a stone fortification wall. It connects to the fortifications of the castle grounds and is 5 to 7 metres high in places. The castle’s former guard room is open to visitors and offers panoramic views of the town and the surrounding hills; it is accessible via a spiral staircase with 127 steps.

The Kremnica Mint is also part of the town’s long history. It received minting rights in 1328 and is one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world. The former town hall of Kremnica Castle now houses the “Barokové plastiky” exhibition.

Culture

Since 1981, the Kremnické Gagy festival has been held in Kremnica on the last weekend of August as an international festival of humour and satire. In the town centre, theatre, music, puppetry, visual arts, pantomime, clowning, recitation and street art from Slovakia and many European countries are presented on more than ten stages and platforms.

The Church of St Catherine in Kremnica hosts the Kremnický hradný organ European Organ Festival every year. The Small Tower of the castle also houses the “Kremnické zvony a zvonolejári” exhibition about Kremnica’s bells and bell founders, complemented by audio recordings of the local bells.

Crafts and museums

The exhibition in the Burgher’s House displays 138 painted shooting targets dating from 1837 to 1896 and is considered the third-largest collection of its kind in Slovakia. The Múzeum gýča exhibition comprises more than 4,000 exhibits; the museum offers visitor groups special guided tours with commentary through its collection.

The Kremnica Mint exhibition includes a tour of the historic mint. There, visitors can mint a jeton themselves on a historic coining machine, a screw press. The Mining Museum in the Andrej Adit provides access to part of Kremnica’s underground mine workings. During the tour of the mining museum in the Andrej Adit, visitors pass working areas from different eras and finally reach a display of the 16th century.

Atkáryho kremnické krumple offers a distinctive combination of crafts and a local speciality. The historic confectionery workshop allows visitors to buy and taste the speciality and observe how it is made.

Other places in the shared surrounding area: Krahule, Vyhne, Ihráč, Lúčky, Horná Ves, Kremnické Bane, Dolná Ves, Kopernica.

To the higher-level travel overview: Žiar Nad Hronom.