The Carpathian region is famous for its history sleeping in the ancient walls of the castles, fortresses, monasteries and hiding in the chimerical sculptures and castle ghosts.

Mongolian-Tatar attacks and wars did many harms to the great buildings, many of which are still under reconstruction. Most of strongholds can be found on the territory of the Lviv, Ternopil and Transcarpathian regions.

Fortifications, high walls, banks and bell towers are typical for all castles. On the base of some of them the museums of local lore, historical museums, galleries open for everyday visiting have been created. The medieval palaces and fortresses become the places for historical shooting and knight's tournaments. Over the last years it is paid much attention to the restoration and reconstruction of castles to be under the state protection. Each of them is worthy of visiting.

The Carpathians are one of the main areas for sport walking-tours. Within the main watershed there are situated the Beskydy with its highest peak - Mt. Pikui (1045 m). The most difficult, partitioned by numerous ravines Horhany (Mt. Syvualia (1818 m) is the highest peak) are stretching from Veretskyi to Yablunytskyi passes. Chornohora mountain range with the highest peaks of Ukraine extends south from the Yablunytskyi pass.

The walking tours to the Carpathians may be arranged during May-October. But it's necessary to remember that in May it is still much snow on the mountain peaks and in October the air temperature falls down, especially at night.

A good place to visit is Driny, the only fissure cave in Slovakia, whose rich decoration was created by the falling water. After climbing up to the cave and taking the tour, you can enjoy the local wine and delicious home-made lunch in a restored 17th century water mill. After lunch the excursions continues to the best preserved historic sight of the region to the Červený Kameň Castle. You will tour 24 rooms of the castle furnished with the pieces ranging from the Renaissance up to Art Nouveau, an exhibition of weapons and armour, a medieval pharmacy, and library and the castle undergrounds with the huge multi-storey cellars, the largest ones in Central Europe. The excursion finishes in Pezinok, a former royal town with a long tradition of wine making. Visiting the Small Carpathian museum presents the history of wine growing and wine making, unique historic casks, and wine cellar inventory from 19 century.

The region of Bratislava is situated in the south-west of Slovakia and its southern part stretches along the Danube, follows the Slovak-Hungarian border while its western extreme traces the Morava river and simultaneously the Slovak-Austrian border. The mountains Little Carpathians and the lowland Podunajská nížina cover the prevailing part of the territory.

The landscape spreading east of the Little Carpathians is characterised by two things - wine and water. In order to get the true image of this portion of Slovakia, we should also add the sun. The chain of little towns and villages situated east of the mountain range are typical for vine growing. This is the largest vine-growing region in Slovakia. Lovers of nature, folk culture and wine normally chose the route of their trips also referred to as the Malokarpatská vínna cesta (The Wine Route of the Malé Karpaty Mts.). It runs below the sunny slopes of the range skirted by fertile vineyards (on the area of more than 4,000 hectares) and wine cellars. All towns and villages have their wine cellars and offer pleasant sitting in the atmosphere typical for this region.