Levice Castle

Levice is a town of about 37,000 inhabitants in Slovakia, a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is located about 40 km southeast of Nitra, and about 130 km east of Bratislava.

Understand

The first written record of Levice is from 1156 and mentions Martirius, the archbishop of Esztergom (Hungary), who consecrated the church in Bratka village dedicated to St.Martin. There was established a parish where the villages "villa Leua" and Vitk were annexed . At that time the village of Leua (Levice) was a subject to the Tekov castle, and was situated on the east part of today’s town Levice, somewhere on the slopes of the vineyard, which is still called Old Levice.

Tourist information agency is on Holubyho street 2, behind the Levice's Town Hall, phone: +421 36 6318 037.

Get in

By bus

Many bus connections operate to Levice. Use cp.sk [1] to find the connection (click the link in the footer of the page for English language).

By train

Levice 1 train station is easily reached by train from Bratislava, Košice or Banská Bystrica. Use cp.sk [2] to search for the train connections.

By car

Use the D1 motorway to get to Levice from Bratislava or from Žilina. Take the exit to Nitra.

Get around

Levice is a small town, and as such it is very suitable for walking. Public transport is available as well (schedules: [3] ).

See

• 1 Levice Castle (Levický hrad). Ruins of the stone castle, built in the 13th century. It was a place of many battles with Turks in the 16th century.  
• 2 Tekov Museum (Tekovské múzeum). The museum has four permanent exhibitions focus on the archaeological sites of the surrounding region, social life in Levice, history of Levice Castle and pharmacy, and August 1968. Open daily except Saturdays in April and October. Entrance fee €1.  
• 3 Tekov Observatory (Tekovská hvezdáreň), ☏ +421 36 6312166. Observations take place Thursdays and Fridays, 19:00 - 24:00. The observatory is located at Sokolovská street 21. Entrance fee €1.  
• 4 City Park (Mestský park). 

Do

• Go skating to Levice's indoor ice-rink (Ľudmily Podjavorinskej street 21), open to public Fridays and Saturdays 16:00 - 18:00, Sundays 14:30 - 16:30. Entrance fee €1.49 for 2 hours, or €0.99 for the second hour only. Closed from April to June. Phone: +421 36 6312685.
• Visit Levice Fair - a demonstration of various handicrafts, cultural programme, exhibitions, stand sale. Takes place yearly, during one weekend in October. (17 - 19 October in 2014)
• Astrum Levice is a popular basketball team representing the city in the Slovak Basketball Extraliga. Its matches are taking place in the Sports Hall Levice (on Turecký rad 5), usually on Wednesdays or Saturdays, from late September to April or May.
• For swimming in summer, visit Margita - Ilona (Nábrežná street 1) - a centre with 2 large pools for swimmers and 2 smaller pools for children (photos: [4]). Also available are facilities for beach volleyball, football (soccer), table tennis, and other activities. Open daily 9:00 - 19:00, entrance €2.50 from Monday to Friday, €3.40 on weekends, parking €2. Phone: +421 36 6312954.

Buy

• Tesco, Turecký rad 7. 24 hours. Supermarket 

Eat

• Gourmet Restaurant, Kpt. J. Nálepku 62, Levice, ☏ +421 911 109 309. 11:00-23:00. 

Go next

• Banská Štiavnica - a preserved medieval town and an UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 40 km northeast of Levice
• Nitra - the fourth largest city in Slovakia, about 45 km west of Levice