Most travelers who visit Slovakia do not get past Bratislava. They walk the old town, drink a beer on the Danube, and leave convinced they have seen the country. They have not. Five hours east by train, Košice sits near the Hungarian and Ukrainian borders with a population of roughly 250,000, a pedestrian street that stretches almost a kilometer, and the largest Gothic cathedral in Slovakia. It was the European Capital of Culture in 2013. After that, it went back to work.
Hlavná Street is the spine of the city. It is pedestrian-only, paved, and lined with townhouses in Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Cubist styles. You do not need a map. You walk from the State Theatre at one end to St. Elisabeth's Cathedral at the other, and you pass everything that matters. The State Theatre dates to 1788 and still runs drama, ballet, and opera. Tickets start at around €8 and can be bought at the box office on the day of the performance.
Halfway down the street, the Plague Pillar rises fourteen meters. It is Baroque, built in the early eighteenth century after epidemics in 1709 and 1710. The Virgin Mary stands at the top. You do not need to pay to look at it. You also do not need to pretend it is the most exciting thing in the city. It is a landmark. It marks the center.
St. Elisabeth's Cathedral is the reason most people who do visit Košice come here. Construction started in the late fourteenth century and finished in the sixteenth. It is the largest church in Slovakia and the easternmost Gothic cathedral in Europe. The nave is 60 meters long. The north tower holds a double spiral staircase. Entry to the church is free. If you want to climb the tower, it costs €3. The stairs are narrow, more than 150 steps, and the view from the top is worth the claustrophobia. At the top, you can ring the bell. The staff lock the tower door behind you, so you call a phone number when you are ready to descend. They answer.
Next to the cathedral stands St. Urban's Tower, originally a Gothic campanile from the fourteenth century. It housed the bell of Saint Urban, the patron of vine-dressers. The tower is currently under renovation, so you cannot climb it. A small wax museum sits at the base. It is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM. Admission is €2 for adults, €1 for children.
South of the cathedral is St. Michael's Chapel, built in the fourteenth century as a cemetery chapel inside the town walls. It is small, Gothic, and still holds services. The contrast between the cathedral's scale and the chapel's intimacy is worth noting.
Behind the cathedral, the Singing Fountain performs every hour. The water jets move to music from the cathedral's bells or to recordings of the Beatles. It is free, it is kitsch, and it is surprisingly pleasant on a hot afternoon. The benches around it fill with locals eating ice cream.
Hrnčiarska Street runs off Hlavná and is the most interesting alley in the city. It has a metalworker, a bakery, a bar, and the Executioner's Flat, the former residence of the town's hangman. This is where craftsmen have worked for centuries. The street is short. You will walk it in five minutes. But it has more texture than most of the main boulevard.
The East Slovak Museum sits near the State Theatre in a Neo-Renaissance building. It holds more than 500,000 objects, including the Košice Gold Treasure, nearly 3,000 gold coins from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries displayed in a vault room. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday, 2 PM to 6 PM. From November to April, Sunday hours are reduced. Admission is €2 for adults and €1 for children. The displays are in English and Slovak.
Mikluš Prison is part of the same museum complex. It was a working prison and torture chamber from the seventeenth century. You watch an introductory video and then walk through the cells. It is open the same hours as the museum. Admission is €2 for adults, €1 for children. Allow 30 to 45 minutes.
Rodošto bastion, whose walls date to the fifteenth century, sits nearby. It displays medieval weapons and cannonballs. Admission is €3 for adults, €2 for children. The same ticket covers the bastion and the prison.
Jakab's Palace stands next to the train station in Neo-Gothic style. It was built in 1899 as a private house and later served as the residence of Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia. You cannot enter without an appointment, but the exterior is worth seeing as you arrive.
The New Orthodox Synagogue on Puškinova Street was built in 1926 and 1927 to serve a Jewish community of more than 11,500 people. Before the Second World War, Košice had one of the largest Jewish populations in Slovakia. The synagogue is still in use and can be viewed from the outside. The interior is open for services and occasional tours.
Kulturpark is a ten-minute walk east of the old town. It is a former army barracks converted into a cultural center during the 2013 Capital of Culture program. It hosts music, film, theater, and contemporary art exhibitions. Events run most evenings. Check the schedule at kulturpark.sk. Entry to the park is free. Individual events cost between €3 and €12.
Street art is everywhere in Košice, but it is not aggressive. Murals cover walls in the old town and beyond, installed during and after the 2013 cultural program. A Chilean artist named INTI painted one of the largest pieces in a single day. Andy Warhol's parents came from eastern Slovakia, and the city has placed a series of Warhol-style high-heel sculptures around town as a tribute. You find them by accident, which is the right way.
Košice has parks. Mestský park sits between the train station and the old town, a wide green space with paths and benches. It is not a destination, but it is a good buffer. The city is walkable, flat, and quiet. You can cover the center in a day and not feel rushed.
For food, the city is cheaper than Bratislava. A Pilsner Urquell at Tabačka Kulturfabrik, an alternative venue in a former industrial space, costs around €1.50. They host live music, film screenings, and workshops most evenings. Republika Východu is a café that uses local dialect on its menus and serves craft beer and vegetarian options. Melody is a roastery with minimalist decor and serious coffee. Raňajkáreň Rozprávka serves breakfast in a courtyard you enter through what looks like a bookshop.
A meal at a mid-range restaurant costs €8 to €12. A coffee is €1.50 to €2. Public transport is €0.90 for a single ticket. The train from Bratislava takes five hours and costs around €15 to €25 depending on how early you book.
The city is safe. I walked alone after dark and saw no trouble. The locals are welcoming without being performative. They are not surprised to see tourists, but they are not exhausted by them either. That is the advantage of a city that was briefly famous and then returned to normal life.
Košice is a good base for day trips. Spiš Castle, one of the largest castle ruins in Europe, is ninety minutes by car. The High Tatras are ninety minutes by train or car. Slovak Paradise National Park is seventy-five minutes. But the city itself holds enough for two full days of walking, looking, and drinking cheap beer on pedestrian streets where nobody hassles you.
The practical note: the cathedral tower closes in bad weather. The museum reduces hours in winter. The singing fountain shuts off after October. Plan for summer or early autumn, when the streets are warm and the city is at its most relaxed.
By Amara Okafor
Nigerian-British wellness practitioner and cultural historian. Amara specializes in traditional healing practices and spiritual tourism. Certified yoga instructor and Ayurvedic consultant who writes about finding inner peace through cultural immersion.