Experience the best of Košice

Košice stands in the Hornád valley in eastern Slovakia, close to the Hungarian border. Its old town is built around a long, wide main street, Hlavná, lined with pastel-coloured townhouses, cafés and fountains. At its centre stands the Cathedral of St Elisabeth, the largest church in Slovakia and often described as the easternmost Gothic cathedral in Europe, begun in the fourteenth century.

The State Theatre, with its singing fountain in front, and the Urban Tower, a medieval bell tower, are other landmarks. Košice was European Capital of Culture in 2013, and the city holds a treasure of gold coins found in 1935 in the East Slovak Museum. The Dobšiná Ice Cave and the limestone plateaus of the Slovak Karst lie to the west, and the vineyards of Tokaj straddle the border to the south-east.

Bryndzové halušky, small potato dumplings with soft sheep's cheese and bacon, are the national dish and appear on menus across the city, along with cabbage soup and fried lángos bread. The marathon held here each autumn is the oldest in Europe. The old town is at its best on a clear spring morning.