Drienčany: Hotels, Karst Landscape and Culture

The municipality of Drienčany lies within the protected Drienčanský kras area, which is known for its karst caves, karst formations and sinkholes. It also features an educational trail through various preserved ecosystems and a reservoir in the immediate vicinity.

Nature

The Small Drienčany Cave has distinctive arched entrance openings. The Great Drienčany Cave is not open to the public because of its importance as a wintering site for bat colonies. The Small Drienčany Cave, on the other hand, is the only publicly accessible cave in the surrounding area.

The Drienčanský kras Educational Trail is currently a 3-kilometre circular route that begins in Drienčany and passes karst formations, sinkholes and depressions, the Great and Small Drienčany Caves, and a karst pond. Its circular route runs through preserved ecosystems of flowing waters, steppes and forests. With 15 stops, the educational trail combines information about natural sciences, nature conservation and history. It is considered an easy walking route, also suitable for children and older people. The educational trail is accessible year-round and can be visited independently without prior registration.

Immediately south of Drienčany lies the Teplý Vrch Reservoir, which offers opportunities for water sports and sport fishing. On 13 June 2026, visitors at the “Creative Workshops with the Region’s Craft Masters” events in Drienčany were able to try traditional crafts in practice and take home a product they had made themselves.

Culture

The Museum of Slovak Fairy Tales is located in the memorial parsonage, where Pavol Emanuel Dobšinský lived and worked for almost 24 years. If you would like to visit the museum, this is only possible by telephone appointment made at least 1 to 2 days in advance. The Evangelical memorial parsonage is a single-storey Classicist building where, among others, Ján Liskai, Gustáv Liskai, Jonatan Dobroslav Čipka, Ján Čajak Jr. and Pavol Dobšinský worked. The Pavol Dobšinský Monument below the parsonage grounds depicts his work with the symbols of a golden feather, a golden horseshoe and golden hair.

The Evangelical church in Drienčany has a wooden coffered ceiling, a carved wooden Protestant gallery and an organ with a Rococo case dating from 1799, which was repaired in 1804. It is accessible via a covered wooden staircase and surrounded by a wall with loopholes.

History

The Evangelical church in Drienčany stands on the Late Romanesque foundations of an earlier sacred building, which was already mentioned in the 13th century and in 1513. The present church was created through a reconstruction in 1793. The church grounds include a Renaissance bell tower dating from the mid-17th century.

Drienčany Castle was built in the 13th century and today survives only as a ruin; its decline had already begun in the 17th century.

Other places: Čerenčany, Husiná, Hostice, Jestice, Babinec, Padarovce, Rimavské Zalužany, Lenka

For the higher-level travel overview: Rimavská Sobota District.