Holiday Apartment in Drnava: Educational Trail and Mining History

Drnava brings its history to life along paths, at historic buildings and in details passed down through generations. The Poklady Drnavy educational trail begins at the Drnava Ironworks site and is 4.8 kilometres long.

Educational Trail and Culture

The trail has seven stops with information panels in Slovak and Hungarian and is considered an easy family outing suitable for families with small children and school groups. Its forest section offers a view of almost the whole of Drnava. The educational trail also passes a pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) that is more than 300 years old, then descends to the single-storey Baroque-Classical Andrássy manor house and continues to the Chapel of the Virgin Mary. The final stop is the Catholic Church of St Nicholas, dating from 1779.

Traces of Mining

The Dionýz adit is designated a national technical monument. Its portal is the authentically preserved visible above-ground section of the Dionýz adit in the Drnava mining district. In front of the adit there is a shelter, a small pond, benches and a fire pit. In the Drnava ironworks, structural components for the famous Chain Bridge in Budapest were cast in the 1840s. Several gravestones made by the Drnava ironworks can still be found in the local cemetery.

The hillfort site on the summit of Drieňovec is also among the village’s historical traces; it covered a fortified area of more than 20 hectares. The Drnava ironworks building is a two-storey structure in the Neoclassical style. Its façades are divided by 26 blind-arch arcades supported by pilasters. The Andrássy manor house was originally built at the end of the 18th century in the Baroque-Classical style.

Nature and Mountain Views

The Drnava Oak was a finalist in the Slovak Tree of the Year 2020 competition. The municipal chronicle already mentions the old Drnava Oak in 1670. Another landscape perspective is offered by the hiking route that leads from Drnava via Tekvičník, Pipitka, Čipkov vrch, Lipovec and Čertov hrad back to Drnava. On the hike over Pipitka, the karst plateaus and, in the distance, the ridge of the High Tatras can be seen.

On the route near Čertov hrad, two large rocky peaks appear between the trees, about 50 metres apart.

Cycling Routes from Drnava

Visitors can rent an e-bike in Drnava to explore the Poklady Drnavy educational trail and the remains of the old railway. Cycling route 2701 begins in Drnava and leads from there towards Lipovník. It is designated as a medium-difficulty MTB route. The Zádielska cycling route also passes through Drnava; it is 54.5 kilometres long.

Other Places

If you would like to explore more places: Rožňava, Dobšiná, Brzotín, Čierna Lehota, Dedinky, Rejdová, Betliar, Dlhá Ves.

Back to the overarching travel overview: Rožňava.