Europe

Insurance

 

We recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.  You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for all the activities you want to undertake.  For more general information see Travel Insurance.

If things do go wrong when you are oversees then this is How We Can Help.

Registration

Register with our LOCATE service to tell us when and where you are travelling abroad or where you live abroad so our consular and crisis staff can provide better assistance to you in an emergency.  More information about registering with LOCATE can be found here.

 

Consular assistance

 
The Consular Section of the Embassy can provide assistance in an emergency such as the arrest, serious accident, illness or the death of a British national.  The Consular Section can also assist you if your passport is lost or stolen and can help you arrange to transfer of funds.  For some services a fee is charged.  Please see contact details below. Please note that the Embassy is only able to issue Emergency Passports, which are good to travel back to the UK. Applications for full passports are now handled by the British Passport Processing Service in Northern Europe which is based at the British Consulate-General in Dusseldorf. More information on the passport issuing process can be found on their website, http://ukingermany.fco.gov.uk/en/passports/welcome. Applicants are advised to allow 10 working days for a new full passport

Students

 

For students studying in a non-Slovak college, please note that there is no entitlement to use student tickets on any of Slovakia’s municipal bus services even if you are carrying a student card.  Only students holding Slovak student cards qualify for the cut-price tickets.  Fines of €46are levied if stopped.  Students are advised to purchase full price tickets.

 

Physically handicapped travellers

 

Slovakia, in general, does not cater for those that are physically handicapped.  It is normal for cars to park on pavements.  Dropped kerbs are seen as helping drivers to mount the kerb without damaging the car tyres and suspension.  Public transport invariably requires large steps to be climbed.  Buses and trams accelerate from stops at great speed and can catch visitors by surprise.  Some effort is now being taken to make buildings more accessible, but the vast majority of buildings only have steps rather than ramps.

 

Customs Regulations

 

Travellers entering the UK from European Union countries do not normally pay any UK tax or duty on excise goods they have bought tax and duty paid in EU countries for own use. But there are special rules for cigarettes and some other tobacco products from some EU countries.

 

The UK is maintaining limits on the amount of cigarettes and some tobacco products that travellers are able to bring in to the UK for own use from nine European Union Member States (including Slovakia), without paying UK duty. For Slovakia the limit is 200 cigarettes.

 

Anyone who is carrying more than the limits should pay UK duty on those goods by entering the Customs red channel or by using the red point telephone. If travellers enter the Customs blue channel with more than the limits, then all of their tobacco may be seized.

 

Money

 

On 1 January 2009 Slovakia joined the Eurozone. The Euro (€) has replaced the Slovak Crown (SKK) as Slovakia’s national currency. Commercial banks will continue to exchange, free of charge, Crown bank notes until 31 December 2009 Banks will no longer exchange coins. Since 15 June 2007 new legislation on the controls of cash entering or leaving the EU apply in all Member States.  Any person entering or leaving the EU will have to declare the cash that they are carrying if this amounts to €10,000 or more; this includes cheques, travellers' cheques, money orders, etc.  This will not apply to anyone travelling via the EU to a non-EU country, as long as the original journey started outside of the EU nor to those travelling within the EU.

Make sure you bring enough money and keep it safe.  Travellers' cheques are the safest way to carry money but make sure that you buy them from an organisation with agents in Slovakia.  Change cash and travellers' cheques at proper banks or bureaux de change:  kiosks, although legal, offer poorer exchange rates and there is a risk of being robbed by thieves loitering nearby.  Neither Scottish nor Northern Irish bank notes can be exchanged in Slovakia.

ATM machines, which accept UK bank or credit cards (Cirrus, Maestro or Visa), are common.  Shops - particularly in the main tourist areas - increasingly accept credit cards, but are sometimes reluctant to accept cards issued by foreign banks.  If you intend to pay for something by card do check first that that the shop will accept your card and that it can be read (there are sometimes problems with "Maestro").  We also recommend that you check your statements carefully for transactions you did not make.  

Make sure you know whom to contact to cancel stolen cards and/or how to obtain replacement travellers' cheques.  If your money is lost or stolen you can arrange for friends or relatives in the UK to transfer money through Western Union to the Tatrabanka.  Call Western Union in the UK 0800 833 833 for information.