Low Tatras and Liptov — caves, Chopok and Vlkolínec
Liptov packs a dripstone cave, the Chopok cable car, a reservoir and a UNESCO wooden village close enough that a single base covers them all. The drives between the sights are short, so with children on board you spend far more time outdoors than behind the wheel. Six days is about right: two go on the drive there and back, four stay for the mountains, the water and the log cottages. If the weather in the Low Tatras turns, you simply swap the order of the days and head for the water or underground instead.
There are two ways out of Prague: the D1 to Brno and on through Uherské Hradiště and the Starý Hrozenkov border crossing to Trenčín, or the northern line through Olomouc and Ostrava and the crossing at Český Těšín to Žilina. Both feed into the Slovak D1, which runs straight into Liptov. It is a full day behind the wheel, so plan an unhurried lunch stop and do not try to squeeze in the first sight as well. You reach the campsite near Liptovský Mikuláš in the afternoon, level the vehicle and plug in the electrics.
Demänovská dolina climbs from Liptovský Mikuláš up towards Jasná and hides two show caves in its lower section. The main one is the Demänovská jaskyňa slobody: tours are led by a guide at fixed times and tickets cannot be booked in advance, so in summer arrive with time to spare and expect to wait a while for a free slot. Inside it is around seven degrees and the basic circuit has more than nine hundred steps, so a jacket and sturdy shoes are not over-cautious. If you fancy a second cave, you pass the Demänovská ľadová jaskyňa on the way up — it sits lower in the valley, closer to Liptovský Mikuláš.
From Liptov you approach Chopok from the northern side, that is through Jasná; the southern side already lies in the Banská Bystrica region and there is no sense in driving around to it. In the main summer season the cable cars run roughly from half past eight until five in the afternoon, but at the beginning and the end of the season there are servicing shutdowns or weekend-only operation — check the day before what is running, or walk up to the ridge on foot. It is windy at the top even in August, so take an extra layer with you even in the finest weather. The afternoon leaves time for a walk in the valley or for the bike park if you have brought bicycles.
A day by the water: the northern shore of Liptovská Mara at Liptovský Trnovec has beaches, rental places and a campsite right on the bank. The open surface draws the wind, so it is lively with sailing boats and windsurfers, though swimming tends to be colder than the water looks. If you need a break from the mountains and from the wind, the thermal baths in Bešeňová are within easy reach from here.
Vlkolínec above Ružomberok is on the UNESCO list and people still live there, so among the log cottages you are walking through a living village, not an open-air museum. Cars are not allowed into the village; you park below it and continue on foot, and the access road from Ružomberok is narrow and unpleasant in a large vehicle, so the sensible move is to leave the motorhome down in Ružomberok. A guided tour in Slovak or English has to be booked at least a day ahead. For the afternoon, Čutkovská dolina on the western edge of Ružomberok works well — an easy path along a stream that even small children and bicycles manage.
The way back copies the outward route, just in the opposite order. If you set off right after breakfast you are home in the afternoon, with time left to clear out the vehicle and empty the tanks. Anyone who does not fancy a whole day behind the wheel can break the drive up with a longer lunch stop somewhere along the Váh.
Up to 3.5 t: for Slovak motorways and expressways you need an electronic vignette from eznamka.sk — ten days come to around €11, a month around €17 and a year €90. It is bought online against the registration number and checked by cameras, with nothing to stick on the windscreen. Over 3.5 t: what decides is the category in the registration document, not the weight — vehicles in category M1, which is where most motorhomes belong, pay the vignette regardless of how much they weigh, while the electronic toll with an on-board unit (emyto.sk) applies only to vehicles over 3.5 t in the other categories. For a combination over 3.5 t total weight, a separate vignette is bought for the tow vehicle and for the trailer. On the Czech part of the route the Czech vignette applies. There is no toll mountain road or tunnel along the way, but do budget for admission to the cave, cable car tickets in Jasná and parking at the main sights.
MaraCamping (ATC Liptovský Trnovec), Liptovský Trnovec — a campsite right on the shore of Liptovská Mara with caravan pitches, cabins and beach facilities; it runs mainly through the summer season. · Demänová Rezort, Liptovský Mikuláš–Demänová (Demänovská cesta) — four caravan pitches with electricity and water hook-ups and their own waste point, the closest option to Demänovská dolina and to Jasná. · Camp Borová Sihoť, Liptovský Hrádok — a large campsite by the Váh with caravan pitches, cabins, a shared kitchen and washrooms in the hotel building. · Chalúpkovo Resort, Liptovská Štiavnica — a year-round resort with caravan pitches, electricity and water hook-ups, a restaurant and a wellness centre; it lies between Ružomberok and Bešeňová.
Spend the nights on a campsite: within Low Tatras National Park and the protected areas around it, the nature protection act forbids camping and bivouacking outside designated places. Treat the car parks in Demänovská dolina and in Jasná as a daytime stop, not as an overnight one. Liptov is compact enough that it pays to stay in one place for the whole trip and drive out to the sights unladen — moving from campsite to campsite saves nothing here.
The nearest service point to Demänovská dolina is the caravan area at Demänová Rezort on Demänovská cesta in Liptovský Mikuláš: water and electricity hook-ups and its own waste point. Full facilities with showers, a laundry and a shared kitchen are at Camp Borová Sihoť in Liptovský Hrádok, where the operator says the showers work around the clock. Fill up with water at the campsite before you drive up the valley and to the cable cars, so you do not have to sort it out up there.
Adria Coral XL
The Coral XL is an overcab with up to six berths, so you can set off for Liptov with the children and the grandparents alike, and the kids take sleeping in the overcab as part of the adventure. At the same time it stays under seven and a half metres, which you will appreciate more on the narrow road to Vlkolínec and in the tight Demänovská dolina than an extra metre in the living area.
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