Orava Forest Railway

The Orava Forest Railway is a unique technical monument and one of the few preserved narrow-gauge railways in the world. Originally used to transport timber from the Orava forests, today it is a popular tourist attraction. History began to be written during the First World War, when the railway was built with the help of prisoners of war and launched on 27 July 1918. The original line ran from Oravská Lesná through Zákamenné to Lokec, but it had no connection with the public railway network. This problem was solved in 1926 by the construction of a branch line section, which overcame the great height differences by means of five branch lines and connected the Orava Railway with the Kysucká Forest Railway. The combined Kysuce-Orava Forest Railway operated successfully until 1967. During the Second World War it was damaged by partisans so that it could not be used by the German occupation troops. Today, tourist trains depart from the Tanečník station near the village of Oravská Lesná. The three-kilometre-long line leads to the station Sedlo Beskyd at an altitude of 935 metres above sea level. The journey takes about twenty minutes and offers beautiful views of the Orava countryside. At the finishing station, you can climb up to the observation tower and admire the panorama of the surrounding area. The whole trip, including the stay at the top, takes one hour and ten minutes. At the Tanečník station there is a car park, a depot for historic vehicles, ticket and souvenir sales, an exhibition on the history of the railway, a children's playground and an interesting aviary with peacocks.