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How would you compare Slovakia with the Czech Republic?

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Very Different.

Slovakia used to be part of the former Cechoslovakia, but in 1992 they peacfully split.

I would say that Slovakia is more rural than Czech. Also its a smaller country with a lesser population than to Czech.

The only thing i can say is magical about Slovakia are the Tatra mountains. They honestly are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. With mountain tops reaching over 3000m its quite amazing sight.

They have a slighty different language than the Czechs, they do not pronounce their accents therefore it sounds a lot softer that the more harsh sounding Czech language.

I wouldn't really recommend Bratislava becuase its dark, dull and boring. The Shakespeare plays at the castle are the only nice things to see, but they wont be playing till summer 2008.

Honestly i would stay to Czech but if you feel more adventerous and are backpacking then i would check slovakia out.

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I was born in Slovakia and sort of grew up there, in Kosice. I'm pretty fluent with the language although I will have a little trouble when its spoken too fast. I tend to go back every couple years or so to see family. This year I flew into Prague with my parents and rented a car from prague and drove it to Kosice. Last time I was in Prague was when it was still one country with slovakia.

Interesting thing to note when we went through customs the officers gave us extremely dirty looks and heavily interrogated us, asked us why we were here, why going through czech, not directly into slovakia etc. Thought for a sec we may not even get in. It upset my mom a lot and I was baffled as to why they were so strict with us, and she told me it was because we had US passports with our country of origin being Slovakia. Any idea what's up with that?

Also what is the gypsy situation like in prague (or czech in general), because I know in slovakia its very real and a bad problem, esp with tourists. Sounds like those people running the currency scams and pick pocketing are the gypsies (cigani as well call them). In Kosice you can generally tell them apart because of their darker skin tone, and they are generally looked down upon and treated poorly (for good reason for the most part).

Anyway I agree about the women, they are the best looking in the eastern european area, esp czech & slovak, you will DEF not find any uggos or anything like that. Also agree about the tatras, especially the high tatras, they are amazing. I had a chance to visit them this past easter on the slovak side of them, you can actually take a lift all the way to the very top of the highest part of them, just above the clouds, its truly an amazing sight. Anyway cool to see a czech around here, I might go back for the EPT there, but we'll see, my mother might have a heart attack if I told her I was going back there lol.