Slovakia has a population of about 5.4 million. Slovaks make up around 80% of the population, with a significant Hungarian minority (about 8%) concentrated in the south along the Hungarian border. Smaller Roma, Czech, Ruthenian, and Ukrainian communities add to the mix.
The majority of Slovaks are Roman Catholic (around 60%), and the church remains influential, particularly in rural areas and eastern Slovakia. Protestant communities exist mainly in the central and northern regions. Eastern Slovakia has a small Greek Catholic population with beautiful wooden churches, several of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Slovaks tend to be reserved with strangers but warm up quickly. Hospitality is important -- if invited to someone's home, bring flowers or a bottle of wine. Remove your shoes at the door. Expect to be well fed and offered slivovica.
The divide between western and eastern Slovakia is noticeable. Bratislava feels cosmopolitan and Western-oriented. The east is more traditional, more rural, and more connected to folk traditions. The folk culture of eastern Slovakia -- embroidered costumes, wooden churches, Easter customs -- is alive and practiced rather than preserved as museum exhibits.
Slovak and Czech are mutually intelligible, and older generations remember the shared Czechoslovak state fondly. Relations with Hungary can be more complicated, a legacy of centuries of Hungarian rule over Slovakia. These tensions occasionally surface in politics but are unlikely to affect travelers.