The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', ; ; ) are a low
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
, about 100 km long, and part of the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
. The mountains are situated in Western
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, covering the area from
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
to
Nové Mesto nad Váhom, and northeastern
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, where a very small part called
Hundsheimer Berge (or Hainburger Berge) is located south of the
Devín Gate
Devín Gate, Hainburger Gate or Hungarian Gates (, ; ) is a natural gate in the Danube valley at the border of Slovakia and Austria. It is one out of four geomorphological areas of the Devín Carpathians, part of the Little Carpathians mountain r ...
. The Little Carpathians are bordered by the
Záhorie Lowland in the west and the
Danubian Lowland
::''The Serbian lowland is treated under Danubian Plain (Serbia)''
The Danubian Lowland or Danube Lowland () is the name of the part of Little Alföld (Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'') situated in Slovakia, located between the Danube, the Litt ...
in the east.
In 1976, the Little Carpathians were declared a protected area under the name
Little Carpathians Protected Landscape Area, covering . The area is rich in floral and faunal diversity and contains numerous
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
s, most notably the
Bratislava Castle
Bratislava Castle (, ; ; ) is the main castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The massive rectangular building with four corner towers stands on an isolated rocky hill of the Little Carpathians, directly above the Danube river, in ...
, and natural
cave
Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...
s.
Driny is the only cave open to the public. The three highest mountains are
Záruby at ,
Vysoká at , and Vápenná at .
Description
Geomorphologically, the Little Carpathians belong to the
Alps-Himalaya System, the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
sub-system, the
Western Carpathians province, and the
Inner Western Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya S ...
sub-province.
The Little Carpathians are further divided into four parts, from south to north: the
Devín Carpathians (), the
Pezinok Carpathians (), the
Brezová Carpathians () and the
Čachtice Carpathians ().
The mountains are densely forested (90% being
broad-leaved tree
A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with n ...
s), and the southeastern part contains extensive vineyards (e.g.
Rača,
Pezinok
Pezinok (; in the local dialect ''Pezinek''; ; ; ) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2023, had a population of 24,443.
Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly on vi ...
, and
Modra
Modra (, , Latin: ''Modur'') is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 9,201 as of 2013. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathian mountains) and is an excellent centre for ...
). Several castles or castle ruins are situated in the Little Carpathians, for example
Devín
Devín (, , ) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, located in the Bratislava IV district. Originally a separate village at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, Devín maintained its rural character and today, it is on ...
,
Čachtice
Čachtice (, ) is a village in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in western Slovakia with a population of 4,010 (as of 2014).
The village is situated between the Danubian Lowland and the Little Carpathians. It is best known for the ruins of the nea ...
,
Červený Kameň
Červený Kameň () is a village and municipality in Ilava District in the Trenčín Region of north-western Slovakia.
Etymology
Both Slovak and Hungarian names mean "red stone". The first written mention about the village is "''possesio seu will ...
, and
Smolenice castles.
Geologically, the mountain range is part of the
Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains. There are several
active fault
An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...
s which have produced earthquakes. Of them the most notable is the Dobra Voda fault (1906 and 1930 produced 8.5° and 7.5°
EMS-98 or equal to
= 5.7 and 5.0). This particular fault is closely monitored because of its proximity to the
Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant, approximately 15 km away. The Little Carpathians are seismically one of the most active regions in Slovakia and the epicentres of many earthquakes with an approximate magnitude of 2.5 on the
Richter magnitude scale
The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...
are located here.
[Moczo, P. (2011). ''Výsledky v seizmológii'' v r. 2009–2011 v SR. In Bratislava (Slovak Republic): ''Katedra astronómie, fyziky Zeme a meteorológie Fakulty fyziky, matematiky a informatiky'' Univerzity Komenského.: IX. Slovenská geofyzikálna konferencia. 22.6.2011]
There are a total of eight
karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
areas in the Little Carpathians: the Devín Carpathians, Borinka (Pajštún), Cajlan, Kuchyňa-orešany, Plavecký, Smolenice, Dobrovodský, and Čachtice karsts. The most important karst forms include the caves Deravá, Tmavá skala, Driny, and Čachtická, and additional caves along the Borinský potok.
Driny, a limestone cave, is the only cave open to the public. Major streams include
Vydrica and
Suchý jarok
Suchý is a municipality and village in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants.
Suchý lies approximately north-east of Blansko, north of Brno, and east of Prague
Prague ( ; ...
.
Highest peaks
History

While being a relatively low mountain range, the Little Carpathians have long been considered a formidable mountain barrier, often attaining a height of 500 meters, as they are surrounded by various lowlands. In the past, various types of ore were mined in the Little Carpathians, including ores containing
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
,
antimony
Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
,
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...
, and
pyrite
The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...
.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Little Carpathians were the birthplace of the partisan group ''Janko Kráľ''. Insurgency in the mountains lasted until their occupation by the
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
in 1945.
Tourism
The Little Carpathians are a popular tourist destination in Western
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
. The mountains are used for
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
,
cycling
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
,
tramping,
backpacking
Backpacking may refer to:
* Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel
* Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness
* Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...
, automobile and motorcycle tourism,
alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...
,
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...
, and other winter sports. The mountain range contains a dense network of trails, and the recreational infrastructure is relatively well developed, especially in the south. The Little Carpathians are a popular destination for the inhabitants of
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
and other larger cities in the region.
Since the Middle Ages, the area has been known for its wines and wine-making traditions. Well known centers of local wine-making include
Svätý Jur
Svätý Jur (; ; ; ; formerly ''Jur pri Bratislave'') is a small historical town northeast of Bratislava, located in the Bratislava Region. The city is situated on the slopes of Little Carpathians mountains and surrounded by typical terraced vine ...
,
Modra
Modra (, , Latin: ''Modur'') is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 9,201 as of 2013. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathian mountains) and is an excellent centre for ...
, and
Pezinok
Pezinok (; in the local dialect ''Pezinek''; ; ; ) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2023, had a population of 24,443.
Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly on vi ...
. The main tourist centers include the Slovak capital
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
,
Pezinská Baba (halfway between
Pezinok
Pezinok (; in the local dialect ''Pezinek''; ; ; ) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2023, had a population of 24,443.
Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly on vi ...
and
Pernek), and
Zochova chata (near
Modra
Modra (, , Latin: ''Modur'') is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 9,201 as of 2013. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathian mountains) and is an excellent centre for ...
).
Images
File:Krslenica 12.jpg, Kršlenica rocks
File:Sandberg 12.jpg, Sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
rock Sandberg
File:Hlbociansky vodopad in summer.jpg, Hlboča waterfall
A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge
of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...
File:Cave Pieskova 01.jpg, Cave Piesková
File:Cave Kabele 01.jpg, Cave Kabele
File:PP01 2.jpg, Speleothem
A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation made by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depen ...
s in the cave PP1
See also
*
Geomorphological division of Slovakia
*
Tourism in Slovakia
Tourism in Slovakia offers natural landscapes, mountains, caves, medieval castles and towns, folk architecture, spas and ski resorts.
More than 5 million people visited Slovakia in 2017, and the most attractive destinations are the capital of B ...
References
External links
Little Carpathiansa
Spectacular SlovakiaLittle Carpathians Wine Route
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of Slovakia
Mountain ranges of Austria
Mountain ranges of the Western Carpathians