Kysuce Village Museum and Forest Railway, Vychylovka

The Kysuce Village Museum (Múzeum kysuckej dediny) is an open-air museum in the Chmúra valley, in the Vychylovka part of the village of Nová Bystrica, in the far north of Slovakia close to the Polish border. It is the ethnographic open-air exhibition of the Kysuce Museum in Čadca, which is run by the Žilina Self-Governing Region. The valley lies within the Kysuce Protected Landscape Area, so the old timber houses stand among wooded slopes rather than on the edge of a town.

The museum owes its existence to water. When the Nová Bystrica reservoir was planned in Kysuce, the villages of Riečnica and Harvelka were to disappear beneath it. The foundation stone of the museum was laid on 11 October 1974 and the first part of the exhibition opened in 1981, by which time 22 of the planned 69 buildings had been erected. The museum aims to show how the people of Kysuce lived, worked and celebrated in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.

An integral part of the museum is the Historical Logging Switchback Railway (Historická lesná úvraťová železnica, HLÚŽ). It is a surviving section of the Kysuce–Orava forest railway, which carried timber from 1926 to 1971. Its switchback system lets the train climb almost 218 m over a straight-line distance of just one and a half kilometres: the train stops several times and reverses direction. According to the museum it is one of only two such systems preserved in Europe; since 1991 the line has been a Slovak national cultural monument.

What to see

• Farmsteads from Riečnica — most houses were moved from a village that no longer exists: the "U Rybov" farmstead (a house from 1810), the "Do Potoka" farmstead with house, stable, barn and sheepfold, and the farm of the former village mayor Adam Poništ.
• The "U Hruškuliaka" farmstead — an example of scattered hamlet settlement: two houses, a barn and a stable with a granary.
• The inn from Korňa — a late 19th-century log building, plus a house from Oščadnica with a doorway dated 1806 and a lodging house for forest workers from Dunajov.
• Technical buildings — a water mill and sawmill from Klubina and Ragan's mill from Harvelka.
• The masonry Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary from Zborov nad Bystricou (first quarter of the 19th century) and a cemetery with wrought-iron crosses.
• Cholvárky — seasonal shepherds' dwellings standing in their original place in the valley; small fields with three-field crop rotation have been recreated next to the houses.

Some of the houses keep their original furnishings: stoves, beds, spinning wheels and kitchenware. During the season the museum holds themed Sundays with folk groups, demonstrations of old crafts and family and calendar customs.

Practical information

The open-air museum is open daily from May to October, and in winter only on a few festive days in December; the exact schedule and prices are in the "At a glance" box. Tickets for the museum and the train are sold separately. In 2026 the forest railway runs to its own timetable: a diesel train goes from Skanzen station to the First Switchback and back (6.8 km), and a motor draisine to the Beskyd saddle and back (12 km, all switchbacks, about 80 minutes). The museum recommends buying train tickets in advance, as they are valid only for the time printed on them.

Vychylovka lies about 23 km in a straight line south-east of Čadca; it is easiest to reach by car via Nová Bystrica. Seeing the museum takes 1.5–2 hours; with a train ride allow half a day. Paths are earth and grass and part of the grounds is on a slope; according to OSM, wheelchair access is limited. Children have plenty of space here, plus animals, the train and holiday programmes.

Nearby: trails and peaks

The museum is a handy start or finish for walks in the Kysuce Beskids. The Vychylovka, Rycierky – Oravská Lesná, Ustrig trail passes right by the museum and leads to Oravská Lesná, where the Orava part of the same forest railway operates. Please note that the Orava Forest Railway (Oravská lesná železnica) has been closed since 19 October 2026 until further notice for track repairs — check before you travel. A shorter option is Vychylovka Šudovci – Sedlo Príslop to the border pass with Poland, and the local valley can be explored on the Vychylovka, Pavelkovia – Vychylovka, Koleno trail. Combining a hike with a draisine ride to the Beskyd saddle makes a good plan for a summer day.

Official website: kysuckemuzeum.sk

Photos: young shanahan, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; romano1999, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Janahuu (talk), CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Manfred Kopka, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Michał Derela, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.