All the buildings but one were flattened during WWII.
The vacation village of Oravice, whose roots go back to 1608, lies north of the Západné Tatry (Western Tatras) mountain range near the Polish border. In that year, the owner of Orava Castle, Juraj Thurzo, began to colonise the heavily-forested region.
The first settlement, Bystrá, was founded in 1643. The lord of the castle, Štefan Thököly, dispersed the settlement after 16 years because most of the settlers earned their living through poaching and banditry due to the harsh living conditions.
The territory lost almost its entire population, a development which was welcomed by the town of Tvrdošín as the lord allowed its citizens to continue to graze cattle, scythe grass and harvest wood in the area. Tvrdošín did not begin a new settlement in the area and it remained virtually uninhabited until in the 19th century.
Increased interest in this beautiful area caused a minor building boom in the 1930s when 15 family vacation homes were built.
