Vysoke Tatry Things to Do

This trail is a difficult one mainly because of its length. To get from Polana pod Muran'om to the pass directly beneath L'adovy Stit (the Ice Peak) you need at least five hours one way. The summit itself can only be climbed with a local guide, but even the view from the pass, called Sedielko (2372 m a.s.l.), is magnificent on a clear day.
As you walk to it along the valley for a long time you are accompanied by the Javorinka stream. Then the trail turns into a rocky path and starts climbing up, steeply at places, the spruce is replaced by dwarf mountain pine wood, later to give way to just moss in the higher parts. It gets cold even on a summer day, but you hardly feel it as the sun is burning your face. You are in the High Tatras! You feel free and on top of the world, but maybe also exhausted. Time to go back, another three or four hours. You can take a different route now if you wish. See my next tip.
For more pictures of this trail see the travelogue.

Javorina is a tiny village around 3 km away from the Polish - Slovakian border crossing at Lysa Polana. The road goes down quite steeply all the way to the village so don't try walking with your heavy rucksack in the opposite direction to get to Poland. Take a bus instead. The local people mostly earn their living working for the TANAP, the Tatransky National Park, there is little income from tourists there. Only a few people let out rooms to tourists - look for the notice 'Privat'. There is a small shop in the village, which, like the post office, closed at 3 pm. when we went there a few years ago. There is also a bar, no village could do without it, which used to serve hot meals, but when we were there last, concentrated on what Poles, the most frequent visitors here, needed most - all kinds of alcohols, which are cheaper in Slovakia than in Poland. But they also sell other foodstuffs, so if you are back from a long hike in the mountains, hungry and thirsty, you can count on them. It used to be closed on one day a week though. Can't remember but promise to find out if it was Saturday or Wednesday.

If you take an old asphalt road from Strbske Pleso to Popradske Pleso, after about an hour you will reach the symbolic cemetery commemorating all those who died in the Tatras. The colourful decorations on the crosses somehow give the place a cheerful look, which the mostly young, and therefore inexperienced, mountaineers, might have liked.

1 more image

To get to Hrebienok you can take a short ride by cable railway from Stary Smokovec.
There is a cafe at the top, but the views are largely hidden by the forest, or were rather. In last year's gale so many spruce trees were uprooted or broken that the views must have changed enormously. A walk back to town is easy but you may first want to see the Studeny Potok Waterfall taking a short trail down. There are more trails leading from there, which you may want to follow, check with the map.

2 more images

If you go up the steep trail from Tatranska Polianka to Sliezsky Dom, the hotel at the end of the Velicka Valley, this is the view that you will get as a reward for your effort. Velicke Pleso - a jewel set in the Tatra rocks is a sight not to be missed. More trails lead on from here, consult your guidebook or map.

This trail starts in Tatranska Polianka and leads along a path dotted with rocks up to Sliezsky Dom, a hotel in the middle of the Tatras. If you are staying there, you can get permission to drive all the way up - there is a proper tarmac road, but not otherwise. The path offers some short cuts so is more practical for walkers. Both are quite steep at places. And of course you climb up there for the view, which I'll show in my next tip.

3 more images

If you don't find anywhere to stay in Javorina, which is very likely, drive on towards Zdiar, which is a big village with a large number of pensions, at least three restaurants (now maybe more), two small museums, a ski lift or two and more opportunities for entertaining. There is a trail in the Belianske Tatras starting here as well. More about it in another tip. What I like most about Zdiar though is the wonderful view of the Belianske Tatras towering in the distance. If you stop in a lay-by just before the village, you can visit a small restaurant where you can eat at tables outdoors admiring the scenery. It's beautiful and quiet there unless a coachful of tourists arrives at the same time. Because one of the ski-lifts is situated there as well, it might be a little touristy in winter, too. The photo of the Belianske Tatras with a blanket of new snow was taken in September.

A walk along the Belovodska river valley is one of the nicest and, to a point, easiest route in the High Tatras. The trail leads along the Bela Voda with the river on your right and the mountains on your left. The river marks the border between Poland and Slovakia, its Polish name is Bialka. In the past you would encounter Slovak military patrols in the area, who could ask you to show them your passport. On the Polish side in the distance you can see tourists on their way to Morskie Oko, the famous lake in the heart of the Polish Tatras. The first leg of your walk brings you to the foresters' lodge at Bela Voda, where you can have a rest and a drink of spring water.