The High Tatras Mountains and Slovakia (I)

Crawling through southern Poland

Departing from our camp in The Sieradowice Landscape Park, we still needed to drive another 810 km to complete the rest of the letter ‘i’. I split the trip into two stages. The first would take us over the Poland-Slovakia border and into the High Tatras Mountains, the second through Hungary and into Romania.

The Planned Route

The route I chose in southern Poland was extremely slow going. After hours on the road, meandering through tiny village after tiny village, darkness was approaching fast. In light of our poor progress, we decided to stop and camp at the Magura Ski Park on the Polish side of the border. The area and it’s surroundings were incredibly peaceful.

Our secluded spot from above

Hello Slovakia!

The next morning, we finally crossed into Slovakia! Pausing the GPS at Prešov, we changed direction and headed for a mini break in the High Tatras Mountains.

The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains run along the border of northern Slovakia and southern Poland. As we approached, they rose spectacularly in front of us. The range comprises of 29 peaks over 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) with the tallest, Gerlachovský štít, reaching 2655 m (8,711 ft).

The High Tatras

After some research and deliberation, we decided to stay in an area famous for it’s ski resorts – Vysoke Tatry. This small town sits at the foot of the mountains.

Our spot outside Vysoke Tatry

Lomnicky Stit

Camp secured for the night, we wasted no time in heading up Lomnický štít – one of the highest peaks in the range. Short of time, we opted for the cable car instead of hiking and were soon towering above the valley below…

One the way up!

There are numerous route options for summer visitors to this beautiful range. If we’d had better weather, we would have continued beyond the Lomnický štít cable car station up the Lomnické sedlo chairlift. The lift passes weren’t cheap considering the season (27 EU each), but we felt it was well worth experiencing. For those who have more time and/or don’t want to pay for the lift passes, it’s possible to hike the entire route. There are a couple of restaurants and bars on the way up for those thirsty hikers in need of fuel.