encourage them to fully explore. To visit either Poland or Slovakia, most English-speaking visitors do not require a visa for a visit of less than 90 days.
The High Tatras are the highest and most northerly part of the Carpathian Mountains, a sickle-shaped range, 1200km long, which starts near Bratislava, then passes through Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and on into Romania, to finish at the Kazan Gorge on the Danube. In general, the Carpathians are not very high as mountains go – over half the peaks fail to reach 1000m. But the High Tatras are a notable exception – nearly 100 of their more than 500 rocky summits surpass 2000m, ten come very close to or exceed 2500m, and the highest reaches 2654m. With so many walking routes surrounding the summits, you can view most of them from many different angles – even set yourself ‘name that peak’ competitions.
A miscellany of delights is provided by this compact microcosm of alpine scenery, which has been designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. This designation gives strict protection to a wide variety of natural habitats and an immense diversity of wildlife, through the existence of neighbouring national parks in Slovakia and Poland, which together cover all of the High Tatras, as well as the adjoining White Tatras and most of the Western Tatras.
The High Tatras were one of the few parts of the Carpathians to be glaciated during the last ice age, and in an area just 27km by 10km there is much evidence of this. Small glaciers formed dozens of valleys containing more than a hundred lakes and tarns, and left moraines and moulded corries, ravines and basins.
The erosion of many different types of rock – granite, gneiss, sandstone, limestone and schists – has resulted in a wide variety of beautiful scenery, recalling that of the Alps, yet in a much smaller area. In just one day you may see needlepoint summits, toothy ridges, massive cliffs, deep valleys, mirror-surfaced tarns, tinkling streams and splashing waterfalls. Other areas recall English landscapes on a grand scale – graceful, grey, rounded domes with grass-covered shoulders, shallow valleys and dry streambeds.
Although most of the villages are purpose-built mountain resorts, some date from the late 18th century, and several distinct traditional styles of architecture are on display. Many of the buildings are full of character, with much use of wood. Blending well with the pine trees, the colours chosen to decorate walls, beams, balconies and window frames offer a soothing mixture of mustard, custard, chocolate and cream, while rust-red dominates the roofs.
Typical local architecture – the Jutrzenka cultural centre in a Zakopane park
Every upside must have its downside though, and to appreciate the picturesque you will sometimes have to tolerate the grotesque – the architecture of the 1970s and 1980s did no favours for the Slovak Tatras. Now, because of the fragile ecology, and in realisation of the mistakes of the past, there is a ban on major new developments in the national park areas. (An ‘ill wind’, the Tatranská Bora – see page 72 – while opening up some splendid views, also exposed some of the concrete horrors that had previously been hidden by trees.)
Zakopane and its surrounding villages, in Poland, have retained their attractive and very distinctive styles of architecture, but some walkers may find the popularity of parts of this side of the Tatras rather off-putting, as a large proportion of Poland’s 38 million population makes its way to these gorgeous mountains for holidays and weekends. Fortunately, they tend to congregate in half a dozen honeypots, leaving most of the footpath network relatively uncrowded.
For the urban-dwelling visitor, the air of the High Tatras seems incredibly pure, enhanced by the altitude, the scent of pine and (except in Zakopane) the low level of motorised traffic, which is banned from the mountain valleys, even where there are roads. This is an ideal location for a mountain holiday, and especially for the adventurous walker. It is an area that offers enough variety to fill a fortnight, yet small enough to provide the satisfaction of being able to explore it reasonably thoroughly in the same period.
The walking in the area covered by this book falls fairly distinctly into the Slovak and Polish sectors, so it is convenient to place the route descriptions in a separate section for each country. In Slovakia, as the Western Tatras is quite difficult to reach from the main resorts, nearly all the walking covered by this book is in the High Tatras, plus a small amount in the White Tatras. In Poland, much of the Western Tatras is easily accessible from the main resort of Zakopane, so these as well as the Polish High Tatras are included. We start, though, with an overview of general topics common to both countries.
Background
Tatras is the word used by English-speakers as the plural of Tatra, although in both Polish and Slovak the plural form is Tatry. It applies to several mountain ranges, in total 78km long and on average 10km wide, that straddle the border between Slovakia and Poland. There is also the completely separate Low Tatras range to the south, wholly within Slovakia, and not covered by this book. The diagrammatic maps in this book (on pages 2–3 and 4–5) provide a general overview of the area, but to familiarise yourself with these ranges it will be more helpful to refer to one of the larger scale walking maps described on pages 41–45.
Written across and around the mountainous areas on these walking maps are several names in capital letters. The two largest are simply POLSKO (Poland) and SLOVENSKO (Slovakia). Next comes TATRY (Tatras), which applies to the whole region, both in Slovakia and Poland. It stretches from the town of Zuberec in the west to the valley of the Biela river in the east, and between the line of valleys to the north (in one of which lies the Polish town of Zakopane) and the Sub-Tatras Basin (the broad valleys of the rivers Poprad and Vah) to the south.
Next in size come ZÁPADNÉ TATRY (Slovak) or ZACHODNIE TATRY (Polish), meaning Western Tatras; VYSOKÉ TATRY (Slovak) or WYSOKIE TATRY (Polish), meaning High Tatras; and BELIANSKE TATRY (Slovakia) or BIELSKIE TATRY (Polish), meaning White Tatras. On some maps you may see Východné or Wschodnie Tatry (Eastern Tatras), but this term is rarely used.
Surrounding the mountain ranges are the low-lying regions of Podtatranská Kotlina (Sub-Tatras Basin), Liptov and Spiš in Slovakia, and Podhale (Below the Mountain Meadows) and Rów Podtatrzański (Sub-Tatras Trench) in Poland. These do not concern us much, except that you will frequently be overlooking them from the mountains.
Some maps may show neighbouring, lower ranges of hills or mountains. To the north, Pasmo Gubałówskie (Gubałówka Range) features in the walking from Zakopane as described in this book, but most of them will only be seen in the distance from high vantage points in the Tatras: in Slovakia – Skorušinské Vrchy (Front Hills), Chočské Vrchy, Nízke Tatry (Low Tatras), Kozie Chrbty (Goat Ridge), Levočské Vrchy (Lion Hills) and Spišská Magura; in Poland – Zamagurze Spiskie and Pieniny.
The High Tatras extend for 27km in the form of a shallow, upside-down arch, and consist mostly of granite and gneiss rock. With six peaks exceeding 2600m (culminating in Gerlachovský Štít at 2654m), this range lays claim to several ‘highest’ titles – in the Tatras, in Slovakia and in the whole Carpathian chain.
There are many short lateral spurs, most of which descend northward into Poland. A much longer spur extends southwestward into Slovakia for 7km, from near the bottom of the huge crook in the border with Poland to the valley of Kôprová Dolina. Another of 9km reaches north to Lysá Poľana.
The official dividing point between the High and White Tatras is Kopské Sedlo, due north of Starý Smokovec. The dividing point between the High and Western Tatras, depending on whose authority you follow, is one or other of two neighbouring saddles on the Slovak–Polish border northwest of Štrbské Pleso. For Slovakia, it is Ľaliové Sedlo (Liliowe in Polish); for Poland, it is Sucha Przełęcz (Suché Sedlo in Slovak). This dichotomy results in the intervening summit, Beskyd (Slovak) or Beskid (Polish), not knowing whether it belongs to the High or Western Tatras. The valley called Tichá Dolina, which runs southwestwards from Ľaliové Sedlo, is generally considered to be in the High Tatras, although on the maps it appears to lie in the Western Tatras. This may seem nitpicking, but for local people it is a matter of some importance.