Trip Report - Solo hiking the High Tatra Mountains and Slovak Paradise in Slovakia
Hi All,
I’ve just got back from an incredible trip to Slovakia in June and thought I’d put together a short trip report. I spent 10 days hiking the High Tatras and Slovak Paradise National Park, and it turned out to be one of my favourite hiking trips. Here are a few things I learnt along the way:
Getting there - I flew from London into a town called Popad which makes a great base to explore both the High Tatras Mountains and the Slovak Paradise. I used a combination of trains and the ride sharing service, bolt, to get around. Although the public transport is quite good (especially the Tatra Electric Rai), services to places like the Slovak Paradise are very infrequent. Also note that there is no public transport between Poprad Airport and the city centre, so you'll need a taxi or Bolt for that short journey.
Accommodation - I stayed at two campsites in a tent: Autocamping Podlesok, located within Slovak Paradise itself, which cost 11 EUR per night (which includes the park entrance fee), and Rijo Camping Stará Lesná, at the foot of the High Tatras, which cost 18 EUR per night. Both campsites were clean, well-equipped, and accepted both cash and card. If you're travelling with a group and can split the cost, I would recommend getting a hotel or guesthouse, as accommodation prices in the area are generally very reasonable and often only slightly more expensive than camping.
Base-camp - For this trip, I used a base camp approach where I pitch up once at a campsite and then explore the various trails as day hikes. No need to carry all your gear each day.
Weather - Keep a close eye on the weather forecast. Afternoon thunderstorms come in fast and can unload a whole lot of rain in a very short time. I used a combination of the general weather report by google, mountain-forecast.com for weather up on the peaks and windy.com hour by hour weather radar.
Navigation - I used a combination of komoot, garmin maps and mapy to get around. MVP has to go to mapy.com as it includes information about the route colour and permitted the direction (gorges can only be hiked uphill).
Here are some notes about each area:
High Tatra Mountains
Being here felt like a smaller version of the Alps. The alpine scenery was amazing and there's plenty of small mountain huts (known as chatas) perfectly located at the best locations.
If you're planning several days of hiking, buy the weekly Tatra Electric Railway pass. At around 16 EUR, it's excellent value compared with paying for individual journeys (6 EUR).
Start your hikes early. Most routes are long, afternoon storms are common, and many restaurants in the resort towns close around 7pm. I found myself limping back a bit too late and completely missing out on a hot meal.
Don't be afraid to use the cable cars to give yourself a head start. It means you can spend more time at the crystal clear lakes, gorgeous waterfalls and friendly mountain huts.
If you're the more adventurous type, there are few technical hikes where you hike from one valley (locally known as dolina) to another via a mountain pass. These crossings are steep, exposed and require extensive use of chains. Personally, I didn't find them too difficult if you take it slow and steady. The biggest challenge was actually other hikers as it can become very crowded and not everyone respects your personal space.
Slovak Paradise
There are many amazing hikes to do which take you through narrow gorges/canyons. It is definitely for the more adventurous as each has a ladder system (Sokolia Dolina has one which is 80m long in total where the longest ladder is a whopping 17 m!), plenty of wooden footbridges, chains and metal platforms. You definitely need sure footing, good balance and a head for heights. Apart from one designated via ferrata route, there are no safety cables or harness systems, so you need to stay focused throughout.
You need to buy a park ticket to enter the gorges (unless you're staying at Autocamping Podlesok, where it's included). Tickets are checked at the entrances to the more popular routes, including Suchá Belá, Piecky, Veľký Sokol, and Prielom Hornádu.
Stick to the marked trails. Even though people said it was rare, I spotted 1 brown bear in the distance as I finished Sokolia Dolina.
Bring some insect repellant as flies and mosquitoes are quite prevalent especially in the evening.
Stinging nettles are a thing! Keep an eye out for them and try to avoid them if possible.
Every hike eventually brings you back towards the Podlesok tourist area, where there are several restaurants and cafes. You're paying a bit of a tourist premium, but they're convenient after a long day on the trail, and every place I visited accepted both cash and card.
I noticed that the trails were very quiet from about 3pm onwards. This was great as you can take your time but as a solo traveller, it meant that I really had to lock in.
Generally, there was no reception within the gorges themselves.
If you want more information, I put all my planning notes and lessons learn on these guides:
A few of the hikes are still marked as drafts because I didn't get the chance to complete them due to the weather and time constraints. They're already on the list for my next visit though!
In short, hiking in Slovakia was such a unique experience with challenging routes, stunning alpine scenery, plenty of technical scrambling and amazing food and culture. Best of all, it still feels authentic and hasn't yet become as crowded as many of Europe's more famous hiking destinations. I'm already looking to go back!
