Hiking in Slovakia

Slovakia may not be the first country that comes to mind when planning a hiking holiday. But it absolutely should be! The entire country is covered in hills, and especially the northern border with Poland has fantastic mountains. It’s a skiing destination in winter and a hiking hotspot in summer. Me and a friend stayed in Poprad, a small city surrounded by 3 national parks. Each national park has its own pros and cons. I’ve ordered them from most accessible to most remote, so you can choose which type of hiking in Slovakia suits you best.

Slovak Paradise (Slovenský Raj)

My friend and I took a bus from Poprad to Hrabušice. We aimed for the entry to the national park behind the Podlesok car park, as multiple routes start from there. Because it was a national holiday, the trails were unusually busy for a Friday in early May. We saw lots of families with kids bracing the trails, showing it was entry-level hiking. It therefore surprised me a little how steep the ascent was. The trail was a combination of gravel and stone steps. It got a bit quieter near the top of the hill we’d chosen. Arriving at the top, we were slightly disappointed. The hill wasn’t high enough to rise above the treeline, so there was hardly a view. The the forest on the hill plateau was beautiful, though!

Overall, there was good colour-coded signage along the trails. But the basic map we got at a visitor centre was rubbish. It only showed walking paths, so if you got onto a tarmac road or mountainbike path, there was no way to tell where you were. Because of this, we ended up on a boring road back down to the village.

In conclusion, the hiking was a bit too tame for us. Because we relied on public transport, we couldn’t get too far into the national park to make it back on time. We didn’t see any of the wooden bridges or stone features that show up when you search for photos of Slovak Paradise. Nevertheless, it was a nice day out in the woods, albeit a bit touristy.

High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry)

In hindsight, staying in a village at the foot of the High Tatras is the way to go for fantastic day hikes. There are plenty of buses driving around the region, and there is even an electric railway. The High Tatras are also easy to reach from Poprad. We hiked a 25-kilometre route passing by 2 mountain huts.

The High Tatras are very scenic with a mix of forest trails, mountain lakes and snowy peaks in the distance. We didn’t hike up to the very top of any of the mountains, as they are only open to hikers in summer season. During the remainder of the year, the mountain peaks are closed to protect nesting birds and to let nature restore itself. Especially on the way up to the mountain valleys at higher altitude, I was awed by the views.

Instead of doing a one-day circular hike, you can spend the night at one of the many mountain huts dotted around the High Tatras. They also serve food and drinks to passersby, but get extremely busy on weekends with good weather (as we found out). Again, the trail were well-marked. We came across other people roughly every 15 minutes. I thought this was a nice frequency. As said, it was a relatively busy day due to it being weekend as well as a national holiday. The popularity of the trails makes that wild animals keep their distance, so we could cross the mountains carefree. One man even laughed at us for carrying bells that would alert bears of our presence. Hiking in the High Tatras was the absolute highlight of hiking in Slovakia’s national parks. In the end, I wish we did all of our hiking here. Which also means I’d happily return for more someday!

Low Tatras (Nízke Tatry)

The Low Tatras are by far the most remote out of the 3 national parks. We did manage to reach the start of a trail by public transport, but it took some planning beforehand. After hopping on a local train from Poprad to Liptovsky Mikula, we then took a bus. Although there are some mountain huts in the Low Tatras, some are for hunters and others are unstaffed. We set out on another day hike, but met someone on the bus who was doing a 3-night trek.

Where we got off the bus in Malužiná, there were a handful of houses and one road-side restaurant. We had an interesting experience there, as the owners of the restaurant seemed very pro-Russia. The start of the trail was rather industrial, and we passed an active quarry. We followed the signs further into the mountains, away from .

After an hour, we spotted what was probably a lynx running through the trees near us. Being completely alone (we hadn’t come across any other hikers) with the nearest humans being a few kilometres away at the quarry, we chickened out. We also didn’t have data connection, so it felt unsafe to continue with the risk of running into bears or other predators. The trail had mostly followed a small, tarmac road. We didn’t fully get up into the mountains, so the views weren’t nearly as spectacular as they had been in the High Tatras. Of course we had only walked for about an hour before turning back, but the hike in the High Tatras was scenic right from the start. We made it back to Poprad by hitchhiking to the nearest train station.

Most important tips

• Entry to all 3 of the national parks is free.
• Slovak Paradise is perfect for shorter, family-friendly hikes.
• The High Tatras are best for challenging but beautiful day-hikes and entry-level mountain treks. It is also easiest to get to by public transport.
• The Low Tatras are most remote with few amenities and the highest chance of (unwanted) encounters with wild animals.
• To make the most of the hiking opportunities, stay in a village near one of the national parks.
• Poprad is a good hub for public transport to any of the national parks.