SLOVAKIA The High Tatras
The High Tatras, the only mountain range of an alpine character, run along the border of northern Slovakia (in Prešov region) and southern Poland (in the Lesser Poland Duchy). The mountain range is well-known to every hiker in Central Europe. It offers numerous hiking and climbing opportunities, though they may be rather small in area. Diverse forests, magnificent glacial valleys, charming waterfalls, lakes, moraines… it is impossible to count all the different beauties of the High Tatras. The highest peak, Gerlachovsky Štít at 2655 metres, is open for keen and experienced walkers and can be climbed only under the supervision of the experienced mountain guides. For the more tender footed walkers there is an opportunity to take some of the easier paths like “the Tatra highway” extending across the High Tatras from the west to the east. Many tracks and hikes of various degrees of difficulty start from Štrbské Pleso, which is the second-largest glacial lake on the Slovak side of the High Tatras.