High Tatras | Tatranská Lomnica | Poprad

Mt. Gerlachovský štít | Kriváň | Aquapark

Tatralandia | Jasná

The High Tatras are an easily accessible mountain range with a very good marking system, maintained tourist trails and numerous information centres providing materials. The best access to the mountain range is from the south, e.g. from Tatranská Štrba, which is connected with the famous settlement of Štrbské Pleso by a rack railway. In Štrbské Pleso, there is a departure station of the so called Tatra Electric Railway, which crosses the whole massive of the Tatras. Along the southern hills of the mountains, there is the main tourist trail marked red and called Tatranská magistrála. It has many “turn-offs” that lead to valleys, peaks or chalets. The closest airport is in the nearby town of Poprad. Other centres on the Slovak side of the mountains include Starý Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica, Tatranská Polianka, town of Vysoké Tatry and Podbanské. On the Polish side, the town of Zakopane is the main tourist centre, accessible by road or rail.

Our family comes from the Tatras. We will be happy to advise you where to make a trip – a short walk or an alpine hike. Just ask us anytime.

Flora in the Tatras

The occurrence of plants in the Tatras is influenced by the altitude, vegetation zones and bedrock. The alpine and sub-alpine zone is home to plants famous from the Alps, the Pyrenees etc. E.g. mountain avens, spring gentian, dwarf willow, monkshood.

The best known Tatra plants were given names by Göran Wahlenberg, a Swedish botanist, to whom we dedicated one of our three suites.

Fauna in the Tatras

Due to the foundation of the Tatra National Park and preservation of large woods, there are many original animals and big mammals that live in the area. It is mainly the biggest Slovak beast of pray – the brown bear, with a population of about 100 pieces living here. Other significant mammals include the lynx, which is considered the only natural regulator of deer; then the wolf, boar, Tatra chamois, wild cat, marten, stag, roe deer, fox, badger, Tatra marmot and others. There are many rodents and smaller animals such as snow vole, hare,and marten. As for the world of birds, one can find here the golden eagle, lesser spotted eagle, northern goshawk, western capercaillie, black grouse, stork, eagle owl and others. Bats have rich colonies here (greater horseshoe bat, Bechstein´s bat etc.).

The most common reptiles include the common European adder, viviparous lizard or grass snake. The world of invertebrates is rich too, mainly in butterflies. The tarn of Nižné Furkotské pleso is the only tarn in the area where the fairy shrimp of Branchinecta paludosa has been living since the Ice Age. It lives only in lakes of North European tundra. Another endemic species is Pentacamptus mrazeki – a crustacean living only in a few tarns in the High Tatras. This species lives e.g. in Lake Baikal.

Source: Fauna & Flora in the Tatras