Tatra, or Couch Potatoes in the Mountains

Mountain landscapes of Štrbské pleso.

I probably have stated this before: we are no sportspeople. We will walk considerable distances in cities or maintained paths, but leave more demanding activities like, say, mountain biking, to others. The High Tatras - Vysoké Tatry in Slovakian - is a very suitable mountain destination for people like us. Of course, there's plenty to do there for hikers and mountaineers, too, but I am not the one to write about that.

The High Tatras are the highest part of the Carpathian mountains, and are divided by the border between Slovakia and Poland: the highest peaks of both countries are there. Most importantly the High Tatras are incredibly beautiful, whether viewed through a train window from the valley below or from the top of one of the mountains. See:

Tatra seen from the city of Poprad.

Lomnický štít (2634m, left) and Kežmarský štít (2588m, right) seen from Skalnaté pleso.

What makes the High Tatras particularly suitable for couch potatoes is the TEŽ, Tatra Electric Railroad. It has taken travelers up to the mountains from the city of Poprad for more than a century. A day ticket, allowing one to travel as much as one manages within a day, was 4€ in July 2018.

A TEŽ train in Tatranská Lomnica.

We stayed in Poprad, and took the train to the village of Štrbské pleso. The original plan was to get off at Popradské pleso and walk to Štrbské pleso from there - there apparently is a non-demanding hiking path connecting them. However, we changed our plans because the weather forecast promised rain and we knew that in Štrbské pleso we would not be too far from shelter. There was no rain. On the edge of village, there is a picture-postcard-beautiful mountain lake, around which there is a well-maintained, easy path.

The lake is surrounded by mountains.

Štrbské pleso - few vowels, plenty of views.

Hotel Panorama, the weirdest piece of socialist architecture in Štrbské pleso village.

The high point of our visit to Tatra  was a cable car ride to the top of Lomnický štít, 2634 meter above sea level (pun entirely intended). It involves no less than three cable cars. First is a small and scary one from Tatranská Lomnica to an intermediate station, where you change to a fancy and modern one, which in turn takes you to the Skalnaté pleso mountain lake. From there you continue in a tiny, completely terrifying cable car to the top. Even if you are, like us, afraid of heights, I warmly recommend it because of the incredibly amazing views. Being a sea-level dweller, I felt quite dizzy, not sure if it was because of vertigo or altitude sickness.

Up on the top we were almost swallowed in a cloud.

The light up high is different, or at least feels so.

We were advised to book the cable car tickets as early as possible. Since I didn't get the online booking system to work, we went quite early on a Sunday to inquire about tickets. The next available ones were for Monday afternoon. This was in late July, just as the busiest summer season in Central Europe was beginning. Weekends may be more busy. If you can't get tickets all the way up to Lomnický štít, or if you're unwilling to pay the undeniably steep price of 49€ per person for return ticket, consider taking tha cable car to Skalnaté pleso only. Advance bookings are not necessary there, and Skalnaté pleso with has beautiful views, reasonably-priced restaurant and some easy hiking paths. It's worth braking your journey there anyway, either going up, coming down, or both.

With the exception of  Lomnický štít cable car, the general price level in Tatras is pleasantly low compared to most of Europe: 10€ buys a good meal, with drinks, in most restaurants, the very tasty Slovakian beer is usually less that 2€ a pint, and even accommodation is affordable. We paid less than 30€/night for a room for 2, with bathroom, in Poprad.

We visited the High Tatras in July 27th to 31st 2018.