Slovakia is a charming, cozy and hospitable country located in Central Europe. Tourists are attracted by the land of fabulously beautiful, untouched nature and wonderful ecology, dense forests untouched by civilization and majestic mountain peaks, mysterious medieval castles and healing mineral springs. There are also excellent ski resorts in Slovakia – Strbske Pleso, Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, Jasna, Podbanske and Donovaly.
A few words about winter holidays in Slovakia
Slovakia is surrounded by majestic mountains on three sides. In the south, the state is washed by the waters of the Danube River. Slovakia is an ideal country in which you can organize and spend an unforgettable winter vacation! The republic’s ski resorts attract both winter sports enthusiasts and professional athletes from all over the world.
The country has a favorable continental climate. The coldest month in Slovakia is January. On the tops of the mountains, the snow cover lasts for one hundred and thirty days! Even residents of alpine countries come to Slovakia to ski and snowboard! And it’s not surprising! After all, the prices for recreation and winter entertainment here are an order of magnitude lower than at home, and they get just as much emotion!
In the ski resorts of the Slovak Republic, Strbske Pleso, Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, Podbanske, Jasna and Donovaly, there are shops, ski equipment rental points and service companies for its maintenance, sports centers and ski schools, where qualified instructors teach tourists skiing and snowboarding techniques , who are professionals in their field. Resort guests will be able to visit recreation areas and entertainment facilities, restaurants and cafes.
Ski resort Strbske Pleso
The Strbske Pleso ski complex is one of the best high-altitude winter resorts spread out in the High Tatras, at an altitude of one thousand three hundred and fifty-five meters above sea level. Excellent conditions have been created here for cross-country skiing, for skiing beginners and children!
There is a significant height difference in Strbske Pleso. The resort is located in an extremely picturesque area, on the shore of the lake with the same name. Winter sports competitions are held in Shtrebske Pleso. In 1999, the Winter Universiade was held here.
Strbske Pleso is a place where not only avid skiers gather, but also biathlon, biathlon, snowboarding and ski jumping enthusiasts.
At a distance of approximately one and a half kilometers from the “heart” of the resort, there is a modern, decently equipped ski resort. It includes two stadiums, equipped with spectator stands, and two ski jumps. One of them is characterized by a height of seventy meters, and the other – ninety meters. Here there are the “start” and “finish” of ski races at the following distances: five, ten, fifteen, thirty and fifty kilometers.
The slopes of the Strbske Pleso ski resort are located at an altitude of 1400 – 1840 meters above sea level:
- 2 – “blue”,
- 4 – “red”.
They are designed both for winter sports amateurs and professional skiers.
Elevators:
- 3 bakeries;
- 2 – armchairs;
- baby.
If necessary, snow cannons are used. There is one lighted track.
There are comfortable hotels, saunas and swimming pools, ice skating rinks and gyms, casinos and cafes, discotheques and restaurants on the menu of which incredibly delicious dishes of Slovak and European cuisine are spread over the territory of the resort area.
In the city itself there is a bank, a department store, a pharmacy and a post office. The distance from the Strbske Pleso resort to the airport is twenty-five kilometers.
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Smokovets ski resort
The Smokovec ski resort is the oldest in Slovakia. It is located in the High Tatras, at the foot of the Slavkovsky Peak, characterized by slight differences in altitude.
Smokovets is located at a distance of fifteen kilometers from Poprad, includes New and Old, Mountain and Valley Smokovtsi.
Today, Smokovets can boast of well-established, developed infrastructure at the highest level. The skiing season in Smokovka starts in December and ends in April. Smokovets is located at an altitude of 890 – 1010 meters above sea level.
The ski resort has five tracks: “blue”, “red” and “black”. The skiing area is located at an altitude of 800 – 1480 meters. The resort attracts cute, picturesque villages, beautiful landscapes, good conditions for skiing beginners and small tourists. The special charm of the ski resort is provided by cozy guest houses built in the mountains, villages, hotels, made in a timeless style, classics – traditional Tatra style. There are a total of seven lifts in the resort: one funicular and six cable cars. Tourists can buy a ski pass for one day, six days and even a season.
The main skiing center in the Smokovets resort is called Grebienok. Using the cable car, a tourist can climb to a height of 1,263 meters in just nine minutes. There are two tracks here. One of them is intended for novice skiers. Another, slalom “black” called Horna Luka, can be overcome only by professional athletes.
There are three ski lifts operating in this area. Some tracks are maintained in excellent condition with the help of snow cannons.
In Smokovka, seven kilometers of trails of medium difficulty have been prepared for skiers who are not quite confident on skis yet. Tourists who are just starting to master the technique of skiing are ideally suited to the Novy Smokovets track, located near the Park Hotel. The gentle slope is characterized by a length of nine hundred and ten meters. There is a ski lift and snow cannons. The track is illuminated at dusk. Tourists can ski here until 21:00.
In Novy Smokovets, on Yakubova Luka (1140 meters above sea level), there are easy descents that even amateurs can handle. The slope is quite gentle. It is served by a cable car lift. There is a children’s ski school in the village, and a natural rink.
Experienced athletes chose the steep, wide slope in Girsky Smokovets, which is located directly above the Bellevue Hotel. The route is characterized by a height difference of sixty one meters. It is served by a cable car lift, reaching a length of two hundred and twenty-five meters.
The track located in Stary Smokovka is considered the best for skiing. Its length is three kilometers. The height difference here is two hundred and fifty meters. In this area, you can take part in night sledding with musical accompaniment, warm yourself with hot mulled wine and get a guaranteed prize!
The ski resort has a ski school where qualified instructors teach children the basics of skiing. In Smokovka, there is a children’s, seventy-meter, rope lift. Guests will also enjoy other activities – cross-country skiing, ice skating and sledding, mountaineering. At the resort, you can visit the swimming pool and steam in the sauna, enjoy a meal at a Slovak restaurant, taste intoxicating drinks at the bar and have fun at night discos! The distance from the Smokovets ski resort to the Poprad airport is ten kilometers.
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Ski resort Tatranska Lomnytsia
The famous, large and beautiful ski resort Tatranska Lomnytsia is located in the east of the High Tatras. The resort is a popular place for recreation both in summer and winter! Numerous tourist routes to interesting places of the Slovak state start from here.
With the onset of the ski season, thousands of tourists from different countries come to Tatranska Lomnytsia. The skiing area here is located at an altitude of 785 – 2200 meters. The resort has created excellent conditions for a full-fledged, active rest and winter sports activities!
Ski tours to Tatranska Lomnica are especially needed in the period from the beginning of December to the first days of May. The snow cover at the resort is excellent, it lasts for a long time, and this circumstance cannot fail to please avid skiers and snowboarders.
In order to keep the tracks in excellent condition, snow cannons work in Tatranska Lomnytsia. The tracks at the Tatranska Lomnytsia ski resort satisfy the needs of the most experienced skiers! They are marked (in red and blue colors), lit up at dusk, suitable for both beginners and athletes with extensive skating experience. The total length of the ski tracks is ten kilometers, and the cross-country tracks are fifteen kilometers. The resort has a total of seven tracks – “blue”, “red” and “black”. There are only two difficult “black” tracks in Tatranska Lomnytsia. There are six ski lifts at the resort. Of them, there is one funicular, two gondola-type, two cable cars and one chairlift. Tourists will be able to purchase a ski pass for one day, six days or for the whole season.
An important center of skiing is the small village of Skalnate Pleso, spread out at an altitude of one thousand seven hundred and fifty meters. To get here, you need to use the cable car that stretches at a height of four thousand one hundred meters from the Grand Praha hotel.
It is also possible to get there by cable car from the Morava hotel complex. In the area called Lomnytske Sidlo, there is a slope characterized by a width of three hundred to five hundred meters and a length of two thousand meters, on which “black” tracks are laid, which are in demand among skiers who prefer high-speed descent, and are also intended for giant slalom
If you climb a little higher, you can see short slopes that are preferred by beginners and inexperienced skiers. From Skalnate Pleso, there is a lift that belongs to the category of medium difficulty and meets all international standards. The length of the track reaches three thousand three hundred meters. The height difference is seven hundred and thirty meters. This route ends at the intermediate station of the suspension type cableway.
Down from the station, in the direction of Tatranska Lomnytsia, there is a lift that is two thousand six hundred meters long. The height difference here is two hundred and seventy meters. A sleigh track was located a little below the station.
Jamy is another popular skating center. There are two rope lifts that reach seven hundred and eighty and four hundred and fifty meters in length.
Ski equipment rental is available at the Tatranska Lomnytsia resort. In winter, there is an ice rink. The sled and bobsleigh track is two thousand six hundred meters long.
There is a school in Tatranska Lomnytsia that teaches skiing and snowboarding techniques, there are ski courses, and a children’s school. At the resort, in addition to skiing, tourists will enjoy other activities – snowboarding (there is an area for freeriding), snow tubing, and snowmobile rides. In Tatranska Lomnytsia you can also visit swimming pools and saunas, work out in gyms and play bowling. On the territory of the resort there are cozy restaurants and cafes, night bars and discos, as well as shops. Tourists should visit the Kolybu restaurant, which has a special atmosphere and incredibly delicious cuisine. Guests who came to Tatranská Lomnytsia on vacation will be able to leave their car in the free parking lot. The distance from the ski resort to the Poprad airport is eighteen kilometers.
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Ski resort Yasna Low Tatras
The Jasna ski resort is located at the foot of the (northern) slopes of Mount Hopok, in the area of the Low Tatras mountain massif, which belongs to the Napant National Park. The resort is ideal for companies of young people and families with children, beginner skiers and winter sports professionals!
Yasna is an international tourist center belonging to the 1st category. Large-scale national and international ski competitions are held at the resort every year. They are included in the European Cup calendar. The main skiing area is located on the southern and northern slopes of the mountain called Hopka. The skiing season at the Yasna resort starts at the beginning of December and lasts until the end of April.
Conditionally, four areas for skiing can be identified at the Yasna resort:
- Otopne (1140 – 1430 meters). This area is suitable for beginner skiers.
- Zahradky (1030 – 1450 meters). There are “red” tracks starting from Konska Grun and Prekhib.
- Hopok-Pivnich (1230 – 2020 meters). There are mainly “red” tracks here. There are also a couple of “black” tracks up to two kilometers long
- Hopok-South (1160 – 2020 meters). “Red” and “black” tracks are laid in this area. Here, skiers ski mainly above the level of the forest massif. There are also areas set aside for skiing in the wilderness.
Amazingly beautiful nature in Yasna! The resort has excellent conditions for skiing. There are fifty kilometers of tracks, different from each other in terms of difficulty. All of them, without exception, are well prepared. There are also tracks designated for ski competitions of international importance.
The resort is equipped with a modern automated Johnson Controls snowmaking system, which reaches a length of thirty-five kilometers. Thanks to the unique climate, the excellent snow cover lasts quite a long time at the resort – as many as five months a year!
In total, the resort has forty-one tracks with a total length of 50,130 meters. Of them, fourteen are easy (length 20,455 meters), fourteen medium (length 17,830 meters), six heavy (length 7,325 meters) and seven “skyroads” (length 4,520 meters). The resort has twelve zones for freeride.
In the tourist complex, two tracks are illuminated in the evening. Thanks to this, you can ride even when dusk comes. Evening skiing is possible only on the track of Mount Khopok (north of the White Path) with a length of nine hundred and ninety meters.
To climb Mount Hopok, you should use one of the many lifts. Twenty-seven towing cable cars and lifts operate here. Their capacity is thirty-one thousand people per hour.
The resort has fourteen cable cars, five gondolas and eight chairlifts. Eleven ski lifts are suitable for children – ski lifts – “Brglyska”, “Otupne”, cable car – “Luchki”, “Bela Shlyah”, Grand Jet, MAXILAND – “Bela Shlyah”, “Luchki”, Krupova.
Tourists will be able to purchase a ski pass (magnetic card) valid for all existing ski lifts at the resort at the ticket offices of Otupne, Bilyo Putu and Zahradka.
In December, January and the first half of February, the lifts are open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Working hours from the second half of February until the end of the season – from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Evening skating on two tracks lasts from 18:00 to 21:00.
There is a wonderful, modern snow park in Otupne, which is suitable for both beginner skiers and boarders with extensive skiing experience. Its lower part has complex obstacles. The Jasna resort is also home to the Maxiland snow park, the largest in Slovakia. Here, qualified instructors teach children the basics of skiing. A free ski bus runs on the territory of the resort.
Tourists who came to rest in Yasna can see natural attractions – the Demenivska Svobody Cave and the Demenivska Ice Cave, visit the museum of nature and speleology – “Liptovsky Mikulas”, admire the works of art in the P.M. Bohun art gallery, and have an exciting time in the water park “Tatralandia”, which has nine open-type thermal pools, the water temperature of which is +24 +38 degrees Celsius. Also, the water park is equipped with eighteen water slides, there are a large number of water attractions, and there is a sauna complex.
Tourists will like the “Museum of the Liptov Village”, “Prybylina”, the articular church called “Holy Cross”, built of wood, as well as the Celtic settlement of Havranok, located in the north of Slovakia. Archaeologists excavated a unique wooden castle from the Middle Ages on its territory.
Yasna resort will delight guests with numerous comfortable hotels, bars, cafes, restaurants and discos. Tourists can have fun playing billiards and table tennis, visit the swimming pool.
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Podbanske ski resort
The comfortable ski resort of Podbanske is located on the 2494-meter-high Kryvan mountain, on the border of the Western and High Tatras, not far from Austria. The resort boasts an altitude of nine hundred and forty meters above the sea. It is called the “gate of the High Tatras”.
The distance from the Podbanske tourist complex to Stary Smakovets is thirty-two kilometers, and to Shtrebske Pleso – thirteen kilometers.
In this area, the nature is so beautiful, untouched, that it does not leave indifferent even the most experienced travelers!
Podbanske is a small resort settlement of the Slovak Republic with well-developed infrastructure and excellent service. A good snow cover in the resort lasts from December to March inclusive.
Podbanske was especially loved by novice skiers and families with children. Ski schools operate here. Highly qualified instructors with extensive work experience teach the technique of downhill skiing to everyone in the shortest possible time.
The Podbanske resort has a variety of trails for both beginners and professional slalom skiers, and there are well-prepared slopes for snowboarders and cross-country skiers. The resort also has slides designed for sledding. Tracks for beginners and experienced skiers are at an altitude of nine hundred and fifty – one thousand one hundred meters. The skiing area can be reached by two rope lifts, which reach a length of three hundred and fifty and five hundred and fifty meters.
In total, there are four “blue” tracks at the resort, and there are four ski lifts. In Podbansk, you can buy a ski pass for half a day, for one, two, three, four, five, six and seven days.
In addition to skiing and snowboarding, in the resort area you can steam in the bathhouse, play bowling, and have fun in the disco bar. A soccer field and a tennis court are equipped on the territory of Podbanske.
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Donovaly ski resort
Donovaly is a famous ski resort of the Slovak state. The center of the resort area is spread around the settlement with the same name (in the heart of the Low Tatras and Fatras National Park).
Donovaly sub-divided into two ski areas:
- Fence Beginners and inexperienced skiers ski in the local area.
- Nova Golya. The skiing area is characterized by quite difficult tracks and descents.
Donovaly has thirteen easy descents (5300 meters), three medium descents (5100 meters), one difficult descent (100 meters). The tourist complex has ski schools, children’s ski kindergartens, and snowboarding schools. Tourists are provided with ski service, rental of ski equipment.
The skating area is located at an altitude of nine hundred – one thousand three hundred and sixty one meters above sea level. The length of the ski tracks reaches eleven kilometers, and the cross-country tracks – fifty-eight kilometers. The height difference is four hundred and forty seven meters. Some tracks are illuminated, so night skiing is possible.
There are a total of seventeen tracks at the resort – “red” (three of them) and “blue”. There are sixteen modern lifts in Donovaly: fourteen rope lifts and two chairlifts. The resort also operates a system of artificial snowmaking on the slopes. The longest track reaches 2200 meters. The racing tracks stretched for twenty-five thousand meters. The ski season in Donovaly lasts one hundred and fifty days on average. Guests will be able to purchase a one-day, six-day ski pass, as well as a season pass.
In Donovaly, you can learn paragliding (flying on steam planes), visit the snowboard park and fitness center, take a steam in the sauna, have a good time in the restaurant and bar, dance at the disco and exchange currency. Dog sled competitions are regularly held at the winter resort.
The distance from the Donovaly ski resort to the Poprad airport is one hundred and fifteen kilometers. The distance to Bansk Bystrica is twenty-four kilometers, and to the city of Ruzhomberok is thirty kilometers.
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Delight yourself with an unforgettable trip to the majestic Tatra mountains! Hospitable ski resorts delight tourists with excellent service, decent infrastructure, provide an unforgettable vacation and a lot of new, bright impressions! When going on a trip, pay special attention to choosing the appropriate hotel!