It is the smallest mountain range with alpine character in the wolrd. This beautiful National Park on the Slovak-Polish border is the highest part of the Carpathians - the second longest mountain range system in Europe, more as 1 400 kilometres across eight countries.

29 peaks of this National Park are over 2 500 meters above sea level. Many mountain lakes and several waterfalls are an essential part of this place too.

Welcome to High Tatras (or to Tatra Mountains) 🙂

and enjoy its beauties. 🙂

At first, good Tatra morning: 

Rysy - the highest mountain of Poland

Rysy is very popular mountain for tourists with three peaks - 2 503 meters above sea level, 2 498,7 MASL, 2 472 MASL. This mountain is Slovak-Polish border. The north-western peak (2 498,7 MASL) is the highest point of Poland. Other points are in Slovakia. This is the highest mountain which is legally available for usial tourists without mountain guide.

View from Rysy:

From the Polish peak you can see two mountain lakes - Czarny Stav pod Rysami and Morskie Oko (Sea Eye):

Morskie Oko is the largest mountain lake in the High Tatras.

In the photo my good Latvian friend Evija (Morskie Oko is the second lake)

You can see from Rysy the highest mountain in the High Tatras - Gerlachovský štít (2 654,4 meter above sea level). Of course, it is also the highest mountain of Carpathians and the highest mountain of Slovakia. If you want to legally climb to the top, you must go with a mountain guide:

If you want to hike on Rysy, you have two opportunities - from Polish side or from Slovak side. If you will go from Slovakia, along Žabie plesá (mountain lakes), you can have same photo from under Ťažký štít (Heavy peak) - 2 520 MASL. This mountain is neighbor of Rysy:

If you are from country without hills like Latvia, I think that you will like this place. 😀

Winter trip to Rysy can be interesting too 🙂 but also litlle dangerous.

My friend Pivi

Today is the situation for climbing easier as before. You can use also the new stairs. In my opinion it is already a little boring way.

Or you can use local bike 😀 :

I want to look how a person went with the bike up.

Chata pod Rysmi (Cottage under Rysy) 

This cottage is the highest placed cottage in the High Tatras (and of course, in Slovakia and in the Carpathians) - 2 225 meters above sea level. You can buy some food, water or beer there.

„Welcome to the highest placed cottage in the High Tatras 2 225 m"

If you will hike to Rysy from Polish side, you must go along Morskie Oko and Czarny Stav pod Rysami. I didn´t try this opportunity but many people said me that this way is more challenging as from Slovak side.

Mountain lake Morskie Oko (Sea Eye) and mountains of the High Tatras - in the photo Mengusovské štíty. This the largest mountain lake of the High Tatras is also home for many fishes. You can really feel like near some sea.
Czarny Stav pod Rysami

Kriváň 

is also very popular mountain in the High Tatras and one from national symbols of Slovakia. People thought that this is the highest mountain of the High Tatras. But the peak of Kriváň is "just" 2 494,4 meters above sea level.

In my opinion the best view is from this mountain because Kriváň is more or less on the edge of the High Tatras so you can see all high mountains of this National Park in one direction:

Of course, it is not like a walking in some city park

Štrbské pleso

is mountain lake and probably the most famous place in this National Park. You can meet really a lot of people here. This place is good for lazy tourists. 😀 Other reason why you can meet a lot of people here is that the mountain lake is starting and ending point for many mountain trips and climbs. For example: If i want to climb to Rysy or Kriváň, I´m walking from here. This is like "main squre" of the High Tatras.

Štrbské pleso

Predné Solisko - the most accessible and one of the lowest peak in High Tatras

If your perseverance is not so good for difficult climb but you don´t want be just somewhere down near Štrbské pleso with other lazy tourists, maybe this mountain is for you. The peak of Predné Solisko is 2 093,3 meters above sea level. If you want go there, you need just three hours from Štrbské pleso and more as other two hours for your return (of course, you can be faster). Good message also for lazy tourists: You can use local cableway Solisko. End of the cableway is near one local cottage (Chata pod Soliskom) - 1 840 MASL.

Predné Solisko
My crazy friend Samo
Photo from the cottage. With a dangerous Tatra bear
Mountain guru. The high mountain behind me is Kriváň
Zuzka
I don´t have just one Latvian friend. 😀 Latvia doesn´t have some hills but Latvian girls are really indestructible!

Lomnický štít and Skalnaté pleso

Other very popular mountain of this National Park is Lomnický štít - 2 633,9 meters above sea level. It is the second highest mountain of the High Tatras.

Also this mountain was long time "the highest mountain" of this National Park and Slovakia. ( I guess it was a very difficult task to find out in that time. 😀 )

On the top of Lomnický štít is "Kaviareň Dedo" (Cafe Grandfather), apartment, television relay station, astronomical and meteorological station. Of course, the highest placed cafe, the highest placed aparment... not just in Slovakia but also in this European region (Slovakia, Poland, Czech republic, Hungary...).

If you want to go up, you can use the cableway from mountain lake Skalnaté pleso. Its price is about 20 euros. Other legal way is with a mountain guide.

Unfortunately, I wasn´t on the peak. I visited just Skalnaté pleso (or unofficially Lomnické pleso) under Lomnický šít . This mountain lake is 1754 meter above sea level.

My starting point wasn´t Štrbské pleso but train station Tatránska Lomnica. Other known way is from Starý Smokovec. Again, if you want to visit this mountain lake, you can use local cableways from Tatránska Lomnica.

I can not show you a picture of the not somehow large lake because it´s water was really frozen. I could see just nothing - white place. But this trip was really great. We could see the best inversion in my live. 🙂

My perfect friend and experienced tourist Veronika. 😀

Thank you for your attention. 🙂 I hope that we will meet in this beautiful place of Europe.

Photos & text

František Fefe Kekely