Name: The High Tatras
Brand: Cicerone Press
Price: 18.95 GBP
Availability: InStock

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Slovakia and Poland - Including the Western Tatras and White Tatras

Guidebook detailing walks and scrambles in the High Tatras mountains of Poland and Slovakia. Varied routes among the strikingly beautiful craggy peaks of the High, Western and White Tatras range from easy to strenuous. Includes useful lists of summits as well as practical advice on accommodation and facilities, travel, mapping and language.

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Printed book £18.95 Full guidebook with maps & profiles. Available and ready to dispatch

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Quick facts

Area: High Tatras, Western Tatras and White Tatras, Slovakia and Poland
Designation: Tatra National Park (Slovakia and Poland)
Total routes: 180 walks and scrambles
Route distances: 1 to 30km (circular and linear)
Difficulty: Easy to strenuous; well-engineered waymarked paths; some scrambling, exposure and fixed wires on harder routes
Highest summit: 2654m
Areas covered: Slovak High Tatras, Slovak White Tatras, Polish Tatras
Slovak centres: Starý Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica, Štrbské Pleso, Tatranská Bora (linked by Tatras tramway)
Polish centre: Zakopane
Highlighted routes: Tatranská Magistrála (long-distance ridge trail), Priečne Sedlo via ferrata, Kriváň ascent, ridge walks in the Western Tatras, Orla Perć ridge (Poland)
Transport: Slovak Tatras tramway links resort villages; cable car to Kasprowy Wierch (Poland); detailed travel information throughout
Accommodation: Mountain chalets (refuges) and resort villages; full accommodation appendix included
Best season: July to mid-October; September to mid-October best walking weather; March to early June not recommended
Special features: Summit lists for High and Polish Tatras; gazetteer; suggested kit list; Polish-Slovak glossary; mountain code and Visitors' Charter; pocket-sized format

Detailed overview

Straddling the border between Slovakia and Poland, the High Tatras are one of Europe's most dramatic and least-visited mountain ranges. These strikingly beautiful craggy peaks, rising to 2654m, pack an extraordinary concentration of alpine scenery into a compact area of national parks, with well-engineered waymarked paths, historic mountain chalets and some of the finest ridge walking in Central Europe.

This fourth edition Cicerone guidebook by Renáta Nározná and Colin Saunders is the most comprehensive English-language companion to walking and scrambling in the Tatras, covering 180 routes across the High, Western and White Tatras in both Slovakia and Poland. Routes range from easy lakeside walks to strenuous ridge traverses and exposed scrambles, with the best walking between July and October.

180 routes across three mountain ranges, spanning the Slovak High and White Tatras and the Polish Tatras, from the resort of Zakopane in Poland to the linked villages of Starý Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica and Štrbské Pleso in Slovakia
Routes for all abilities are included, from gentle valley walks linking resorts and mountain lakes to strenuous ridge traverses, exposed scrambles and a new via ferrata across the Priecne Sedlo saddle
The Tatranská Magistrála, the celebrated long-distance ridge trail traversing the Slovak High Tatras, is described in detail alongside the full network of waymarked red, blue, green and yellow routes
Comprehensive practical information throughout, covering accommodation in mountain chalets and resort villages, travel by the Slovak Tatras tramway, selected summit timings and a Polish-Slovak glossary
Summit lists, gazetteer and suggested kit list included, making this a thorough planning resource for anyone visiting the Tatras for the first time or returning to explore further

Written by Renáta Nározná, a native of the Slovak Tatras and former mountain guide, alongside Colin Saunders, the guidebook combines first-hand local expertise with practical clarity. Few mountain ranges in Europe offer such accessible alpine terrain so far off the mainstream walking trail — this guidebook is the key to finding it.

Where and when to go

Seasons

July-end August warmest (with thunderstorms); Sept-mid October best walking weather; March-early June not recommended

Centres

Slovakia - Poprad, Stary Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, Strbske Pleso; Poland- Zakopane

Difficulty

high mountain walking (up to 2654m); well-engineered, waymarked paths; some scrambling, exposure, use of fixed wires but very wide choice of routes

Must See

flowers and wildlife; staying in a refuge/chalet; historic mountain villages; alpine scenery (the ranges are national parks)

Preface

1 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TATRAS

Background

Early history

Vegetation and wildlife

Weather

National parks

Languages

Place names

Border controls

2 PREPARATION FOR WALKING

When to go

Obtaining information

Travel and insurance

Accommodation

Fitness

Clothing and equipment

Maps

Paths and waymarking

Refreshments and toilets

Mountain chalets or refuges

Mountain guides

Mountain safety and emergency services

Winter walking

Cross-border walking

Mountain photography

How to use this guide

Grading of walks

3 THE SLOVAK HIGH AND WHITE TATRAS

Later history

Walking

Tatranská Bora

Route suggestions

Waymarked network

With a guide

Path descriptions

Cesta Slobody

Red routes

Tatranská Magistrála

Blue routes

Green routes

Yellow routes

Selected timings

Highest summits

Travel

Diversions

Shopping and local services

Other useful information

Gazetteer

4 THE POLISH TATRAS

Later history

Walking

Route suggestions

Path descriptions

Red routes

Blue routes

Green routes

Yellow routes

Black routes

Selected timings

Highest summits

Travel

Diversions

Shopping and local services

Other useful information

Gazetteer

Appendix A Glossary

Appendix B Accommodation

Appendix C Useful contacts

Appendix D Suggested kit list

Appendix E The Tatras mountain code and Visitors’ Charter

Appendix F Help!

Which format is best for me?

Printed book

A guidebook with detailed route descriptions, stage breakdowns, accommodation listings, profiles and maps — everything you need on the trail.

ISBN	9781852848873
Availability	Published
Published	25 November 2024
Reprinted	31 July 2029
Weight	390g

eBook

The complete digital edition of the guidebook, with full route descriptions, accommodation listings, profiles and maps, ready to use on any device.

Updates

Updated 15 November 2021
Updates
Page 54, paragraph 2. It is now possible to hire guides with a special licence from the National Park to take you to summits off the waymarked routes.
Page 141, route 8860 Priecne Sedlo). A new ‘via ferrata’ has opened across the saddle, parallel with the existing path, normally accessible 15 June to 31 October. It is 450 metres long and can be used in the direction Malá Studená Dolina to Velká Studená Dolina. Check with the local tourist office about recommended equipment.
Page 201, Entry fees. These and car park tickets) can now be purchased online at https://tpn.pl/zwiedzai/e-bilety. Click the Union Jack for an English translation, then scroll down to ‘Entrance ticket’.
Page 217, route 009B Orla Perc). The section between Zawrat and Swinica is now closed, but Swinica can still be reached from either side.
Page 220, route 011, paragraph 2. E-tickets must be purchased online for the car park at Palenica Bialczanska – see page 201 above.
Page 224, route 203. This route is now impassable and not used.
Pages 267/268, route 906, paragraph 2. The black route has been moved where it goes steeply uphill, but the distance remains the same.
Page 282, Mountain transport. Tickets for the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch can now be purchased online at https://www.sklep.pkl.pl/en/product-groups/index,4,tourpassy.html.

Meet the authors

Renáta Nározná

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Renata Narozna was born and bred in the Slovak Tatras, and workd as a mountain guide for the state tourism organisation, Cedol. After Czechoslovakia's 'Velvet Revolution', Renata ran her own travel company in the Tatras for a while, then she was appointed manager of the Vienna branch of the Slovak tourism organisation. In a complete career change, Renata recently became the organisational director of Greenpeace in central and eastern Europe.

Colin Saunders

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Colin is a Londoner through and through, almost but not quite a Cockney, having been born during World War 2 a few miles outside the sound of Bow Bells, but within the sound of exploding bombs and anti-aircraft gunfire.

An early ambition to join the Merchant Navy was frustrated by a complete lack of technical ability, so he went for the next best way of travelling the world, the travel trade. Spells with industry giants Thomas Cook and Trust House Forte eventually led to being headhunted by a small tour operator specialising in walking holidays. This was most apt, as walking has been his main leisure activity since early adulthood. In 1989 Colin set up his own business, organising walking holidays in Britain and as a consultant on leisure walking.

In 1967 Colin joined the Vanguards Rambling Club, whose ethos in its early days (hard walking and hard drinking) suited Colin down to the ground, though the rigour of those activities has mellowed somewhat over the years. In fact, like other club members, he has been an active member of the Ramblers' Association and Long Distance Walkers Association, and has played a key role in setting up the Vanguard Way, Wandle Trail and Capital Ring walking routes, and in organising challenge and charity walking events.

As a sideline, Colin has written several books on walking. These include Manual on Navigation and Leadership(Ramblers' Association), Walking in the High Tatras (Cicerone Press), Vanguard Way Guidebook (Vanguards Rambling Club), London; the definitive walking guide (Cicerone Press) and Capital Ring Guidebook (Aurum Press).

The High Tatras