LANDSCAPES OF THE TATRA MOUNTAINS : CONTENTS  (to return to the main page, click here)

IMPORTANT: Place names in Poland and Slovakia often contain characters with unusual accents, several of which are not included in western European fonts. Accented characters such as these often appear incorrectly when viewed on the web and if used may be replaced by unrecognizable symbols when viewed on a different computer. Many accented characters in the place names shown here have therefore been replaced by characters without accents, to help avoid the risk of totally different characters or symbols appearing when you view the index ( though the more common accents appear as normal). On some computers, even these "common" accents may give unexpected results - this will be due to differing keyboard set-ups.

For the above reasons, some of the place names appear here with (strictly speaking) incorrect or incomplete spelling. However, we emphasise that in the book, the appropriate font has been used to ensure that all place names appear with correct spelling and with the correct accents.

Preface 5
Acknowledgements; Recommended reading;
Useful contacts 7

Travel 8

Car touring 9
Car tour 1: PIENINY AND TATRA NATIONAL PARKS 11
Car tour 2: ACROSS THE BORDER 13
Car tour 3: SLOVAKIA'S TATRA MOUNTAINS 15
Car tour 4: SLOVAK PARADISE 16
Car tour 5: LOW TATRAS NATIONAL PARK 18
Car tour 6: MALA FATRA 20
Car tour 7: ORAVA VALLEY 23

Picnics and short walks 24

Walking 30
Grades, waymarks, maps 30
Equipment and safety 31
Effects of altitude 32
Weather 32
Where to stay 33
Nuisances 33
Country code 33
Polish for walkers 34
Slovak for walkers 36
Organisation of the walks 39

THE WALKS

1 Pieniny: The Three Crowns 41
2 Pieniny: The Sokolica ridge 45
3 Pieniny: Dunajec Gorge 48
4 Polish High Tatras: Dolina Biaego and Stràyska Dolina via Sarnia Skaa 51
5 Polish High Tatras: The ascent of Giewont 54
6 Polish High Tatras: Along the Poland-Slovakia border ridge 57
7 Polish High Tatras: The ascent of Ornak 60
8 Polish High Tatras: A ridge walk above Chochoowska Dolina 62
9 Polish High Tatras: A lakes tour 66
10 Polish High Tatras: The Valley of the Five Polish Lakes and Morskie Oko 69
11 Slovakian High Tatras: Popradské Pleso and Vel'ké Hincovo Pleso 73
12 Slovakian High Tatras: Predné Solisko and Furkotská Dolina 76
13 Slovakian High Tatras: From Mlynická Dolina to Furkotská Dolina via Bystré Sedlo 78
14 Slovakian High Tatras: The ascent of Kriván 81
15 Slovakian High Tatras: Téryho Chata 84
16 Slovakian High Tatras: The ascent of Slavkovsky Stít 88
17 Slovakian High Tatras: Skalnaté Pleso and Lomnické Sedlo 90
18 Slovakian High Tatras: Two lakes and two mountain inns 92
19 Slovakian High Tatras: From Tatranská Javorina to Biela Voda 96
20 Slovensky Raj: Hornád Gorge and Tomáovsky Vhl'ad 99
21 Slovensky Raj: Hornád Gorge (western end) 103
22 Slovensky Raj: The Hornád River and historic Klástorisko 105
23 Low Tatras: Two valleys above Jasná 108
24 Low Tatras: The ascent of Chopok and a fine ridge walk 111
25 Low Tatras: The Pol'ana spur 113
26 Malá Fatra: The ascent of Kraviarske 116
27 Malá Fatra: The ascent of Chleb 119
28 Malá Fatra: The ascent of Vel'ky Kriván 121
29 Malá Fatra: The traverse of Boboty ridge 123
30 Malá Fatra: Dolné Diery and Nové Diery 125
31 Malá Fatra: The Juraj Jánosík walk 128

Transport information  131
Index               135
Fold-out touring map   inside back cover
Town plans           reverse of touring map