Short hikes matched to your fitness and a spa that is more than a corridor with a pool.
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Not every trip has to be far away. This one is three hours by car from Turzovka and it is aimed at people who want to switch off without lying by a pool for four days.
Our hotel in Starý Smokovec has a spa with four saunas, a whirlpool and a pool looking out at Slavkovský štít. Access is unlimited for the whole stay, which sounds like a detail but in practice means you can swim at six in the morning before breakfast if you feel like it.
Each morning there is one guided hike with Martin, a certified mountain guide who has walked the Tatras for thirty years. The routes are easy to moderate: Hrebienok and the Studený potok waterfalls, Popradské pleso from Štrbské pleso, Skalnaté pleso by cable car and the path to Zamkovský chata. Nothing takes more than four hours and nothing involves climbing. If you would rather not go, stay in the sauna; nobody checks up on anyone. The afternoons are for the spa and the evenings for a three course dinner. One classic back massage, forty minutes, is included and lands very well after a hike. Transport is not included; you drive yourself and parking at the hotel is free. If you do not have a car, we can arrange a lift from Turzovka for 40 EUR return with three or more people. The group is twelve, which on a mountain path is the maximum at which you can still hold a conversation rather than shout up the line. Departures fall in May, June, September and October, outside the peak, when the trails are quieter and the hotel is cheaper. In July you would be queuing for soup at Popradské pleso.
You arrive by car and check in from 14:00. At five there is a short meeting with Martin, who runs through the routes and what to bring for each. The spa is open until 21:00 and dinner is at seven in the hotel restaurant.
The funicular up to Hrebienok, then the path to the Small and Great waterfalls of the Studený potok. The route is six kilometres with 200 metres of climb and takes three hours with photo stops. Back for lunch and the sauna in the afternoon. Anyone keen can carry on to Zamkovský chata.
We drive to Štrbské pleso and walk the trail to Popradské pleso, five kilometres each way with 250 metres of climb. The soup at the chalet costs four euros and tastes better than anything in the hotel. Massage and spa in the afternoon.
Check out by ten, bags in the car. The cable car from Tatranská Lomnica up to Skalnaté pleso puts you right under Lomnický štít. If you want to go all the way to the summit, the ticket is 42 EUR and needs booking. We head home in the afternoon.
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