How to spend winter in the High Tatras, Slovakia

Slovakia’s High Tatras mountains make for the perfect winter getaway, with almost limitless scope for outdoor adventure. Along with all the fantastic (and fantastic value) skiing and snowboarding, there’s cross country skiing, snowshoeing and winter walking, skating and sledging – offset by wonderful local cuisine, stacks of culture and plenty of festive spirit. Getting to the High Tatras from the UK is a doddle, with direct flights to Poprad from Luton, and to Košice (just one hour from Poprad) from London Stansted, Luton and Liverpool. Pick up a Tatra Tourist Card which offers free use of local public transport and discounts at museums and attractions.

Now in its 13th year, the Tatra Ice Temple is a spectacular ice sculpture beneath an enormous dome, 25m wide and over 10m high. This winter the sculpture is inspired by Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, complete with sculptures of the 13 apostles standing above the facade – carved from 1,800 blocks of ice (with a total weight of 225 tonnes) by a team of 20 sculptors from Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and Germany, over a period of 25 days. Visitors enter through an ice tunnel. For a challenge, see if you can spot the five hidden edelweiss flowers carved into the surface of the ice. There are also weekly concerts held at the Tatra Ice Temple. In previous years, sculptures have included Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, St Jacob’s Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, and Westminster Abbey. The Tatra Ice Temple is in Hrebienok, from November 2025 to 19 April 2026, and is free to visit.

The gateway to the High Tatras, and the region’s festive heart, is the city of Poprad. Poprad’s historic core is the elongated St Giles’ Square, with its well-preserved 18th and 19th century houses, and Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity. The square is also home to Poprad’s vibrant Christmas market, awash with lights, craft and food stalls, and live music. The most beautifully preserved area of Poprad however is Spišská Sobota, across the river on the northeast side of the city, with its cobbled square surrounded by Renaissance burgher houses, their colourful facades topped by steeply pitched roofs and prominent cornices. The Church of St George stands at the centre of the square, with its Gothic winged altarpiece and Renaissance bell tower. Spišská Sobota is also where you’ll find some of the city’s best restaurants, such as Víno & Tapas where chef Zuzana Sisáková gives traditional Slovak dishes a creative, modern twist.

While you’re staying in the High Tatras, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to taste delicious local cuisine. Slovak gastronomy is a wonderfully rich tapestry of flavours and culinary influences, with plenty of regional variation, from the lowlands to the soaring peaks of its mountain areas, not least the High Tatras. Standout local dishes to try here include freshly roasted local trout, cabbage soup, and that most typical of Slovak dishes, bryndzové halušky – potato dumplings made with salty sheep’s cheese and smothered with fried bacon. Lip-smackinly good, and perfect for banishing the cold. Also try greaves pogachas (savoury pastries, which make the perfect accompaniment to a local beer), cabbage dumplings, local steaks, roast goose with potato pancakes, and lokše (fried flatbread) – and there’s plenty of wine from vineyards in the Slovak lowlands.

The High Tatras offer five months of guaranteed snow, with 24km of groomed slopes, 20 lifts and 20km of marked hiking trails. Hiking in the winter-washed mountains is particularly peaceful and will reward you with cosy refuges in the form of mountain huts, including Rainer’s hut which is the oldest in the High Tatras.

The highest ski resort here, with the longest ski season in Slovakia, is Štrbské Pleso – boasting 9km of well-groomed slopes ranging from easy to medium, set between 1,351m and 1,840m. Štrbské Pleso is also home, as of December 2025, to a brand new eight-seater chairlift. Tatranská Lomnica is set beneath the towering Lomnický štít, at 2,634m the second highest peak in the High Tatras. A cable car runs to the summit – jaw-dropping views guaranteed. Tatranská Lomnica has one of the steepest pistes in Slovakia, with a vertical drop of 1,300m. Starý Smokovec on the other hand is aimed more squarely at beginners and is perfect for kids. The High Tatras are also great for cross-country skiing, with over 70km of tracks – Štrbské Pleso is particularly good, with 25km of cross-country tracks covering various levels of ability. For sledding, head for Hrebienok which has day and night runs, and there are also half a dozen skating rinks across the region.

After all the adrenaline-fuelled excitement offered by the High Tatras, kick back and unwind in Poprad. Its huge thermal aquapark and wellness centre offering 13 outdoor and indoor pools, multiple water slides and more than 350 massage jets, whirlpools and other water features. The aquapark also houses the largest wellness area in Slovakia, spread across two floors, with Finnish, infra-red, herbal, salt, and eucalyptus saunas, relaxation pools and more. The water is drawn from a mineral-rich natural thermal source at a depth of 1,300m, and cooled from its initial temperature of 50°C to around 38°C. A natural filtering system using UV radiation, and stainless steel rather than concrete in the newer pools, reduces the need for chlorine by up to 90%. There’s a supervised kindergarten, plus several bars and restaurants – and it all comes with sublime views of the High Tatras.