Poprad District: Caves, Culture and Cycling Routes in the Tatras

Nature Experiences and Specific Excursion Destinations

Poprad District offers you a varied combination of Tatra landscapes, cave experiences, cycling, regional history and culture. This character is particularly evident at Belianska Cave: it is located in the Belianske Tatras National Nature Reserve within Tatra National Park. The visitor route through the cave is 1,370 metres long and includes 860 steps. A visit to the cave is therefore a clearly defined experience with a fixed route and many stairs. Belianska Cave can also be reached via an educational trail from Tatranská Kotlina. It is 1,000 metres long, overcomes an elevation gain of 122 metres and takes approximately 25 minutes. The time stated should be understood as an approximate value. In Tatra National Park, outside built-up areas, hiking is possible on hiking and educational trails. This allows you to distinguish your excursion options between the cave route, the educational trail and other designated paths.

Cycling and Historical Traces

For a less mountain-oriented activity, there is the Popradská cyklomagistrála. It is 25.4 kilometres long, easy, paved and suitable for road and trekking bicycles. The route is flat and comfortable along its entire length and is suitable for families with children and recreational cyclists. It can be accessed directly from Poprad city centre or from the car park near a Tesco supermarket. Another combination of exercise and history is offered by an 18-kilometre route from Štrbské Pleso railway station via Tatranská Štrba and Tatranský Lieskovec to Šoldov and back. On the outskirts of the village of Štrba in the foothills of the Tatras lie the remains of the abandoned medieval settlement of Šoldov. There you can see partially reconstructed settlement buildings, a monument, an information board and a small seating area.

Museums, Regional Culture and Family Excursions

At the Podtatranské Museum in Poprad, you will encounter various historical periods and ways of life. The preserved exhibits include a wooden chamber, the sarcophagus and grave goods of a Germanic prince from around the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Another exhibition presents guild vessels, guild symbols, documents, seals and guild chests from numerous traditional crafts. The “Meštianske bývanie” exhibition also displays a bourgeois study with furniture from the early 20th century. The Múzeum Ždiarsky dom has a permanent exhibition featuring interiors, folk costumes and work tools. As part of its educational programme, you can experience a Ždiar wedding there, try on traditional costumes, take a carriage ride through Ždiar and the surrounding area, taste local specialities and listen to Goral music. At AquaCity Poprad, the Mayská pyramída complements the facilities with three stainless-steel pools, slides and water attractions such as a wild-water river, a water mushroom, a water hedgehog and water jets.

Winter Options in Ždiar

If you visit Poprad District in winter, BACHLEDKA Ski & Sun in Ždiar offers up to 10.8 kilometres of ski slopes of varying difficulty. In addition, the cross-country ski trails at BACHLEDKA Ski & Sun cover 20 kilometres. This means that different forms of winter sports are available within the same excursion context, without equating ski slopes with cross-country ski trails. For further regional orientation, the following town and village pages are available to you: Batizovce, Mengusovce, Lucivna, Hozelec, Spišská Teplica, Gerlachov, Nová Lesná, Vernár, Spišské Bystré, Hôrka, Sunava, Liptovská Teplicka, Stola, Zdiar, Velký Slavkov, Poprad, Strba, Svit, Gánovce, Vysoké Tatry and Spišský Štiavnik.

For the higher-level travel overview: Prešov.