Poprad: the gateway to the High Tatras

The medieval quarter of Spišská Sobota, now part of Poprad, preserves Gothic and Renaissance houses around a central square largely untouched by mass tourism, with a fifteenth-century bell tower.

Riding the mountain train upward, one reaches Štrbské Pleso, a glacial lake surrounded by the peaks of the High Tatras, among Slovakia's most beloved hiking destinations.

Continuing along mountain trails, one encounters waterfalls and glacial valleys carved by ice ages into the granite rock of the Tatras.

As evening falls, Aquacity, a thermal park fed by natural geothermal springs, offers relaxation after a day in the mountains, with indoor and outdoor pools.

The High Tatras, despite being the smallest major mountain range in Europe by area, reach alpine elevations above 2,600 meters in just a handful of square kilometers.

Spišská Sobota was administratively merged into Poprad only in the twentieth century, yet it maintains a distinct historical and architectural identity from the rest of the modern city.