Slovakia by campervan: best regions and routes

Areas of Slovakia

The regions of Slovakia: the Tatras, the ranges around them and the plain

Slovakia is a band of mountains with a warm plain along its southern edge, and almost everything worth driving to is in the mountains. The Tatras get the attention and deserve it, but they are also the strictest place in the country and the busiest. The ranges around them, the Low Tatras, the Malá Fatra and the limestone gorges of Slovenský raj, give you most of the scenery with a fraction of the crowd. Pick by altitude and by month, and check the protection degree before you pick a spot.

The High Tatras

The High Tatras: the smallest alpine range in the world, and the strictest

Twenty-five kilometres of granite along the Polish border, with peaks over 2,600 metres, glacial lakes in every valley and an electric railway linking the resort villages. It is the smallest range in the world that is alpine, and that compactness is exactly why it is so tightly regulated. TANAP was declared in 1949 and is Slovakia's oldest national park.

Best June to September

What it is like

• Walking, not driving. Everything good starts at a car park and goes up on foot.
• Štrbské Pleso at 1,319 metres averages 19 °C in July and 146 mm of rain that month. Nights are cold all summer.

Where to go

• Štrbské Pleso and the lake above the village
• Skalnaté pleso and the Lomnický štít cable car

For the vehicle

• Third protection degree across the whole park, with fourth and fifth degree reserves inside it. Camping, fires and standing off the road network are banned.
• The visitor code only lets you walk in daylight, sunrise to sunset, unless you are walking in to a hut you have booked.

The Low Tatras and Liptov

The Low Tatras and Liptov: the long ridge, the caves and the cheaper Tatras

A seventy kilometre ridge running east to west, higher in area than the High Tatras and far emptier, with Ďumbier at 2,043 metres at its centre. The Liptov basin lies along its northern side with a reservoir, hot springs, and the Demänovská valley cutting up into the limestone with two of the best caves in the country. This is where Slovaks go when the High Tatras are full.

Best June to September

What it is like

• Rounded, grassy ridges rather than granite towers, and long high walks with no scrambling.
• Chopok at 1,995 metres averages 12 °C in July and -5 °C in January. The valley floor is 8 to 10 degrees warmer.

Where to go

• Demänovská dolina, the ice cave and the cave of liberty
• Chopok and the ridge walk to Ďumbier

For the vehicle

• NAPANT is a national park, so the third degree applies and camping and fires are banned outside the villages.
• The visitor code sets aside eight ridge saddles for a single night's stay, including Čertovica, Ďurková and Hiadeľské sedlo. They are for walkers, not vehicles.

Slovak Paradise and Spiš

Slovak Paradise and Spiš: ladders up the gorges, and the biggest castle in Europe

A limestone plateau east of the Tatras cut by gorges that you climb through on ladders, chains and steel walkways bolted into the rock, with water running past your boots the whole way. Around it lies Spiš, a region of Saxon-founded towns, a UNESCO listed castle the size of a village, and the Tatras on the horizon from almost everywhere.

Best May to October

What it is like

• The gorges are the point. Suchá Belá, Piecky, Veľký Sokol and the Prielom Hornádu are all day walks with serious ladder sections.
• Poprad, the nearest station, averages 24 °C in August and is noticeably cooler than Košice or Bratislava.

Where to go

• Suchá Belá gorge from Podlesok
• The Prielom Hornádu river gorge from Čingov

For the vehicle

• The gorges are strictly one way, bottom to top. The park's visitor code says so in as many words. Plan a loop, not an out and back.
• Camping is allowed at exactly three places in the park: the Podlesok, Čingov and Dedinky campsites, plus the villages themselves.