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Our hike to Green Lake in Slovakia’s High Tatras quickly turned out to be one of the best days of hiking in Slovakia.
We have based ourselves in the small village of Zdiar with magnificent views of the High Tatras mountains, but you can easily do this hike if you are staying anywhere near the High Tatras.
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This hike would take about 8 hours
You can start the hike to Green Lake at Tatranska Lomnica which is a popular town at the centre of the High Tatras and many visitors base themselves here. From here, you can buy a one-way ticket at the ticket booth for the cable car to Skalnaté Pleso (around €22).
Once you are up there, look for the observatory and pick up the red marker trail to Zelene Pleso. This is also signposted as Chata pri Zelenom Plese which is the name of the wooden hut/restaurant at the lake in Slovak.
The first part of the hike is quite rocky, and you’ll reach the top of Vel’ká Svišt’ovka and see the Zelene Pleso (Green Lake) below.
Continue on for 5km down. See below for more information on how to get from Green Lake down to the main road.
This hike should take 6 hours
We did this exact hike to Green Lake in August 2022. You can either take the bus to the Biela Voda Parking or you can drive here and park your car.
The parking is €10 (to park inside a small designated car park) or you can simply park on the shoulder of the main road for free, which is what we did.
The trail is easy to find and you have a few options for hikes here as well.
The first step is the 3-hour hike to Green Lake (Zelene Pleso) which is marked with a yellow marker. As mentioned, this is signposted as Chata pri Zelenom Plese. It makes sense as chata (the mountain hut) at the lake is also a restaurant serving hot food and cold beer.
Plus for serious hikers, you can stay overnight, but for that, it is best to enquire before your arrival. You can book your stay at Chata pri Zelenom only via e-mail and it costs €32 per person with breakfast.
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Tel. + 421 901 767 420
The first hour of the hike is an easy path across the forested area, we spotted wild raspberries and plenty of bees in the wildflowers.
Slowly the path gets rockier and you’ll cross the small river twice before you follow it up to the top of the valley. The final hour of the hike is probably the steepest and having good hiking shoes for the rocks will help.
There was also plenty of water on the trail so waterproof shoes are recommended.
But you’ll also start seeing the peaks (all of them are over 2000 metres high) in the distance and then suddenly the Green Lake appears with the background of the mountains and the mountain hut Chata pri zelenom plese in the corner of it.
Congratulations! You made it!
Get some rest at the hut, refuel and enjoy the views. You might spot the ducks that live in the lake as well.
There is a path surrounding Green Lake and it’s here that you’ll see the most tourists as this is the point where all trails connect.
From here there are a few options for hiking in Slovakia from Green Lake:
To get back, simply follow the trail down to Biela Voda Parking.
If you arrived by public bus, just wait for the bus to come by or ask any local to call you a taxi to Tatranska Lomnica. It should be 7-8 euros, so it’s easy.
There is a new project underway to build a walking path along the main road to make hiking in Slovakia more accessible, this should be completed in 2023, hopefully.
If you plan on travelling more in Slovakia (and we highly recommend that you do), then don’t miss these 10 Best Places to Visit in Slovakia and our post on 18 Most Popular Slovak Foods to try.
Seeing that you’re so close, you might consider crossing into Poland. If you do, we recommend a visit to Zalipie; The Prettiest Village in Poland, and here are Poland’s best cities to visit.
And yes, we’ve got you covered with 18 Traditional Polish Dishes you’ll love!
If you are heading to the capital city of Bratislava in Slovakia, then you might like these 13 Things to do in Bratislava, and of course, a solid list of the best restaurants in Bratislava to try local food.
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