Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a notch above average, with the cheese and other ingredients mostly fresh. The pastas
are good. But the real drawing card is the welcoming service.
J. Vuruma 5.
&
041/564-3555.
Lunch and dinner items 120 Sk-180 Sk ($4-$6/£2.20-£3.30). No credit cards. Daily
11am-9pm.
ACCOMMODATIONS OUTSIDE OF Z ILINA
Bránica
One of Slovakia's newest and most luxurious getaway hotels. This
is a destination in its own right, with beautifully groomed clay tennis courts, wine-
tasting rooms, a full fitness center, and sauna. It's the kind of place you book for the
weekend to take some time off a hectic work schedule. The hotel is situated just along
the main road between
Z
ilina and Terchová, about 15km (10 miles) east of
Z
ilina. It's
possible to reach the hotel by bus (tell the driver where you're going and he'll drop you
off at the far eastern edge of the village called “Belá”).
Belá.
&
041/569-9035.
Fax 041/569-9039. www.hotelbranica.sk. 98 units. 2,700 Sk ($130/£49) double. AE, DC,
MC, V.
Amenities:
Restaurant; indoor pool; health club and spa; bike and ski rental; tennis courts; concierge; limited
room service; massage; nonsmoking rooms. In room:A/C, TV, dataport, minibar, hair dryer, safe.
Finds
Chata pod Mal;m Rozsutcom
This very modest pension situated about 30km
(20 miles) east of
Z
ilina, just beyond Terchová, is one of the most authentic moun-
tain cabins you'll see. The owners have set aside six tiny rooms with bathroom on the
second floor of their log-cabin home. The rooms can be chilly at night and hot dur-
ing the day, but at the same time the experience is enjoyable because of the hospital-
ity you're extended. Even if you're not staying here, stop in for a meal. It's real Slovak
cooking in the best sense of the word.
Demkovska 7, Zázrivá.
&
0908/785-092.
www.chpmr.sk. 6 units. 600 Sk ($20/£11) double. AE, DC, MC, V.
Ameni-
ties:
Restaurant (daily 10am-10pm).
5 The High Tatras & Eastern Slovakia
THE HIGH TATRAS/VYSOKÉ TATRY
150km (90 miles) E of Zilina; 350km (210 miles) NE of Bratislava
The High Tatras (www.tatry.net) are Slovakia's biggest tourist draw, and a visit to the
country is not complete without seeing these majestic mountains. It's not the hills'
height that's so impressive; the tallest are only in the 2,600m (8,500-ft.) range. But it's
the way that they vault, so dramatically and out of nowhere, from the flat grasslands
around the town of Poprad to their lofty snowcapped peaks.
The High Tatras are commonly called the “world's smallest Alpine range.” That's a
reference to the relatively short length of the mountain chain, just 30km (about 20
miles) end to end. The Tatras are actually part of the much larger Carpathian range
that begins its rise just outside of Bratislava and then draws a wide arc through north-
ern Slovakia, southern Poland, and into Romania.
The High Tatras enjoyed a brief golden age in the late-19th and early-20th cen-
turies, when the wealthy classes from Hungary, Austria, Germany, and later Czecho-
slovakia came to ski or to ride out the hot summers in the mountains. Many of the
most beautiful buildings, including the two “Grand” hotels in Star
;
Smokovec and
Tatranská Lomnica, were built at that time. The two world wars and the decades of
Communism afterward put an end to all of that. These days, the High Tatras remain
a popular tourist destination for Slovaks, Poles, and, increasingly, Russians, though it's
hard to escape that bittersweet feeling of nostalgia for those good old days.
