Honest trail advice, hand-picked tours and everything you need to plan your days at Slovakia’s best-loved mountain resort.
Štrbské Pleso is both a lake and a village: a sheet of glacial water at 1,346 m and, around it, the highest-lying resort in the High Tatras. Trains arrive at the door, the path around the shore is flat, and within minutes of the last hotel you are in a national park of granite peaks, tarns and waterfalls.
It works for almost everyone. Families walk the lake and ride the chairlift; hikers set off for Popradské pleso, Rysy and Kriváň; skiers get Slovakia’s most snow-sure slopes. This guide covers all of it — and the practical side that matters in these mountains: seasonal trail closures, weather and rescue insurance.
Curated experiences booked through GetYourGuide — mostly day trips that bring you to the lake, plus the best of the region. Prices are indicative starting points in euros; tap any tour for live availability.
Day trip from €80 The best-value way to see the lake if you are staying on the Polish side. A driver takes you over the border to the Bachledka treetop walk above Ždiar and then on to Štrbské Pleso, with time to walk the lakeshore before the drive back to Zakopane.
Small-group day trip from €114 The same classic pairing — Bachledka and the lake — run as a small-group tour with pickup, which early reviewers rate at the very top. A relaxed pace, a guide who handles the border roads and enough time at the lake for the full loop and a coffee.
Small-group day trip from €99 Eastern Slovakia’s greatest hits in one line on the map: the old centre of Prešov, the vast ruin of Spiš Castle, medieval Levoča and finally the High Tatras for a walk around the lake. Well reviewed, small group, with pickup in Košice.
Day trip from €167 The most-booked tour in this guide, with more than four hundred reviews. It is a very long day, but it strings together the folk village of Čičmany, fairy-tale Bojnice, clifftop Orava Castle and a first look at the High Tatras with a guide praised for energy and humour.
Small-group day trip from €148 A small-group alternative with a perfect score across more than fifty reviews. The route swaps Bojnice for a show cave in the Demänovská valley, adds Orava Castle and the High Tatras, and the listing states that all entrance fees and photographs are included.
Guided wildlife hike from €240 The one experience here that is a real mountain day rather than a sightseeing drive: a guided hike into bear country with someone who knows where the animals feed. Sightings can never be guaranteed, but the tracking, the valleys and the guide’s knowledge make the day.
Day trip from €274 The long-running Kraków bestseller that crosses into Slovakia: the treetop walk above Ždiar for the High Tatra panorama, then Zakopane and thermal pools on the way home. Note that it visits the Slovak Tatras at Bachledka, not Štrbské Pleso itself.
Real-time prices and availability, straight from GetYourGuide. Free cancellation on most experiences.
Twelve places we would build a stay around — easy walks, classic hikes and the best of the High Tatras along the railway.
At the lake The easy lakeside circuit everyone should walk
A glacial lake at 1,346 m ringed by spruce and dwarf pine, with the peaks above the Mlynická and Mengusovská valleys mirrored in it. The level path around the shore takes under an hour and suits prams and wheelchairs.
At the lake The quickest route to a real Tatra summit
A chairlift climbs from the ski stadium to the Chata pod Soliskom hut at about 1,840 m. From there a rocky trail reaches the cross on Predné Solisko (2,117 m) in around an hour, with a bird’s-eye view of the lake.
Hikes & summits The classic half-day hike from the lake
A deep-green tarn at 1,494 m under a wall of peaks, with a mountain hotel on its shore. Beside it, among limba pines, the Symbolic Cemetery remembers those who died in the Tatras.
Hikes & summits 
Hikes & summits 
Around the High Tatras A cable car to 2,634 m
The eastern resort is the base for the gondola to Skalnaté pleso and the small red cable car to Lomnický štít, Slovakia’s second-highest summit — the easiest way to stand above 2,600 m in the Tatras.
Sleep at the lake and you have the shore to yourself at sunrise — or pick Smokovec, Lomnica or Poprad for a different base.
The resort’s five-star grand hotel, created from three historic buildings right on the lakeshore, with a spa that looks straight at the peaks.
The pyramid-shaped landmark from 1976 on the far shore: many rooms face the lake, and the pool and wellness area are a welcome end to a hiking day.
A restored 1890s hotel in the middle of Tatranská Lomnica, now a five-star with a café culture and an art programme.
Štrbské Pleso rewards a little planning: pick your hike, check the weather and let someone else drive. Compare guided day trips and experiences across the High Tatras and book in a couple of taps.
In northern Slovakia, at the western end of the High Tatras, about 30 km from Poprad. Administratively it belongs to the village of Štrba; it lies inside the Tatra National Park (TANAP).
Roughly “SHTRRB-skeh PLEH-so”. “Pleso” is the local word for a mountain lake. The Polish name is Szczyrbskie Jezioro, the Hungarian Csorba-tó and the German Tschirmer See.
One day covers the lake and the Solisko chairlift. Three days add Popradské pleso and a big hike or a trip along the railway. A week lets you wait for good weather for Rysy or Kriváň. See our travel guide for itineraries.
Yes. It is about 1½ hours by car from Zakopane and around 3 hours from Kraków, and organised day trips run from both — compare them here.
Strongly recommended. Mountain rescue in Slovakia is charged to the person rescued, and a helicopter call-out can cost thousands of euros. Daily mountain insurance costs very little.
No. Trails above the mountain huts — including Rysy, Kriváň and Predné Solisko — are closed from 1 November until late spring or mid-June. The lake, Popradské pleso and the route to Skok waterfall stay open.
