Toilets in the mountains, entrance fees to the national park and a ban on dogs. The long-awaited amendment to the TANAP visitor regulations is slowly approaching. We will now outline how this change will affect the movement of tourists in the Tatra National Park and what this change means not only for dog walkers.
Popradské pleso - a popular tourist destination in the High Tatras
The end of trips with dogs on the Slovak side of the Tatras?
On the Polish side of the Tatras, entry with dogs has been prohibited for a few years. Violation of this ban can result in heavy fines. Something similar is now awaiting four-legged tourists and their handlers in Slovakia. During this season, the old visitor regulations are still in effect, which allow dogs to move around the park, but only and exclusively on a leash. You can find the current TANAP visitor regulations on the park's official website in the "For Visitors" section www.tanap.sk/navstevnici/ .
According to the current director of the national park, Pavol Majko, the reason for the changes in the visitor regulations is primarily the protection of local plants and animals . There have been many situations where dogs have chased chamois or even killed mountain marmots while they were free.
An unwanted collision with a larger predator –
a brown bear – cannot be ruled out in the Tatras. The current visitor regulations already state that
untying a dog from a leash can cost the owner up to 300 euros .
Another problem in the rare Tatra ecosystem is excrement, which some lazy owners do not pick up after their dogs, often with an excuse like: "Who would want to carry it all the time when there are no bins in the mountains?". With similar behavior of certain individuals, regulations could not wait long.
This year, you will be able to see Zelené or Skalnaté pleso, or the Tatranská magistrála, for the last time with your dog.
Dog walkers do not perceive this regulation positively. Many of them cannot even imagine a vacation without their four-legged companions. According to the prepared regulations, tourists with dogs should be allowed to enter places designated for this purpose - paved and forest roads outside the alpine level . TANAP is preparing a specific map for its visitors. It will indicate where dogs are allowed and where they are not. There are also plans to install information signs and boards directly in the terrain to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Similar sunrise images captured on the Tatra peaks should be a thing of the past.
Hiking in the dark with a headlamp? Definitely not in the Tatras
The newly prepared visitor regulations, in addition to the ban on entry with dogs, should also emphasize the already valid ban on trips after dark . The reason is again to protect nature, this time primarily fauna . In an interview for Czech Radio in July 2023, TANAP Director Pavol Majko emphasized that as soon as it gets dark, many animals in the park start looking for food . Stressing nocturnal grazing species is definitely not desirable. According to the TANAP Director, tourists should admire nature when they can see it.
Exceptions to movement in the national park after dark may be granted to scientific expeditions, tourists heading to a mountain hut for the night, or climbers heading to remote corners of the mountains.
For example, you will be able to pay a voluntary entrance fee for a walk to the Velický Waterfall and thus support the development of the national park.
News that will make you sit on your butt – literally
The big news for tourists will be toilets in the mountains . The Tatra National Park will try to install toilets in six places as part of one of its projects. However, more detailed information about their location is a mystery. So let's be surprised. From this news, as tourists, we can expect greater cleanliness along the roads and fewer scattered handkerchiefs and wet wipes that pollute the precious nature of the national park. The question is whether such expectations will be fulfilled. Time will tell.
TANAP plans to open new cycling routes and nature trails this year. According to the park director, a new attraction is also to be a big draw – the wildest river in Slovakia . The Belá River has been open for boating tourism since 2022. Especially for the spring months. This is a unique adrenaline experience. People have to carry the boat on foot , because there is a ban on vehicle entry on the road. However, if they leave their car under the Permon Hotel in Podbánské and carry the boat on their shoulders, they can go down the virgin wild flow of the newly born Belá River and taste the Tatras from a slightly different perspective.
Another innovation is a voluntary entrance fee , which the park plans to collect through an application.
Hiking trails in the High Tatras attract thousands of tourists every day to explore this exceptional alpine location.
Reconstruction of the Freedom Road – the Tatra transport artery
If you went to the Tatras this year, you probably noticed the changes taking place on the main transport section – the Freedom Road. This is a general repair of the road leading from Podbánské to Tatranská Lomnica, 43 kilometers long. It passes through all the main tourist centers and is therefore crucial for the movement of tourists who go to the Tatras by car. So if you are planning to go to the Tatras by car this year, it will be a real test of nerves. By the end of the summer season, there will almost certainly be queues there.
The Freedom Road connects fifteen settlements in the Tatra Mountains. Its construction began in 1967 , and ten years later, the responsible persons stated that the road was overloaded and the number of cars was unbearable . Over time, the number multiplied, but despite this, the road built in this way has been in use to this day.
But it was in such a deplorable state that it was finally reconstructed after 56 years . Each kilometer of the new road will cost less than a million euros. For that kind of money, visitors can look forward to a modernly repaired road starting next year, on which four rest areas with shelters, toilets and information boards will be built. There will also be bicycle racks and playgrounds.
The repair is divided into six sections of approximately seven kilometers each . Five companies will work on it in total, and the main parts of the reconstruction should be completed by the end of this year. The rest should be completed during 2024. Ambitions and plans are one thing, another thing is the unpredictable Tatra weather, which has already thwarted several similar plans in the past. But we believe that everything will work out, and that the next summer season will be a little more pleasant for tourists arriving by car.
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