Vysoke Tatry Travel Forum

I have just booked our family holiday to Slovakia ( 3 teenagers, my husband and me) and we will be staying at the grand Hotel Praha in Lomnica. Although the hotel looks lovely, I haven't been able to find any independent reviews.Has anyone been to this hotel and/or the town? Any information, like what to do, where to eat, what not to do etc. will be greatly appreciated. Also, we are flying to Krakaw. Does anyone have any tips on routes?

well, first to the route: the simplest way seems to be to rent a car. Altough Krakow is geographically close to Tatras, traffic between these locations is not twice easy. You can:
1) take night Cracovia express (Krakow-Kosice-Budapest) leaving Krakow at 22.30, get off in Plavec (at 3am or so), then take regional train to Poprad (or Studeny Potok) and then another one to Lomnica
2) take bus Krakow-Zakopane/Nowy Targ and then another one to Poprad that stops in Tatr. Lomnica too; but runs on Thu and Sat only (leaves zakopane at 13.45 or so)
3) during summer holiday there's direct morning weekend (Fri-Sun) bus Krakow-Lipt. Mikulas from where there're direct buses to Lomnica

Another transport possibilty is to get to Zakopane (by bus or train, but trains are very slow), then get one of the many buses or minibuses running towards Morskie Oko, get off at the border post of Lysa Polana, walk across the border, and get a bus from the border post to Tatranska Lomnica. Check bus schedules from Lysa Polana to T.L. at www.cp.sk, making sure to input the exact date as weekend schedules can be very different.

I know this works because just today I did the reverse trip, Tatranska Lomnica to Krakow. But my direction is easier, because there are a lot more buses on the Polish side of the border.

If that sounds too complicated you are left with the methods described in the previous answer.

I didn't stay at the Grand Praha, it does look nice from outside. The attraction is very much the mountains themselves, the various Slovakian Tatras resorts don't have a lot to them (they are much smaller than Zakopane). For example, there are not many restaurants outside the hotels. Luckily the spectactular scenery is there to be enjoyed - if the weather is good. There are also some good daytrips, e.g. the town of Levoca and the castle of Spissky Hrad.

In case you didn't know, the area around these resorts sustained a lot of damage in a storm last winter and unfortunately a lot of the forests were turned into wasteland. You may see helicopters carrying away some of the fallen trees. However higher up in the mountains is fine.

Hello,
Forget about trian- too slow on theese routes.The best is to go by bus, or rent a car.If you need any more specific info concernig Krakow or mountiains. Let me know.
Maciek