Tatra National Park

Tatra National Park contains the whole Polish Tatras, starting from the deepest valleys and ending on the highest peaks. Its culmination is Rysy which has 2499m on the Polish side. The area of the park is rich in tourist walking tracks. The characteristic for mountains an altitudinal zonation and rocky, raw landscapes can be viewed there.

Tatra National Park was opened in 1955. Its equivalent on the Slovak side is TANAP. The park covers the area of about 160km2. It adheres to the border of the country. In places where the border is traversed by tourist tracks, the crossing is permitted between 15 June and 1 November (tracks on the Slovak side are closed for the rest of the year).

The landscape of the park has alpine terrain. It consists of deep glacial valleys and steep, rocky slopes topped with crags. The landscape is diverse because of the different geological structure of the West and High Tatras. The West Tatras contains many caves. A lot of endangered plant and animal species live in the park such as bears, marmots, and chamois.