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THE LOW Tatras are more accessible now than they have ever been. There is virtually nowhere an ordinary tourist cannot reach. Nevertheless, these mountains have not had to cope with the number of tourists their more famous neighbours, the High Tatras, have.
This difference affected the building of accommodation facilities for visitors to these mountains. The start of the last century saw entire hotel communities and many alpine cottages erected in the High Tatras.
But with the exception of the Korytnica spa, the Low Tatras offered rather sporadic housing. One such building was this cottage, seen here in the 1930s.
The modest Štefánikova chata (Štefánik Cottage) was built of stones and stood under the Low Tatras' highest peak, the 2,045-metre high Ďumbier. A tourist trail winding along the range's main ridge now crosses the mountain's main peak. The massif in the background is called Veľký Gápeľ but there is no trail leading to it.
Prepared by Branislav Chovan
