(source: TASR)
Many people took advantage of the sunny weekend in Slovakia by heading to the High Tatras. The roads leading to the best-known ski resorts were crowded and to get there by car required much patience, regional daily Spiš Korzár reported.
As of the morning of Friday, January 7, cars were stuck in tailbacks and the traffic service informed drivers at 14:00 that Štrbské Pleso had to be closed for personal traffic.
Drivers were reportedly stuck in their cars for 30 minutes; the tailbacks were kilometres long.
“I drive to Tatras because of work every day. These days, driving through the mountains is very interesting but mainly long because they are full of tourists,” said Peter Šoltys, who was one of the drivers stuck in traffic by the Tatras, as quoted by Spiš Korzár.
“From what I observe, the car parks in the Tatras are not at all sufficient these days,” he added.
Many cars but not as many people
“There are more cars than snow,” said one of the inhabitants of Nová Lesná, who does not like too many visitors' cars.
Detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains, including attractions on the Polish side.
“It is clear that when a family with children goes skiing, it is bothersome to travel by trains and buses,” said Jozef, who has been living in the Tatras for almost 40 years. “But I also see regularly cars with two people who go for a walk around a mountain lake and drive back home. There are many of these cars.”
Peter Petras, the well-known manager of the Rainerova Chalet, gave a similar statement in a recent interview for Korzár.
“We think that there are many people in the Tatras because there are many cars,” he said. “In the past, a bus with 30 or 40 people would arrive. Today, two or three people arrive in a car and that’s why there is an optical illusion that the Tatras are overcrowded. I read the book Kvety Tatier and one chapter says that in August 1981 there were 72,000 people in the Tatras in one day, now there are 22,000,” Petras noted.
