Slovak Paradise National Park is one of Slovakia’s nine national parks, located in the eastern part of the country. Covering nearly 328 km² including its buffer zone, it protects a striking karst landscape of deep gorges, canyons, waterfalls, caves, and forested plateaus. The park is best known for its extensive network of about 300 km of hiking trails, many equipped with ladders, chains, and bridges that allow visitors to explore dramatic natural features such as the Suchá Belá Gorge, Veľký Sokol Gorge, and the Prielom Hornádu canyon.
The area has been protected since the late 19th century and became a national park in 1988. Forests cover about 90% of the park, while its karst geology has created unique habitats and scenic landscapes. Popular tourist centers such as Čingov, Podlesok, and Dedinky make the park a major destination for hiking, nature observation, and outdoor recreation.
Suchá Belá Gorge – We did this fun and moderately challenging hike that took us about 4.5 hours to complete mostly because we stopped many times to take pictures and videos. The parking lot to this hike trail was less than a 20 minute drive from Poprad.
Some information about this hike –
- Parking – The gorge is accessible from Podlesok where there are two paid parking lots. For more detailed information, see parking lots and parking fees. The trailhead is a 5 min walk from the parking lot. Visitors must also pay a €4 park entrance fee per person.
- The hike follows a 5.6-mile (9 km) loop with approximately 1,300 feet (400 m) of elevation gain.
- For the first two miles, the trail steadily climbs uphill through the gorge, where hikers navigate a variety of exciting features, including wooden and metal ladders and metal platforms attached to cliff walls, often alongside cascading waterfalls. Good hiking shoes are highly recommended, and hikers should be prepared to get their feet wet, as the route includes walking over wooden logs, uneven rocks, and multiple stream crossings.
- Once past the most exciting section of the gorge, the hike becomes less dramatic. The next mile is a steady uphill walk through the forest with no ladders or platforms. This section leads to the halfway point, after which the trail levels out for about a mile. The remainder of the route is mostly downhill back to the parking area.
- See below the map for the hike. The Suchá Belá Gorge is marked by a green hiking trail and is passable only in one direction upstream of the stream. The gorge is 3.7 km long with a gradient of approximately 420 m and a crossing time of approximately 2 hours. You then turn left and onto the yellow trail and then down the red trail back to the parking lot.
We visited this place at the beginning of June and it was not crowded at all. We did not have to wait at any place to climb ladders etc. After crossing Suchá Belá, you can rest and recharge your batteries in the
wooden gazebo at the top of the river.
There are several other popular hikes in Slovak Paradise National Park that we did not have time to explore and would love to return for on a future trip to Slovakia.
- Tomášovský výhľad (Approx. 1.5–2 hours) – An easier hike from Čingov to a massive, iconic rock terrace offering panoramic views of the Hornád River valley and High Tatras.
- Zejmarská roklina (Approx. 2 hours) – The only gorge in the southern part of the park, this short hike goes from Biele Vody to Geravy, featuring ladders and rocky waterfalls.
- Prielom Hornádu – is a 15-kilometer route that offers a similar adventure to the Suchá Belá Gorge hike, with chains, ladders, footbridges, and narrow pathways carved into the canyon walls above the Hornád River. While the scenery is impressive, the route can begin to feel repetitive after a while. Fortunately, there are several bailout points that allow hikers to shorten the hike. About an hour into the hike you can exit is at Kláštorská Roklina. From there, hikers can follow either the yellow trail, which is shorter and steeper, or the green trail, both leading to Kláštorisko Lodge where there are the ruins of a 13th-century Carthusian monastery, a worthwhile historical stop. From Kláštorisko, the route continues downhill for about 1.5 hours back to the main entrance.
- Dobšiná Ice Cave – The UNESCO-listed cave is the park’s most famous cave and one of its top attractions.