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Nature trail History of the Smokovec family

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Route: High Tatras, Starý Smokovec: bus station - Smokovecká kyselka spring - Grandhotel Starý Smokovec - Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary - Nový Smokovec, hotel Palace - TEŽ station - bus station. Length: 2.1km.

Nature trail History of the Smokovec family

Route: High Tatras, Starý Smokovec: bus station - Smokovecká kyselka spring - Grandhotel Starý Smokovec - Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary - Nový Smokovec, hotel Palace - TEŽ station - bus station. Length: 2.1km.

What is worth seeing on the nature trail and in the area

Starý Smokovec. One of the three parts and the administrative center of the town of High Tatras, located at the junction of the central part of the Poprad Basin and the Tatra foothills north of Poprad on the Freedom Road at an altitude of about 1,000 m. It consists of eight settlements: Horný Smokovec, Dolný S., Nový S., Starý S., Tatranská Polianka, Tatranské Zruby, Nová Polianka and Vyšné Hágy. The Starý Smokovec settlement is the oldest Tatra tourist and recreational settlement. The basis of its name can be derived from the pagan cult of the Slavic Zmok, the patron saint of metallurgists who smelted iron ore here since the La Tène period. In 1465, the district became the property of the Zápoľský family, who sold it to the Csáky family in the 17th century. The Evangelical preacher and naturalist Tomáš Tobias Mauksch initiated the establishment of the settlement in Kežmarok. In the years 1833 - 1867, the tenant of Smokovec was Ján Juraj Rainer, an inn from Spiš and Sobot, and his wife Alžbeta, who built an inn here and set up tourist hostels. The main function of the settlement in this period was hydrotherapy based on acid - natural, bicarbonate, calcium magnesium, carbon, cold hypotonic water. The development accelerated after the construction of the Košice-Bohumín railway (1871) and especially after the connection of the settlement by electric railway to it from Poprad in 1907. It was extended in 1911 to Tatranská Lomnica and in 1912 to Štrbské Pleso. In 1908, they also put into operation a funicular to Hrebienok (length 2,019 m, height difference 254 m). The oldest preserved buildings are near the springs of Smokovec sour (Swiss House, Villa Flóra). One of the most beautiful buildings in the entire High Tatras is the neo-Gothic church in Starý Smokovec, built in 1888 according to the project of Gedeon Majunke of Spišská Sobota in the alpine Alpine style with characteristic half-timbered masonry and richly carved and decorated gables. painter Vincent Hložník, his wife and daughter. Architecturally very remarkable is also the building of the former sanatorium Dr. Szontágh by architect Milan Michal Harminc (project 1916, construction 1925) at the TEŽ Nový Smokovec stop, where the monumentally historically designed northern façade meets the modern purist simplicity of the southern façade with terraces.

Smokovecká kyselka. One of several springs in the area of the tectonic edge of the High Tatras in the settlement of Starý Smokovec at its northeastern tip about 240 m above the bus station at the end of the valley below the Calvary, officially recognized as a natural mineral source and observed and controlled. It is a spring of natural bicarbonate, calcium-magnesium and carbonated cold hypotonic mineral water with a color of ferrous water, a pH value of 3.4 and a temperature of 6 ° C. It was known in a wide area and has been described in the literature for a long time and in the 18th century it became the main localization factor for the concentration of hunting and similar objects and later climatic and hydrotherapy facilities. In the 19th century, the water of two Smokovec springs, named Castor and Pollux, was distributed throughout Hungary, allegedly to the Viennese court. After the devastation of the area by a storm in 2004, the site was revitalized. The springs were fenced and secured and a new filling plant (2017) of this water was built, suitable for regular (daily) consumption, which is distributed in glass containers under the name Tatranská minerálka. A park was created under the springs above the filler, in which mineral water flows out in the gazebo for the public's drinking purposes.

Jakubkova lúka in Nový Smokovec. The locality is named after the miner Štefan Jakubek west of the center of Starý Smokovec in the settlement of Nový Smokovec at the foot of Slavkovský štít. Today it is known mainly as a ski resort with two easy slopes at an altitude of 1,028 - 1,135 m above sea level and two lifts with a length of 853 m and 70 m. From Starý Smokovec, also accessible by a comfortable educational Small Spa Walkway.

Combs. Recreational location and starting point for hiking trails north of Starý Smokovec. More in the texts for the Hrebienok nature trail.

Additional information

Transport: By foot, By bike, By car, By bus


Suitable for: Childrens, Families with childrens, Elderly, Handicapped, Cyclists, Young, Adults
Season: Summer
Updated on: 2.9.2021

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Nature trail History of the Smokovec family
Starý Smokovec
Region: Prešovský
District: Poprad
Area: Spiš, Tatras
 49.1417877, 20.2202264

Starý Smokovec

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