Three and a half gorges in the wilderness of Slovak Paradise

Itinerary

• From the bus stop and parking lot, follow the P sign to the row of restaurants in Podlesok.
• Before the restaurants, turn left onto the K trail, which we follow through the Hernád Gorge.
• At the junction of the Kláštorská roklina (Monastery Gorge), turn right and continue along the Z trail through the gorge.
• We leave the Kláštorisko plateau on the P trail, ascending past the restaurant.
• From a forest junction, turn left and descend on the K trail towards Kyseľ.
• Enter the Kyseľ Gorge via the branching S trail on the left.
• Turn back from the bridge on the S trail, which we follow through a short crevice.
• We join the Z\ trail that crosses a junction at the Karoliny Waterfall (Karolínyho vodopád).
• Turn left and follow the Z trail along the Veľký Kyseľ gorge valley.
• At the end of the valley, turn right onto the S trail, which we follow to the Malá Poľana meadow.
• At the meadow, turn right onto the K trail leading to the rest area at the Suchá Belá gorge closure (Suchá Belá, vrchol).
• Continue straight on the S trail to the junction called Pod Vtáčím Hrbom, which is signposted.
• From here, turn left and descend on the P trail back to Podlesok.

Detailed description of the tour

Canyon adventures

From the bus stop, follow the P trail on the asphalt, walking past parking lots into Podlesok (Erdőalja), the northern gateway to the gorge world of Slovak Paradise (Slovenský raj). After the resort’s map boards equipped with accommodation and restaurants, turn left onto the K trail, and on the branching asphalt road, with a panorama of the Tatra Mountains and alongside the forest, head for the Hernád Gorge (Prielom Hornádu). After bypassing a children's camp, the asphalt ends, and turning left the terrain becomes stony, then a short path leads to the top of a limestone ridge: the symbolic and real gateway of the river canyon, the Hernád Gorge (Hrdlo Hornádu), opens beneath us. The basin north of the Káposztafalva karst plateau is clearly visible, from where the river turns toward the mountains to cut across their edges, partly capturing previous creek valleys, except the gorge adorned by rock formations and mysterious forest.

We descend to the visible bridge via a water-washed rock path and cross the river for the first time. On the other side, a wooden hut welcomes us, where national park entrance tickets can be purchased during the tourist season, but if we have a multi-day pass or already got the small card in Podlesok, we can continue on the metal walkway built along the cliff by the Hernád river. The path meandering in the protected, sometimes primeval forest patches holds one of the hardest sections of the canyon: climbing or descending steep parts equipped sometimes with wire ropes, steps or ladder poles. On the perhaps most photographed section of the Hernád Gorge, we proceed on metal trays fixed to the cliff face above the surging water at 3-4 meters height, holding to wires, often pressing close to the slightly arched, hollow wall to lean out over the depth. The old, not yet replaced cumbered metal stairs sometimes move under a person’s weight, but there's no cause for panic, the structures rarely fail.

Soon we cross the “Bratislava Bridge” (Reťazový most), and further on, on paths or limestone-fixed metal stairs, trays and log bridges, we overcome the narrow limestone ribs of the canyon. After a ladder made of trays, we pass under the longest suspension bridge of the Hernád Gorge, arriving at the entrance to Kláštorská roklina (Monastery Gorge).

An introductory gorge hike

Turning right onto the Z trail, we set off along the path of Kláštorská roklina, formerly called Monastery Gorge. It is famous as the place where the densest series of waterfalls in the entire national park line up, offering the most waterfalls along the route. Over 1.5 km, we need to overcome 224 meters elevation gain, aided significantly by medium-sized ladders installed. As the gorge is short (thus without side branches) and its creek source springs at the plateau edge, the bed is almost dry most of the year, with waterfalls only trickling.

After a steep, rocky climb, the valley narrows into a dark rocky corridor, with the cool breath of rushing water from below heralding the exciting moments ahead. The first major sight is the 13 m waterfall named after Slovak writer Anton Straka, the author of the region’s first tourist guide (Strakov vodopád), and the bent iron ladder leading out of its basin. After this easily climbable ladder, we wade again through the stream, and after a few metal trays, the largest waterfall of the gorge, the Rainbow Waterfall (Dúhový vodopád), appears before us. This monumental 8.5 m rock stair is covered by a brownish tufa layer, green moss pads and a silvery water curtain (the source of the name), beside which lead two oblique ladders one after the other upward. Where chains and trays help across the trodden ledge, we face the narrowest point of the gorge: limestone trays, a metal walkway, and finally a bent ladder “rescue” the seemingly impossible trail (the waterfall is called Kaskády Gustáva Nedobrého).

Clinging to chains, we overcome a slippery rock rib before the valley widens. Soon a few metal steps lead into a rugged gorge: stepping into the stream, we reach the ladder of the locking Small Waterfall (Malý vodopád). Climbing this, the Kláštorská roklina “softens” and we follow the stream in beautiful forest and along raw rock walls, finally leaving the last technical equipment on a chain-tray stone staircase. The path that widens into a promenade leads beside warm spring water trickling from wooden troughs, finally guiding us to the Kláštorisko (Refuge Rock) plateau. (Kláštorisko literally means Monastery Place, but the former monastery is also known as Red Monastery.)

In the place where the monks once lived, in the heart of the karst

After the narrow, closed gorge experience, the green clearing strikes a strong contrast, all the more because the wide clearing offers a view across the best of Slovakia up to the long chain of the Tatra Mountains, framed by the retreating pine forest around the monastery ruins. On the far side of the meadow, a restaurant offering food and drinks operates seasonally (nearby a mountain rescue station). Kláštorisko was a key site of early 20th-century hiking on the karst: in 1896, the first signposted tourist trail led here, and in 1922 a more significant mountain hut was built here for the first time in the Slovak Paradise region (by the Carpathian Association). It’s worth walking into the well-excavated, large walls of the monastery ruins. In 1241, fleeing the Mongol invasion reaching Szepesség, Count Jordan moved the surrounding villages’ population here, to the then-uninhabited plateau—a wise move as the Tatars never attacked this “natural fortress” bordered with impassable gorge systems and rocky cliffs (and swampy terrain along the Hernád to the northwest). The site received its Latin name Lapis refugii (Refuge Rock) as it provided shelter for three years. In gratitude, the refugees built a chapel here, and towards the end of the century, the Carthusian monks were granted this area. The monks' monastery stood from the 14th century until the mid-1500s, changing ownership several times, until imperial troops destroyed it to prevent enemy occupation.

Into the karst labyrinth

We leave the buzz of Kláštorisko beside the restaurant on the gently ascending P trail into the pine forest. At one point, paths branch to the left from the promenade; it’s worth following the second, more well-trodden path—but be cautious and don’t stray off the trail, as we will soon see dizzying depths below. From the plateau’s edge, we get an aerial view of the karstic Kyseľ fissure and its confluence with the Tomášovská Belá valley. Gigantic rock edges slit the undisturbed forest cover, while the roaring water of the gorge is heard below. Returning to the trail, we soon reach a junction, from where turning left onto the K trail begins the descent. This path winds through dark-walled natural forest (formerly called “Szénégetők útja”) to the basin below, and where it reaches the gorge rim, we again turn left onto the S trail. We descend steeply into the rugged gorge of Kyseľ; twisting between fallen trunks, we reach the valley floor, entirely filled by the creek. At high water, we cannot avoid getting wet, as the metal walkway starts only a few meters ahead. The valley wall changes to a cliff with boldly placed metal steps and chains marking the trail—it leads up the depth of one of the Slovak Paradise’s harshest gorges. Trays and walkways run along two converging walls, beneath which giant basins churn with bouncing water whose roar fills the narrow passage.

The short but exciting section ends among huge rock walls, where a bridge embraces the 60 m-high Giant Waterfall (Obrovský vodopád) at its top. It’s an unusual perspective in this national park, which, combined with the short gorge section, served as some consolation for decades: in 1976, a year after its opening, an uncontrollable forest fire raged on the south side of Kyseľ, practically “melting” the rocks. Due to rockfalls and charred fallen trunks, the gorge was closed for decades, and the public could only enjoy this few-meter section from the park’s legendary, considered most spectacular canyon. Finally, in 2016, Kyseľ reopened as a via ferrata—we can see the rungs on the wall looking from beneath the bridge (on the right).

We cross the narrow section again along the path but do not climb back on the S trail. Instead, we explore the short section equipped with via ferrata devices on the Z\ signs, which can be traversed without ferrata equipment. (Those unwilling to attempt the short, technical section can bypass it on the S and K trails.) The path first climbs a few meters up the slope, then follows the creek down to the metal steps fixed to the cliff. On the long, tall series of trays, we cling almost to the wall on the wire to pass through the narrow Karoliny Waterfall (Karolínyho vodopád) fissure. The splendid basin is roundly widened by water that sawed the limestone block in zigzags. Accordingly, climbing the wall, we reach the emerald-green swirling middle basin, a narrow, cave-like groove where the metal walkway crosses, then alongside the cascading stream, we climb on a ladder series. We reach the forked creek of Kyseľ by a wild forest stroll.

In the wilderness of Veľký Kyseľ

Here, turning left onto the Z trail begins the valley of Veľký Kyseľ gorge, whose natural state and primeval forest atmosphere offer a more exciting experience than the four (smaller and larger) waterfalls strung along it. We wade in the stream for quite a while, hampered by many fallen trunks, while light filters only in spots through the dense forest veil. The truly untouched, naturally chaotic forest hosts species sensitive to disturbance, and although the gorge is mostly avoided, bears live here in small numbers (as indicated by a warning sign near the upper end of the valley). The depth narrows further ahead, with smaller cascades shining beneath, and log bridges aiding crossing. The area remains enclosed, and finally, larger mossy walls appear; ascending wooden ladders built above the cascading water lead onward. This is Pawlas Waterfall (Pawlasov vodopád), named after the first recorded victim in Slovak Paradise. The lawyer József Pawlas from Eperjes (Prešov) went here in spring 1926 with a friend to discover the Hernád Gorge, but as his ticket was not valid to the destination and he didn’t want to pay the 80-cent difference, got off one stop early. Alone and without a map, he set off into the karst but never reached the meeting point with his companion. After his disappearance, a large search was launched, revealing that he intended to cross the Glac plateau to Hrabušice (Káposztafalva) railway station but got lost and suffered a fatal accident somewhere deep in the catacomb-like Kyseľ gorge system.

A few meters ahead is the 10 m-high Nature Protectors Waterfall (Vodopád Ochrancov prírody), whose rusty ladder we must climb, then we pass behind the waterfall on a ledge made passable by chains and old-style (toothed) trays. Several log bridges await us in the following narrow valley section ending at the largest rock wall. The huge limestone barrier's center is veiled by the Silver Curtain of the Obstacle Waterfall (Bariérový vodopád), beside which we climb a diagonally laid, twisted ladder. A few trays and a log bridge help us across the creek, bringing us to the valley closure at the Glac plateau's side. The tourist trail winds down the steep slope in switchbacks, passing a spring tucked in a small hut, and finally leaving the Veľký Kyseľ depression. A few minutes' detour to the left from the upper sign leads to Biskupské chyžky (“Bishop’s cabin”) at 1004 m, a meadow offering forest huts and a resting place equipped with toilets (once a forester’s lodge operated here), where it’s worth gathering strength for the long final stage.

Plateau walk and descent

Our tour continues on the S trail to the right from the valley's end, along a forest road, and reaches the picturesque alpine meadow Malá Poľana (Small Clearing) in about 20 minutes. Behind the green pasture lined with firs rises Havrania skala (Raven Rock), one of Slovak Paradise’s dominant limestone cliffs. From the covered rest area built beside the path, we can linger longer over the view. Turning onto the K trail, we walk through beautiful forest without ascent to the forest junction at the end of Suchá Belá gorge. From the rest area equipped with rain shelters, compost toilets, and in summer bike rentals (marked on maps and signs as Suchá Belá, vrchol), we follow the S trail left and meander on a wide forestry road through mixed woodland.

For now, we walk level on the largest and central plateau of the Káposztafalva karst, Glac Plateau (or Glatz Plateau, Slovak: Glac), which waters the gorge streams with its springs. The centuries-old path connecting Szepesség and Gömör over the mountains is also called the Glac Road (Glacká cesta). When we reach the junction named Pod Vtáčím Hrbom, signposted, we turn left onto the P trail, starting a mainly forested descent on the karst slopes. The wheel tracks draw large curves, but the path mostly cuts these. From one point, Hrabušice (Káposztafalva) is clearly visible below, and we pass a spring, finally leaving the serpentine and reach the Podlesok restaurants along a steep, rocky path secured in places with barriers and some stairs.