If you are keen on downhill skiing you can find a place to ski in almost all of the regions. More than 100 ski centres is ready for all skiers from the less demanding to the most demanding ones. You can choose between the Low Carpathians (Malé Karpaty), Low Tatra, High Tatra in the North and Low Beskydy (Nízke Beskydy) in the east. The High Tatra offers endless number of skiing slopes even for the most demanding skiers. There are excellent slopes directly under the Slavkovsky Peak (Slavkovský štít) in Hrebienok. This is also a starting point for easy winter hiking to the Studenovodske Waterfalls (Studenovodské vodopády) which offers an exquisite view of icy cascades and water columns. Most ski centres of course do not forget about the beginner skiers or children. There are excellent and modern equipped skiing equipment rentals and kindergartens, ski instructors and fun ski centres on the snow for children. Those who want to experience a unique atmosphere of night skiing can try out skiing on the ski slopes with artificial lighting until late hours.

 

Snow in Slovakia, however, is not only about downhill skiing. Those who want to admire the beauty of snowy nature can make use of thousands of well conditioned cross-country skiing trails of various degrees of difficulty and lengths. The most famous ones are in Štrbské Pleso, Tatranská Lomnica, Skalka in Kremnica, Tále, world-famous Osrblie where the Cross-Country World Cup competitions take place. Outstanding conditions for this kind of sport are in Low Tatra, Donovaly or Jasná as well. If you are still keen on getting to know other cross-country skiing resorts the recommended ones are the Carpathians (Karpaty), Povazsky Inovec Mountain (pohorie Považský Inovec), Beskydy and many others. Touring on the Slovakia’s mountain ridges is an adventure which you will not forget – you can not only enjoy cross-country skiing but also admire beautiful landscape sceneries at the same time. There is a plenty of well-marked hiking routes and paths but also untouched roads and footpaths with no traces of skis whatsoever.

 

Slovakia is also attracting fans of ski touring which is become more and more popular. Basically, it is a combination of trekking and off-piste skiing in high-altitude terrain and mountaineering. Ski tourers often conquer slopes in difficult terrains with a gradient of more than 45 degrees which requires being fit and trained. For ever-increasing popularity of this relatively young sport there are new ski touring terrains every year which can satisfy even the most demanding ski tourers. You can find them in the High Tatra in the Mala Studena Valley (Malá Studená dolina), Velka Studena Valley (Ve?ká Studená dolina) and Skalnata Valley (Skalnatá dolina), in the Low Tatra in the area of Chopok and ?umbier, in the Western Tatra in the Ziarska Valley (Žiarska dolina) and Rohá?e. Vrátna in the Small Fatra and Jasenska Valley (Jasenská dolina) in Large Fatra have also become very popular.