Travel Report Jasná

In January 2012, the Myslopes.com team was a guest in Jasná in Slovakia.

Jasná is the top resort in Slovakia, with a total of around 40-50 kilometers of slopes, and a large number of luxurious and less luxurious accomdations. Jasná Nízke Tatry, the resort full name, is situated in the Lower Tatra Mountains..

The Journey
Jasná is reachable by car, but the fastest way to get there is by plane. We went there on a flight with Czech Airlines, through Prague in Czech Republic into Kosice in Slovakia. From Kosice it was around 180km with our transfer to Jasná. If you are planning to book the journey yourself, a direct flight in to Bratislava might be a better option, from where you can be in Jasná in three hours by car. Another option is to fly into Poprad, a closeby airport (Poprad-Tatry Airport) that is only one hour drive. There are flights to Poprad from Warschau, Prague and Gdanks with Czech Airlines or LOT Polish Airlines.

The Village
Jasná itself is a beautiful ski resort situated in the dense forrest of the Lower Tatra mountains (Nízke Tatry). The village has been divided in three main areas;  Zahradky,  Jasná Centrum and Chopok South. The ski centre is easy to reach from all of these centres with ski lift or gondola. Jasná doesn't really have a village centre, rather a winding road that goes up towards the various hotels and accomodations..

Accommodation
During a stay in Jasná there are a number of great choices, varying from luxerious 4-star hotels or chalets to hotels and accomodations that are a lot more basic. We stayed in the 4-star Wellness Hotel Grand Jasná, the hotel with the best possible location. If you walk out the hotel's back entrance your immediately at the gondola up towards Otupné and shops, apres-ski and the Info-Centre (in Biela Put) are all within walking distance. Hotel Grand Jasná further also had a great breakfast buffet and a reasonable dinner buffet. There is a swimming pool at the hotel, which is great for kids, whilst the wellness facilities with multiple saunas and jacuzzis were also perfect. The rooms at Wellness Hotel Grand Jasná were decent, we recommend to request a room at the back of the hotel, where you have a great view of the slopes and the gondola..

Besides this hotel, there are a number of great options in and around Jasná. One of the evenings we for example had the opportunity to visit 4-star Boutique Hotel Tri Studnicky (literally translated the three water wells). Interesting options for families with kids are the Chalets Jasná de Luxe (chalets for 4-6 people), or the Hotel Junior in Biela Put.

The Ski Area
With about 42 kilometers of slopes in total, this ski area is reasonably sized, even though you can not ski the entire day without taking the same slopes more than once as is the case in some area's in the Alps. When you take the gondola (right next to the hotel we stayed in) up to Otupné (on 1141 meters), you can take the ski lift to Lukova (1670 meter), from where you can take a really nice long blue or red descent down. In Lukova you can also go a little bit further, towards the Chopok (2024 meters). All ski lifts in the ski area are only a few years old. The gondola, and the chair lifts (for 2/4 and 6 people) all take you quickly up on the mountain.

Most of the descents and the central point of this ski area is Lukove. From here you can get everywhere very easily. For example you can take the nice, long blue slope number 5, going through beautifull trees. Besides the slopes from Lukova to Biela Put and Zahradky, there are some nice descents on the south side of Chopok. This area, Chopok Juh or in other words Chopok South is especially suited for advanced skiers with mostly red and black slopes.

Almost the entire ski area is surrounded by huge pine trees, which creates wonderfull sheltered descents. This is good, because the wind can blow quite a lot in Jasná. During our stay the passage toward Chopok Juh was closed for this reason. A solution is on its way though, in 2012-2013 they will build a new Funitel Gondola which transports you over the Chopok, from North to South.

All in all, the entire area is very well suitable for the beginning and average skier with nice and wide slopes. A bit more difficult is the first red part from Lukova, and the black descent from the top of the Chopok.

During our stay, we were also able to go skiing in the higher up Tatras (Vysoké Tatry), in the ski area called Tatranska Lomnica. This is an activity that is easily combined with a trip to Jasná, about an hour drive. On your way there, you will also pass the ski areas of Strebke Pleso and Starý Smokovec. Different in Tatranska Lomnica first of all is the view. Most of the trees here are gone, due to a enormous storm a few years ago. Because of this, you get the feeling of being in a snowy moon like landscape. The facilities and ski lifts in Tatranska Lomnica are very new and nice, even though we believed that the slopes were less divers. The slope on the top of the Tatranska Lomnica however, a quite difficult red slope (number 5) was definately worth going there.

When leaving Tatranska Lomnica, we stopped at the café Humno, a restaurant-pub with several weird things amongst others a Cadillac Escalade formally owned by Madonna, that was hanging up-side-down (!) in the middle of the bar on the ceiling. As well as two real kangaroos which were held in the back yard.

Restaurants & Après-ski
On the slopes in Jasná there are both self-service as a-la-carte restaurants, with friendly prices for all lunch menu's. For example you can eat a nice pasta for 5 euro or a soup for less than 3 euro. We enjoyed two local specialities, a pasta made of a potato-sheeps cheese, and a real Slowakian garlic soup.

The different dinners during our stay were also very nice. Besides the buffet in our hotel in Jasná, we had the opportunity to try several other options in the village. One of the absolute highlights of our visit was a dinner on top on the mountain in the Museum Pizza von Roll restaurant on 1700 meters. Advertised as a 'night of emotions', we were taken up the mountain by a nicely decorated piste bully, while a big snow storm had started that night.
On top of the mountain, we were treated to a really good 5 course meal in the Von Roll restaurant, which is located in the old gondola building.

Besides this out of the ordinary experience, we also dined at the restaurant of Hotel Studnicky. The Chef, Roman Kovác, organised a great menu for us, all made from local ingredients and specialties. This was, in our oppinion, by far the best dinner we had in Jasná.

The most lively après-ski in Jasná can be found in the new bar called Happy End. During the day this is a restaurant, but at night it transforms into a large bar/ disco, also suitable for big parties and performances. We were lucky, because during our stay there was a fashion show of the exclusive ski brand Bogner, which meant that the crème-de-la-crème of the Slowakian entertainment scene was present in Jasná.

Conclusion
All in all, we think Jasná is a unique destination which offers something different from the typical ski holliday in Austria or Switserland. Where many of the Eastern-European ski destinations are behind on facilities, accomodations and the quality of food, Jasná is perfect in all aspects. The ski area of Jasná, combined with the options in the higher Tatras, make this a perfect ski holliday destination.