Slovak Carpathians & Beskids

The Beskydy and Bieszczady mountain ranges of Slovakia and southern Poland represent the Carpathians at their most accessible and most serene. Unlike the rocky High Tatras, these are mountains of deep beech and fir forest, rolling green meadows, and ridgelines that unfold in long, leisurely curves with views that seem to go on forever.

The Slovak Beskydy protect some of the last intact primeval forest in Central Europe. Walking here on quiet trails means encountering Europe's largest lynx population, spotting black storks by mountain streams, and passing through Wallachian shepherd villages that have changed little in a century. The region is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

In the Polish Bieszczady, the open grassy ridges called połoniny — a landscape type also found in the Ukrainian Carpathians — create an almost Tibetan sense of space. Wild horses graze freely on these high meadows, and the walking is wonderfully underpopulated even in summer. A perfect antidote to the crowded alpine mainstream.