The Tatra Mountains, what, where and how. Geography, climate and division of the Tatras

The Tatra Mountains, what, where and how?

“Few places on earth contain, in such a small area as that occupied by the Tatras, so many wonders of both inanimate and living nature.” Konstanty Stecki

The Tatras on the map of Poland

The Tatra Mountains and the surrounding geographical areas such as Podhale, Spiš, Liptov and Orava are among the southernmost parts of Poland. They belong to the Western Carpathians, which here form the natural border between Poland and Slovakia.

The Tatras cover an area of about 786 km². They are the only alpine type mountains north of the Alps, but due to their relatively small accumulation area no glaciers are present here. For this reason, some consider them more inaccessible than other mountains of similar height.

Division of the Tatras and highest peaks

The most commonly used division of the Tatras is into three parts:

• The Western Tatras with an area of about 379 km²


• The High Tatras with an area of about 341 km²


• The Belianske Tatras with an area of 41 km², lying entirely within Slovakia

Gerlach (2655 m above sea level), located in the High Tatras, is the highest peak of the Tatras (it is in Slovakia), while the highest peak in Poland is Rysy, measuring 2499 m above sea level (although Rysy itself is higher, and its summit belonging to Slovakia measures 2503 m).

Tatra climate and the halny wind

The climate of this region is characterized by enormous variability, influenced by many factors such as continental position, orography (the science dealing with landforms) and slope exposure.

Typical phenomena of the local climate include inversion, that is the reversal of the normal temperature drop with altitude, and warm foehn type downslope winds blowing from south to north (popularly known as halny).

All these factors and phenomena make the Tatras and Podhale one of the most interesting and tourist friendly places in Poland.