High Tatras on a Budget: 12 Money-Saving Tips

Want to do High Tatras on a budget?

It’s still possible, despite scary reviews online saying Slovakia’s famous mountains are more expensive than the Austrian Alps.

We’ve done the High Tatras on a budget number of times, and in this post share with you the 12 money-saving tips from where to stay to a common train ticket mistake you should avoid.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.

Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

Are the High Tatras expensive?

Slovakia has an image of being a cheap European destination.

Sadly, the times when you could travel (and live) in the country on a low budget are over (thanks rubbish politicians!).

It’s true that a holiday in the High Tatras mountains can cost you more than a holiday in the Alps.

And it’s also true that, if you don’t pick well, the experience you get might be…less than pleasant, shall we say? Even in a 4* hotel.

But!

Don’t write it off just yet.

In our post on whether Slovakia is expensive to visit we shared a little secret.

You can travel Slovakia cheaply and have a great time—if you know how.

And it’s the same with the beautiful High Tatras.

As Slovak locals, we’ve visited them a number of times over the years, and are still able to do these holidays without spending a fortune. 

Here are the 12 smart money-saving tips that will help you travel High Tatras on a budget.

How to find cheap accommodation in the High Tatras

#1 Book outside the peak season

Hold on, this isn’t as obvious of a tip as it seems!

We wanted to share 2 things with you here, that will help you do High Tatras on a budget:

• First, you don’t have to worry – High Tatras are great outside of the peak season. For instance, we visited the mountains in the spring and had the best time – you can read all about it, including how not to break a leg, which almost happened to us (and it was internet’s fault as well).
• The obvious holidays to avoid when travelling to the mountains are Easter, summer (in Slovakia July-August) and Christmas. But Slovakia also has spring school holidays. The dates not only change every year, but they’re also split across different regions, meaning the holidays happen in several waves rather than all at once. Make sure you double check these dates before booking.

#2 Stay in smaller villages

This might seem counterintuitive – surely you should stay in the popular places to have the best selection of hotels and restaurants, right?

Kinda!

If you find a great hotel on a budget in one of the popular mountain villages (Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec or Štrbské Pleso) and you have a good plan for saving money on food?

Go for it!

But do check out the less popular villages first, to see if you can snag a better deal on accommodation there.

For example, we stayed in a great guesthouse in Stará Lesná (with a buffet dinner for €9.90!) and in a great 4* hotel in Štrba, both on a budget.

#3 Book your accommodation locally

We’re going to do something you might not see often on other travel blogs.

Instead of pushing our booking.com affiliate link, we’ll tell you how to actually save money:

• Use booking.com to check accommodation options and as a point of reference for prices
• Make sure you’re signed up for the Genius loyalty programme on booking.com, to get the best price (and perks)
• When you find a few places you like there, compare the booking.com price with the price on the accommodation’s official website. In Slovakia it’s sometimes cheaper if you book directly
• Also check whether the accommodation isn’t available on the deal sites, such as Zlavomat. These offer discounted stays AND they often come with extra perks too. For instance, during our spring holiday in the High Tatras, we got a free bottle of wine and late checkout when booking via Zlavomat (and saved money!)

Basically, pick whoever gives you the best deal.

If it’s booking.com and you do use our affiliate link, we’ll really appreciate it—we’ll spend the money on more travels, so we can bring you back even more money-saving tips!

How to save on food in the High Tatras?

#4 Choose a hotel with half board

Half boar is a popular option in Slovakia, so check this when looking for a place in the High Tatras.

During our spring holiday in the mountains, we stayed at a great 4* hotel on a budget, and had breakfast and dinner included.

It was such an amazing deal:

• Accommodation for 2 nights for 2 people: €138.50
• Breakfast and dinner: €152
• Drinks: €38.90*
• City tax: €8 

Yep, you’re seeing right, the accommodation part was cheaper than the food, but it was still a great value for money:

€152 / 2 people = €76 per person for the stay

€76 / 2 nights = €38 per person per night

There is no way we could have got breakfast and dinner for just €38 per person, considering both were buffet style.

That meant we could have a big breakfast and skip lunch, which is one of the ways we save money when we travel.

And for dinner we could have 3 courses: soup, main and desserts. 

*Drinks are usually not included during dinner. Plus we got cheeky cocktails by the pool.

We did see people doing dinner without drinks though, or you can always order just water (we had beer and wine), if you’re doing High Tatras on a low budget.

How eating in a hotel compares to a restaurant in the Hight Tatras.

On our last day, before taking the train back from the mountains, we ate in a local restaurant near our hotel.

It was a beautiful, traditional wooden chalet. And the food was yummy.

But we spent €39.50 for the meal:

• A big beer
• Glass of wine
• Two main dishes
• A shot of local alcohol

Still super cheap for High Tatras standards, especially for a very authentic local place, but it just shows you how much you can save if you have meals included at your accommodation.

Oh, btw, if you want to visit this traditional chalet, it’s called Koliba Žerucha.

Eating in a traditional wooden chalet at least once is a must

#5 Cook your own meals

The cheapest way to manage food while in the High Tatras?

Getting accommodation with a kitchen, like a cottage, and cooking your own meals.

This is very popular in Slovakia—families, groups of friends, or even companies often rent out cottages for holidays in the High Tatras.

That being said, if you’re coming to Slovakia from abroad, you probably want to try the local cuisine. And not spend your holiday slaving in the kitchen!

Our pro tip? 

Make your own breakfast, pack a snack for lunch and then eat out for dinner.

That way you’re only paying premium prices in a restaurant once a day.

#6 Shop in Poprad

Whether you’re planning on cooking your meals, or just want to grab some extra snacks (get the Slovak ones!), or a bottle of cheap local wine (note: cheap doesn’t mean bad quality in Slovakia!), we’ve got a money-saving tip for you:

Skip the small supermarkets in the mountain villages—they come with premium prices, because of their location.

Shop in a supermarket in Poprad, which serves as the main gateway for the mountain villages, so your train will stop there and you can also easily pass it in a car.

You can find a big supermarket called Kaufland right next to the Poprad train station. Good news? It’s one of the cheapest supermarkets in Slovakia, so you can shop there when doing High Tatras on a budget!

How to travel to the High Tatras on a budget?

#7 Take the train 

As car-free travellers, we recommend taking a train to the High Tatras.

You can find all the tips for travelling to the mountains by train here.

And you can use this website to check train times and see prices.

Pro tip: If you’re young enough to qualify for an Interrail (Or Eurail) pass, check it out. It might save you even more money!

#8 Save on renting a car

Is it worth to rent a car for the High Tatras?

Here is what you should consider:

• Check the cost of the train tickets on the official website
• Check the cost of renting a car (make sure you compare options to find the best deal – we’ve added a helpful price comparison tool for you below)
• Make a list of your must-see places in the High Tatras. Many are accessible by public transport, but sometimes a car is definitely the easier option
• Parking in the High Tatras can be shockingly expensive. Don’t forget to add this to your cost estimate
• Lastly, remember to filter for hotels with free parking available – this might change where you can stay too

How to get around the High Tatras on a budget

#9 Use public transport

Use the Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ) or local buses to get around in the High Tatras on a budget.

TEŽ sounds scary, but it really is just a small train that goes through a forest—look out for deer and generally nice views!

Personally, we prefer taking the train to the local buses, purely because for the train you can buy a ticket online (or contactless on the train), while for the buses you have to speak to a bus driver and we don’t like having to interact with strangers, little antisocial gremlins we are (but we would LOVE to interact with other travellers, so don’t be afraid to give us a shout on our Instagram! Unless you’re a bus driver).

Pro tip: some locations are better served by buses than trains. For example, when we stayed in Stará Lesná, the trips we planned were mostly by bus, so this is something worth checking before you choose a mountain village to stay at.

#10 Buy the right TEŽ ticket

This is a costly mistake we actually made during our spring holiday in the High Tatras (and before, during our previous trip, since we didn’t know about it!).

Here’s the thing.

When buying a ticket for the electric train (TEŽ), you can either buy:

• A single for €4 (distance travelled doesn’t matter on TEŽ)
• Or you can be smart and buy a pass that gives you unlimited journeys. For example, a 24hr pass costs just €6!

This means that:

• If you do 2 day trips to, for example, Štrbské Pleso, with a single ticket for 4 journeys (2 days, there and back), it will cost you €4 x 4 = €16.
• But if you buy a 24hr ticket on day 1 and travel on the second day before it expires, you can get 3 journeys for just €6! Meaning the 2 day trips will cost you just €10 (24hr ticket + a single ticket for the way back on day 2). 

This is how you can save €6 per person just by buying the right train ticket!

And yes, we discovered this on the last day of our holiday, meaning we wasted a lot of money. 

Needless to say we were annoyed, and that’s actually why we decided to write this post, so you can avoid making the same mistake when doing High Tatras on a budget!

How to do activities in the High Tatras on a budget

#11 Stick to nature

The cheapest way to enjoy the High Tatras?

By spending time in the beautiful outdoors!

Visit mountain lakes, waterfalls, peaks or just go on a hike (don’t break a leg though!)

To save money:

• Use local buses and TEŽ to get around (and buy the right ticket)  
• Pack snacks for day trips so you don’t have to eat in the overpriced mountain chalets
• If you want to reward yourself at the end of a hike to a chalet (and contribute to the running of their free toilets), get a local beer or Kofola (like a local version of Coca-Cola, but better and cheaper! Must try)

#12 Skip the expensive funiculars

One thing that might shock you, if you’re trying to do High Tatras on a budget, is the cost of funiculars and cable cars (we’ll say cable cars from now on, but mean both)

Here’s how to save money:

• If it’s possible for you and your travel party, consider hiking instead of paying for a cable car. For example, to get to Hrebienok, where the amazing Temple of Ice is located, you can pay €9 for a funicular (one way), or you can walk up for free!
• If you do want to take a cable car, book your tickets online – they’re cheaper.
• Usually a single ticket is a rubbish value for money with a return costing only a bit more.

The Lomnický štít cable car

The most infamous cable car in the High Tatras mountains?

The one to Lomnický štít.

It costs an astronomical amount (€89 for an adult from Tatranská Lomnica in 2026), since it’s the only way to get to the peak.

And your view is weather dependant—many people go and see absolutely nothing from the top, for all that money!

Add to that the fact that it’s always sold out, so you have to book in advance before you know a reliable weather forecast, and you can see why it’s one of the most criticised locations in the High Tatras.

Here’s the thing. This is the one High Tatras experience you should think about properly before going.

Do you want to risk it and possibly waste a lot of money?

If so, commit to your decision, so you’re not raging on the day if all you see is white clouds.

Or do free hikes to stunning places instead and use the money you saved to buy awesome Slovak souvenirs (nothing tacky, these are locally-produced things we buy ourselves!)

Bonus tip for saving money in the High Tatras

An easy way to save money in the High Tatras (and any other holiday you take)?

By getting good, reliable travel insurance that doesn’t cost a fortune.

We go on and on about True Traveller on this site, because their customer service is out of this world and yet their prices are so low!

You can see how much their insurance would cost for your trip to the High Tatras in just a few seconds: go to the True Traveller website, fill out a few details about your trip, and you’ll get the price without having to give up your email or phone number!

We hope these 12 money-saving tips help you visit High Tatras on a budget, and avoid making mistakes, like we still do.

If that does happen to you though, don’t worry! At least you know that we do the same, even as Slovak locals and (relatively) experienced travellers!

If you want to share your dumb mistakes, or ask a question about doing High Tatras on a budget, give us a shout on our Instagram!

And remember that you can also book a call with us, if you want help planning a trip to Slovakia that even Susan from HR will be envious of.