Hiking in Eastern Europe?

Today I found myself finishing me work in London with two or three hours to spare before I was able to catch my cheap train back to Birmingham. These occurrences are quite common in my life, but they carry their own hazards. They can inflict a near fatal blow to the health of my debit card. Inevitably I end up somewhere around Covent Garden and Charing Cross Road, which gives me lots of opportunity to visit gear shops, Stanfords for maps and guides, as well as the guitar and music stores of Denmark Street (London’s Tin Pan Alley).

This afternoon I was quite disciplined and ventured only as far as Stanfords Book Shop. I’ve been increasingly interested in eastern Europe, as a hiking destination, for a while now. There are mountains here and a good infrastructure – mountain huts and cheap accommodation in lovely towns and villages that are full of history. More recently Europe’s cut-price airlines have begun to make excursions into the area So, I made my way to the Eastern European section and settled on two Cicerone Guides. The first is a guide to the High Tatras mountains of Slovakia and Poland, written by Colin Saunders and Renata Narozna; the second was a guide to Croatia, written by Rudoli Abraham. I bought both guides and set off for the Ravi Shankar restaurant in Drummond Street and sat back to enjoy some fine veggie food and have a first glimpse of the guides.

The Tatras guide is the most substantial of the two and is now in its second edition. The guide covers both the Slovakian and the Polish Tatras and what is known as both the High Tatras and the Western Tatras. Inside there are many suggestions of day walks, based around a walking centre, and also details of a number of longer-distance hikes and trails. The describes – and illustrates – a fine mountain region; I could well have been looking at photographs from the Alps or the Pyrenees. Perhaps, the accommodation infrastructure isn’t quite what we’d expect but there are certainly a number of good looking mountain huts/refuges on both sides of the border. It is possible to cross over the border but the book is organised in separate Slovak and Polish sections.

This guide seems to be pretty comprehensive. And although the region described seems quite compact you will probably have to spend more time than usual route planning. Hints on bases, places stay and how to get in and out of the mountains are here they are not as obviously well laid out is in guides to western Europe – almost certainly because the infrastructure is a little more basic. Budget airlines are now flying to Poprad in Slovakia and Krakow in Poland. Both are fine cities where a short stay would seem to compliment time spent in the mountains. Certainly a book I shall be studying a bit over the next few weeks.

Walking in the Croatia also deals with both day and multi-day routes. Before war broke up ex-Yougoslavia the Croatian coast – most notably around Drubrovnik – was a very popular holiday destination. Since the war tourists from Italy and Germany have been most prevalent in Croatia but now and increasing number of French and Spanish visitor are joining the Brits in finding their way back there.

From the coastal strip it is impossible to ignore the snow peak mountains that are rising behind you. And it would seem that there is some very fine walking here as well. The guide covers walks around the Zagreb area, Istria in the west, the Dinaric Alps as well routes on the Croatian islands. The infrastructure in Croatia seems to be just as good for walkers and maybe even more developed than in Poland and Slovakia. There are a number of four or five day routes highlighted. Linking these together to create a two-week walking holiday would involve a lot of travelling but I reckon you could plan a good holiday here which might profitably take in stay in town in both the coastal strip (very Mediterranean) and around Zaghreb which apparently is a completely different central European/gothic feel to it.

Both of these books would be well worth checking out. They both feature well developed and well waymarked trails but in places that probably have a little more of the independent traveller feel than, say, the Alps or Pyrenees.

Have any of you experienced walking in these countries? I’m thinking about approaching the authors to see if they would take part in a podcast. I’m sure that over the next decade Poland, Slovakia and Croatia will be regular fixtures on the UK hiker circuit.