Vihorlat is a range of old volcanoes in the far east of Slovakia, close to the Ukrainian border, and its higher slopes are covered with some of the last primeval beech forests in Europe. The trees here have grown, died and rotted without human interference for a very long time, and the forest is part of the transnational UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, first listed in 2007 with sites in Slovakia and Ukraine and later extended across much of the continent.
A walk among these beeches feels different from an ordinary wood. Giant trunks rise straight and smooth to a high canopy, fallen trees lie where they fell, covered in moss and fungi, and young saplings fight for the light in the gaps. The forest is full of life: woodpeckers, owls, salamanders, and larger animals including wolves, lynx and brown bears. In autumn, the slopes turn copper and gold.
The most popular destination in the range is Morské oko, a lake formed by a landslide that dammed a valley, surrounded by beech forest, with a legend about a monster that lived in its depths and ate those who disturbed it. A road leads up from Remetské Hámre to a car park below the lake, and from there it is a short walk. Higher up, the rocky summit of Sninský kameň offers sweeping views across the hills of eastern Slovakia.
The riding around Vihorlat is quiet and lovely. Roads from Snina run south and west through rolling hills, villages and forest, with gentle curves and light traffic; to the north-east, the road to the Starina reservoir and the villages of the Poloniny region leads into the most remote corner of Slovakia. Road surfaces are generally fair but can be patched and bumpy in places, and forest roads may be closed to motor traffic.
This is the land of the Rusyns, an East Slavic people with their own language and Greek Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and wooden churches dot the hills. Snina, a town of over twenty thousand people eight kilometres away, has fuel, shops and restaurants. Try a plate of bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with sheep's cheese and bacon, Slovakia's national dish, or local game. Spring and autumn are the most beautiful seasons, but even in high summer the forest stays cool and the roads are never crowded.