CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
212 km from Poprad to Poprad, about 3 h 51 of riding. The stops in between: Dobšinská Ice Cave, Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš, Levoča and Spišský Hrad and the its Associated Cultur. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 44 km this is Slovak High Tatras Freedom Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Poprad sits at the foot of the High Tatras, the smallest alpine mountain range in the world, and it is the largest town in the region, with some fifty-seven thousand people. It is a gateway more than a destination, with a long past as a Zipser Saxon trading town, and a historic quarter at Spišská Sobota, a pretty square of burgher houses and a church with a tall wooden altar. The big peaks stand behind the town, jagged and grey, with Gerlachovský štít the highest at about 2,650 metres.
Read the complete Poprad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Poprad is where the day begins. Next is Dobšinská Ice Cave.
Step out of a warm summer day into the Dobšinská Ice Cave and the temperature drops to just below freezing within a few metres. The cave, on the northern edge of the Slovak Paradise in eastern Slovakia, holds a vast mass of ice, tens of thousands of cubic metres, with frozen floors, walls and columns that have built up over thousands of years. It was explored in 1870 by Eugen Ruffinyi, opened to visitors soon after, and became one of the first caves in Europe to be lit by electricity. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, shared with Hungary.
Read the complete Dobšinská Ice Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dobšinská Ice Cave comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
Master Paul of Levoča carved the tallest Gothic wooden altar in the world, and you can stand in front of it in the church of St James in the centre of this walled town in eastern Slovakia. Completed in the early sixteenth century, the altar rises almost nineteen metres, with life-size figures of the Virgin and saints in limewood, painted and gilded, under a forest of pinnacles. It is the masterpiece of a sculptor about whom little is known beyond his work, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš. Next is Levoča.
Spread across a ridge in eastern Slovakia, with the jagged peaks of the High Tatras rising on the northern horizon, the Spiš region holds one of Europe's great clusters of medieval monuments. The town of Levoča, the old regional capital, was a wealthy royal free town, and its walls, burgher houses and Renaissance town hall still surround a long central square. Inside the church of St James stands Master Paul of Levoča's carved Gothic altarpiece, finished in the early sixteenth century and the tallest of its kind in the world, an astonishing tower of limewood saints and filigree.
Read the complete Levoča write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča, about halfway. Next is Spišský Hrad and the its Associated Cultur.
Spiš Castle is huge, and from a distance it looks like a long white crown laid on top of a hill. It stands above the small town of Spišské Podhradie in eastern Slovakia, on a travertine outcrop about two hundred metres above the plain, and it is one of the largest castle complexes in Central Europe, with the ruined walls and towers covering some four hectares. It was first recorded in the early thirteenth century, was rebuilt and extended by Hungarian kings and noble families such as the Zápolya and the Thurzo, and fell into ruin after a fire in 1780. UNESCO lists the castle together with the nearby church, town and village of Žehra.
Read the complete Spišský Hrad and the its Associated Cultur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Spišský Hrad and the its Associated Cultur sits at 77 km, about halfway. Next is back through Levoča.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Levoča write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Levoča comes up about 107 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 125 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš. Next is back through Dobšinská Ice Cave.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dobšinská Ice Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dobšinská Ice Cave, late in the day. Next is Poprad.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Poprad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 212 km.
Poprad → Dobšinská Ice Cave is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dobšinská Ice Cave → Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Levoča is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Levoča → back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → back through Dobšinská Ice Cave is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dobšinská Ice Cave → Poprad is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.