Holiday apartment in Spišská Belá: Nature, culture and trails

Belianske lúky give Spišská Belá an exceptional natural character: The area is a Natura 2000 site of European importance with the identification code SKUEV0144 in the city’s cadastral area. At the same time, Belianske lúky is a national nature reserve with Slovakia’s largest remaining calcareous fen. The fen began to form around 11,000 years ago. Belianske lúky is also home to the only confirmed known occurrence in Slovakia of the moss Calliergon trifarium.

Nature

The natural surroundings of Spišská Belá also include Beliansky rybník. It is a recreational area close to the town of Spišská Belá, with views of the High Tatras massif and, in part, the Belianske Tatras. Before the entrance to Beliansky rybník, there are two car parks with a total of around 80 spaces; one is asphalted and the other is gravelled. Visitors to Beliansky rybník can fish in a carp pond.

Activities

The Fľak forest educational trail is accessible year-round and is 2,800 metres long. It forms a closed loop with ten stations featuring information panels. Another short trail is the Belianske lúky educational trail: The loop is 800 metres long, has seven information panels and includes a 250-metre-long wooden elevated walkway.

The Belianska cycle path runs along a 9-kilometre route between Spišská Belá and Tatranská Kotlina and begins at Beliansky rybník. It is asphalted, suitable for two-way traffic and designed for recreational cycling. There are four covered rest areas along the route.

Culture

The J. M. Petzval Museum has been open since 1964 in the birthplace of Jozef Maximilián Petzval in Spišská Belá. The exhibition presents the life and work of Jozef Maximilián Petzval and Otto Baltazár Petzval. It traces the development of photographic technology from the first experiments with the camera obscura to the first photograph from 1826.

The Petzval Museum displays a fully metal replica of a Voigtländer & Sohn daguerreotype camera with a portrait lens. J. M. Petzval was the first person in the world to calculate this portrait lens, in 1840.

At Kaštieľ Strážky, the permanent exhibitions include “Ladislav Mednyánszky and Strážky”, portraits from the 17th to the 19th century in the Spiš region, and 20th-century Slovak sculpture. The Slovak National Gallery offers educational programmes there for school groups of 15 pupils accompanied by an educator. Participants work directly with original works of art.

History

The historic centre of Spišská Belá is designated as an urban heritage zone. The burgher houses there stand on typical narrow medieval plots extending lengthwise deep into the blocks.

When planning a personal trip, a holiday apartment in Spišská Belá can be considered from an individual perspective: Families place different importance on time together, self-catering and peace and quiet in their daily routine. These accommodation considerations stand independently alongside the natural, cycling and cultural activities described above and form part of the individual design of the stay.

Other places: Lechnica, Veľká Franková, Busovce, Stara Lesna, Matiašovce, Vrbov, Majere, Reľov.

To the higher-level travel overview: Okres Kežmarok.