From Wikitravel

Poprad is a beautiful town in the Prešovský region of Eastern Slovakia.

[edit] Understand

Poprad is situated in the middle of Podtatranská kotlina. Its area is 63 square kilometers. It is the 10th biggest town in Slovakia and the third largest town of the Spiš region. Poprad is an important economic, tourist and cultural center of the Spiš region. The River Poprad flows through the town with its small tributary Velický Potok. Poprad has a mild climate and its weather is influenced by the High and Low Tatras. Winter is usually long and cold with snow. Summer is short and warm. Poprad is called “gateway to High Tatras“. Poprad is formed by six urban parts: 1. Staré Mesto, 2. Matejovce, 3. Spišská Sobota, 4. Veľká, 5. Stráže pod Tatrami, 6. Kvetnica. All city parts have approximately 53 000 inhabitants. The majority of inhabitants are Slovak but the dominant positions among the ethnic minorities are held by Romas and Czechs.

[edit] History

The first written mention about Poprad came from 1256. Poprad was established by German incomers who named Poprad as "Popradzaza" and later changed name on “Deutschendorf“.

[edit] Get in

If you want to visit Poprad you can get there by train, car, bus or airplane. Poprad has an international airport which is the highest placed airport in Europe. It is in the 718 m elevation above sea-level.

For those coming from Poland, take the bus from Zakopane, Poland (Strama Bus Company). This service is irregular, especially in winter. In front of the station in Zakopane, there is a bus stop with a sign that lists the times the bus leaves for Poprad; unfortunately it's in Polish, but it's not hard to figure out. If the service is not running, look for the drivers that stop in front of the bus station. Tell the driver you want to go to Poprad. Your best bet is to get enough people who want to go to make it worth the driver's while. Some locals are also going, so ask them if you can join them to form a group. The driver will drop you off at Lysa Polana (Lysa is pronounced Wee-Sa in Polish), the border town between Poland and Slovakia. Wait for another bus to take you to Poprad (not long).

[edit] Get around

[edit][add listing] See

Historical buildings – Classic and Barocco houses, church of St. Egídia in Poprad, Renaissance houses, Burgher´s habitation and church of St. Juraj with Gothic altar from in Spišská Sobota, church of St. Ján Krstiteľ in Stráže, church of St. Ján Evanjelista in Veľká, Renaissance bell tower from 17th century and church of St. Štefan in Matejovce, ruin of Poprad castle from 15th century in Zámčisko nad Kvetnicou. In Podtatranske Museum Poprad you could find expositions Gánovce – The Environment of the Neanderthal Man, Prehistoric Age and Early Middle Age below the High Tatras, Poprad through Centuries, Nature bouth known and unknown, Manufacture of blue-printing from Elemír Montštek´s workshop in Hranovnica and Folk plastics.

[edit][add listing] Do

Poprad offers a lot of pleasure activities for its tourists and citizens.

In the summer time tourists can visit a new water park the Aqua City Poprad where they can find relaxation, peace and fun for good price. The Aqua City Poprad has several inside and outside swimming pools, sauna, water toboggans, fitness centre, children played ground, hotels, bars, cafés and restaurants. There are everything that you and your family want for a perfect holiday. Poprad has good conditions for sports such as swimming, football, basketball, tennis, and skating, bowling or extreme sports. If you like cycling, Poprad and Svit are connected with bike paths. It is also very popular with roller skaters.

• If sports are not for you there is shopping from clothes to souvenirs. In the winter there is skiing or snowboarding to High Tatras, Svit – Lopušná Dolina, Kubašok – Spiššké Bystré or Poprad – Kvetnica.

• Young people should visit the International Festival of Mountain Films and the music festival Okey Leto.

[edit][add listing] Buy

[edit][add listing] Eat

In Poprad you can find restaurants which cook tradicional Slovak SLOVENSKÁ REŠTAURÁCIA, Italian Cafe RAZY Reštaurácia, or Country food COUNTRY Reštaurácia. If you like a pizza you can visit Pizzeria UTOPIA, Pizzeria U JOZEFA, Pizzeria PALERMO or Pizzeria ALBANO. On the squer of St. Egídius, you can visit sweetshops - DOMENICO, IZAIRI BIDAET, J a R, JUSIPI HAJDAR or RAMIDA.

[edit][add listing] Drink

If you want join good drink and fun you should visit GAMMA RAY PUB, SURPRISE CLUB. CafeRazy or SUBWAY. SUBWAY is perfect cocktails and karaoke bar.

[edit][add listing] Sleep

There is a lot of different possibilities where you can lodge at from cheapest boarding-houses to expensive hotels. Boarding-houses are Penzión ELIZABET, Penzión SABATO, Penzión TATRY**, Penzión ÁTRIUM** or Penzión FORTUNA***.

For those on a tight budget, Penzión FANTAZIA, or Hostel SLAVIA (behind Penzión FANTAZIA) is a good bet. Both are about 15 mins walk from the bus station.

Hotels are Hotel EURÓPA, Hotel GARNI*, Hotel GERLACH**, Hotel SATEL*** or Hotel POPRAD***.

[edit] Get out

Bus: There is only one regular bus service from Poprad to Zakopane, Poland with company called Strama. If it's not running, try to get a bus to Lysa Polana, then another bus on to Zakopane. The bus usually does not run directly to Zakopane.

Train: There are good train connections to Bratislava, or to the rest of Slovakia.

For those heading to Budapest, Hungary, you have to change trains at Kosice. You just need to buy one ticket from Poprad to Budapest, and the change-over at Kosice is included in the Poprad-Budapest ticket, so there's no need to buy two separate tickets. When heading to Budapest, the train will stop at Kosice. Get off, and walk to another platform within the same station for the train heading to Budapest.

This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!