Four-star Starý Smokovec, about 12 km from Štrbské Pleso, High Tatras
Grandhotel Starý Smokovec
The first large hotel in the Tatras, opened in June 1904 below Slavkovský štít, with the funicular to Hrebienok starting beside the door.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 70 rooms and 14 suites
- Opened
- 30 June 1904
- Next door
- The funicular to Hrebienok
- From the airport
- About 20 minutes from Poprad-Tatry, our estimate
The hotel
A guest book from Beneš to Castro.
The Grandhotel opened on 30 June 1904, a three-storey Art Nouveau building with most of its rooms facing south, and it doubled the number of visitors to Starý Smokovec almost at once. That first Christmas, guests went sledging. Before the First World War it was counted, unofficially, among the leading mountain hotels of the world, and in 1931 it added a lido and a golf course.
The guest list reads like a century of Central Europe: Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony, Edvard Beneš, Harold Wilson, Toni Sailer, Emil Zátopek and Fidel Castro. In 2018 the architect Michal Kysela redid the rooms, keeping the original chandeliers, and since then suites have been named after past guests, among them Vlasta Burian and the Zátopeks. More were added for the hotel's 120th anniversary.
- Named suites Suites dedicated to former guests such as Vlasta Burian, Emil and Dana Zátopek and Lucie Bílá, each with photographs and books about them.
- Restaurant Lefévre A dining room under crystal chandeliers that recalls the hotel in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Straight onto the trails The lower station of the funicular to Hrebienok is next to the hotel, a ready start for walks in the High Tatras.
Rooms & suites
Chandeliers and timber beams.
The 2018 renovation gave the rooms heavy beamed bed frames, a nod to the half-timbered fronts of early Tatra buildings, and kept the original chandeliers in the suites.
- Rooms Deluxe room Bright rooms with a balcony and a view of the forest and mountains.
- Named suites Suite Original crystal chandeliers; six suites carry the names of famous guests.
- Largest Royal suite The biggest suite in the house.
Dining
A dining room from the 1920s.
Venues as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- Restaurant Lefévre Historic recipes Under crystal chandeliers
- Wilson Café & bar Café and bar In the hotel
- Rudolf Jelínek bar Tasting bar Spirits tastings and a shop, in the newer wing
- J&T café Café In the hotel
Good to know
Before you go.
- Wellness A Finnish sauna with aromatherapy, massages and Tatra herb cosmetics. The hotel has no swimming pool listed.
- Walking The funicular to Hrebienok leaves from beside the hotel.
Getting there
Flying to High Tatras.
Poprad-Tatry airport is about eight kilometres away in a straight line, some twenty minutes by car, our estimate. It is an airport of entry that receives private flights, and Štrbské Pleso is about twelve kilometres to the west.
- Vienna 45 min
- Warsaw 45 min
- Munich 1 h 10
- London 2 h 20
- Dubai 5 h 40
Questions
What guests ask first.
- When did Grandhotel Starý Smokovec open?
- On 30 June 1904. It is described as the first large hotel in the Tatras.
- Who has stayed at Grandhotel Starý Smokovec?
- Guests have included Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony, Edvard Beneš, Harold Wilson, Emil Zátopek and Fidel Castro.
- Which airport is nearest to Grandhotel Starý Smokovec?
- Poprad-Tatry, about twenty minutes by car by our estimate.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to High Tatras?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to High Tatras, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in High Tatras
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Grand Hotel Kempinski High Tatras Three historic buildings of 1893 to 1923 joined into ninety-eight rooms and suites at 1,351 metres, with a spa of more than 1,300 square metres.
- Hotel Lomnica Gedeon Majunke's hotel of 1894, restored in 2015 and 2016, with tasting dinners in the vaulted rooms of its Franz Josef restaurant.
- Grandhotel Praha Opened in 1905 as the Palace Hotel and renamed in 1919, an Art Nouveau house of 123 rooms and suites below Lomnický štít.
- Hotel Patria A hotel named after the 2,203-metre peak above, with rooms and apartments over the lake and the Patria Aqua Paradise pool.
- Grand Hotel Bellevue At 1,010 metres below Slavkovský štít, with a heated pool of twenty by ten metres and the Savarin restaurant.
Staying at Grandhotel Starý Smokovec?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to High Tatras, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.