Žiarska Hut

About

Žiarska Hut stands in the middle of the Žiarska dolina in the Western Tatras, about 5.5 km from the valley mouth. A survey mark on its wall gives 1289 m (guidebooks quote other figures too). It is a popular base for hikes to Baníkov, Baranec, Plačlivé and Ostrý Roháč.

The first hut was built in 1937–1939 by the people of Žiar and Smrečany and opened on 1 July 1939. In 1944 it housed a partisan headquarters, and in December that year it was looted and burnt during fighting. A temporary post-war barrack was enlarged several times; in 2006 it was demolished and a new building went up in a single summer, opening on 2 September 2006. In March 2009 a huge avalanche damaged the hut, but it held.

The hut has about 40 beds in double and four-bed rooms, a dining room and a buffet. Next to it are a mountain rescue station and the Symbolic Cemetery of victims of the Western Tatras. The blue trail continues to Smutné sedlo and the green one to Žiarske sedlo. Mountain rescue (HZS): 18 300.

On the map

Coordinates: 49.18107, 19.71948 Copy

How to get there

from the mouth of the Žiarska dolina on the blue trail along the Smrečianka stream (a paved road), about 1 h 30 min.

Trails nearby

ModerateOne-dayMarkedTatliak Tarn Mouth of Žiarska ValleyElevation profile882–1 963 m11.5 kmascent 1 082 m≈ 5 h walkingHardMulti-dayMarkedSedlo Zábrať Junction of Jamnická and Račková ValleysElevation profile962–2 194 m26.6 kmascent 2 635 m≈ 12 h walking