Somár

Somár (Slovak for "donkey") is a 650 m summit in the Little Carpathians, the highest in the south-western part of the range. It rises above the village of Limbach, about 7 km west of the town of Pezinok, in the Bratislava Region, on the boundary of Malacky and Pezinok districts. The western part of the mountain belongs to the Záhorie military district, the eastern part to Limbach. The nearest settlements are Limbach and Pezinok to the east, Svätý Jur to the south-east, Jablonové to the north-west and Stupava to the west. Pezinská Baba and Limbach are each about 7 km away.

Somár lies on the main ridge of the Little Carpathians, which runs from the Baba saddle in the north to Veľký Javorník (594 m). It belongs to the Pezinok Carpathians, in their Homoľské Karpaty part. Around it rise Banské (531 m) to the west, Turecký vrch (538 m) and Hrubý vrch (564 m) to the north, Tri kamenné kopce (584 m) to the east, and Malý Javorník (604 m) and Volhovisko (587 m) to the south. The summit sits on a watershed: the northern and western slopes drain via the Stupavský potok to the Malina in the Morava basin, the south-eastern ones via the Račí potok into the Little Danube basin. The mountain lies in the Little Carpathians Protected Landscape Area.

How to get there / routes

The red Štefánik trail (Štefánikova magistrála), shared here with the European path E8 and the SNP Heroes' Trail, crosses the eastern part of the summit plateau.

• From the north – from Pezinská Baba via Konské hlavy and Tri kamenné kopce.
• From the south – from the Biely kríž junction via the Salaš junction.
• From the south-east – blue trail from Limbach via Tri kamenné kopce.

The sources give no walking times; the routes are wooded and easy.

What you can see from the top

The summit is covered by low mountain-meadow vegetation that turns into broken forest, so the view is almost all-round. You see the whole south-western Little Carpathians as far as the TV tower on Kamzík, the Záhorie (Borská) and Danube lowlands and, in good conditions, the foothills of the Alps, Považský Inovec, Vtáčnik and Tribeč.

Nature and history

The summit is a grassy plateau with a fireplace. Trees once covered the hill, and only remnants of them are left; today it is overgrown with tall grasses, and the surroundings are dominated by young broadleaved trees and self-seeded scrub.

Safety, season and rules

The routes to Somár are easy and open all year. Part of the mountain lies in the Záhorie military district – keep to the marked trails. In the Protected Landscape Area light fires only where permitted and take your litter home. Slovak Mountain Rescue Service (HZS): 18 300 (+421 18 300) or 112.

Interesting facts

• Three long-distance routes cross the summit at once: the Štefánik trail, the E8 and the SNP Heroes' Trail.
• Water from the hill flows both to the Morava and to the Little Danube.

Photos: Lure, CC BY-SA 4.0; Lure, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.