Hron River

The Hron is a left-bank tributary of the Danube and, after the Váh, the second-longest river flowing only through Slovakia. The Slovak encyclopaedia gives a length of 278 km, the Polish one and Wikidata 298 km; the basin covers about 5,460 km², 11% of the country. The Hron rises in the Low Tatras, flows west through Horehronie, passes Banská Bystrica and Zvolen, crosses the volcanic mountains of central Slovakia and joins the Danube near Štúrovo. Its valley is the main route linking the east and west of the country through the mountains.

The course: from source to mouth

The spring of the Hron lies at about 980 m at the south-eastern foot of Kráľova hoľa, below the Besník saddle, within Low Tatras National Park, about 3 km east of the village of Telgárt. Roughly a kilometre lower, between the road and the railway, a «symbolic spring» has been laid out — a wooden well with a roof, information boards and a small car park; the «Spring of the Hron» educational trail starts here.

In its upper course the Hron flows west along a chain of basins between the Low Tatras on one side and the Muráň karst, the Veporské vrchy and Poľana on the other, gathering mountain streams from both slopes. It passes Heľpa, Brezno and Podbrezová, takes in the Čierny Hron near Valaská and the Bystrica stream in Banská Bystrica. Here the river turns south, after 20 km at Zvolen receives its largest tributary, the Slatina, and turns west again around the Kremnica Mountains. At Žiar nad Hronom the Hron heads south-west through a narrow valley between the Štiavnica Mountains and the Vtáčnik and Pohronský Inovec ranges, passes Nová Baňa, leaves the hills near Kozárovce for the Danube lowland and joins the Danube near Štúrovo. The mean flow grows from 8 m³/s at Brezno and about 28 m³/s at Banská Bystrica to 49.5 m³/s at Nová Baňa.

What to see along the river

• Čierny Hron Forest Railway — a narrow-gauge line in the valley of the Čierny Hron tributary.
• Ľupča Castle — a castle above the Hron valley in Slovenská Ľupča.
• Thurzo House — Central Slovak Museum, Banská Bystrica — in the town that grew on the Hron thanks to its copper mines.
• Urpín — a hill with views over Banská Bystrica and the river valley.
• Zvolen Castle — Slovak National Gallery — in Zvolen, near the confluence of the Hron and the Slatina.

On the water: rafting and kayaking

The Hron is Slovakia's most popular paddling river. Cargo and passenger boats do not use it, but it is navigable for kayaks, canoes and rafts for hundreds of kilometres: at high water trips can start as far up as Heľpa (272 km to the mouth), at medium water at Brezno (241 km) or Podbrezová (231 km), and at low water at Banská Bystrica (197 km). The most paddled stretch is Zvolen – Starý Tekov (about 85 km, roughly three days), and further down from the Slovak Gate to the mouth. Every August a traditional whitewater slalom and the «SNP Voyage on the Hron» start in Zvolen; paddling bases are near Hliník nad Hronom and Revištské Podzámčie. Timber used to be floated down the Hron and its tributaries from the 17th century until the 1930s.

Nature and safety

The spring area is protected by Low Tatras National Park and the «Lúky pod Besníkom» protected site (since 2010); down to Brezno the water is very clean. The Hron has a snow-and-rain regime: it carries most water in April and least in January and February, and the difference between dry and flood years is huge. Major floods struck in 1784, 1813, 1853 and 1974, when the level at Banská Bystrica reached 480 cm and the flow 560 m³/s. Before a trip check the water level and remember the weirs of the hydroelectric plants at Dubová, Zvolen and Žiar nad Hronom. Emergency numbers: 112, in the mountains HZS 18 300.

Nearby: peaks, trails, huts

Above the source rises Kráľova hoľa. From the Hron valley the trails Heľpa, station – Priehyba and Polomka, station – Fabova hoľa – Tisovec, station climb to the Low Tatras ridges, and from Brezno Brezno – Bystrá, station.

Photos: Ing.Mgr.Jozef Kotulič, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Taz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Matej Grochal, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Ladislav Luppa, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Ladislav Luppa, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.