Journey from Budapest to High Tatras with a Night in Poprad

After checking what are the best places to visit in Slovakia and the name High Tatras pop up, we were determined to check it out despite the challenges in logistics plan. 

Our plan is to depart from Budapest directly to High Tatras, then continue our journey to capital of Slovakia - Bratislava. Though from logistic point of view, a jouney ahead to Krakow, Poland seems more viable but we intend to keep Poland for next trip.

A search online yields result that it is possible to travel from Budapest to High Tatras via a train:

- Budapest to Kosice, then continue to Poprad

- Budapest to Bratislava, then continue to Poprad (longer journey)

Logically speaking, the former option of arriving at Poprad, the "entrance gate to High Tatras, via a stop in Kosice is a better option. Not only the overall route is shorter, the arrival time at Poprad is better also at around 9:30pm. 

However, the crew manning the Budapest Nguyati station told us train to Poprad via Kosice is unavailable due to renovation work in Budapest Keleti Rail Station, much to our dismay! Like it or not, we will have to go to Bratislava, then continue with another train to Poprad and only arrive there close to 11pm.

It was a train journey more than 7 hours that we endured! Luckily we had story books and snacks with us as company.

We arrived around 11pm at Poprad train statin. The train station was quiet, and the same applies to the town. There were hardly any people walking around and majority of the shops are closed, till we had to sleep with a hungry stomach as we did not have any dinner.

Lesson to learn: takeaway something so you can have it as dinner if you are taking a long train journey.

So the next morning we insisted on having a breakfast, though it is best to go High Tatras earlier to have maximize the time spent there. When we searched online what is the good breakfast in Poprad, the name - La Crêperie at Friends' pop out, only for us to find out it was closed on Sunday.

Then we go for another option - Oto & Oto Caffe. Although it is located slightly far from the main Poprad town but it was worth the journey walking here.

Oto & Oto Caffe is a cafe with great vibes and great couches. Even in the early morning, the cakes are displayed with impressive manner in the counter, prompting us to ask "is the cakes available in early morning?".

The answer is yes! So we had a piece of "Pesach Z Lieskovych Orechov A Belgickel" for 2.90€, simply because the cakes are nice in appearance as we got no idea about the cake here. We like the way it is not sweet, with crispy crust top with a decent layer of cream. Of courrse, not to miss out a cup of cappuccino for 2€. 

The food in Slovakia appear to relatively cheaper than Europe countries on the west side of it.