page_title: Slovak Paradise National Park
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Slovak Paradise National Park / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Slovak paradise (Slovenský raj), Slovakia
context_page_description: Slovak Paradise National Park is one of the nine national parks in Slovakia, situated in East Slovakia. The National Park protects the area of the Slovak Paradise mountain range, which is located in the north of the Slovenské rudohorie Mountains.
  The National Park covers an area of 197.63 km², and the buffer zone around the park covers an area of 130.11 km²; 327.74 km² together. Eleven national nature reserves and eight nature reserves are situated in the park. The park offers about 300 km of hiking trails, often equipped with ladders, chains and bridges. The Slovak Paradise contains about 350 caves, but only Dobšiná Ice Cave, which is since 2000 a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is open to the public. The headquarters of the park are located in Spišská Nová Ves.
context_section_description: The National Park is situated in the Banská Bystrica Region (district of Brezno), Prešov Region (district of Poprad) and Košice Region (districts of Rožňava and Spišská Nová Ves).
  The Slovak Paradise creates the northern part of the Spiš-Gemer Karst (Spišsko-gemerský kras). It is bordered by the Low Tatras (Nízke Tatry) in the west, central part of the Slovenské rudohorie Mountains in the south (Stolické vrchy and Volovské vrchy) and the Hornád basin (Hornádska kotlina) in the north and north east.
  Rivers and streams have formed many gorges, canyons, valleys, caves, and waterfalls in the Slovak Paradise, with the Hornád River being most important to the area. The core of the national park is a karst plateau cut into several smaller plateaux by deep rocky gorges. The most famous gorges are Veľký Sokol, which is also the longest at 4.5 km, Suchá Belá, Piecky, and Kyseľ, all of which have numerous waterfalls. Prielom Hornádu is the longest canyon at 11,7 km, and also contains the greatest diversity of species. The highest waterfall is Závojový vodopád (literally Veil Waterfall) at 70 m.
  The largest water reservoir is Palcmanská Maša, finished in 1956, which covers an area of 0.85 km². It is used for swimming, water sports, fishing and other recreational activities.
  The highest peak is Predná hoľa at 1,545 m AMSL. Havrania skala (literally Raven Rock) at 1,153 m offers a panoramic view. A rock shelf known as Tomášovský výhľad is popular with both climbers and visitors for its unique view situated at 680 m. The lowest point is at the Hornád's surface at 470 m.
caption: Waterfalls are abundant in the Slovak Paradise
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D70", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.2.00", "Image DateTime": "2006:07:02 11:45:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "29872", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8587", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/10", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:07:02 11:45:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:07:02 11:45:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "19/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "27", "EXIF SubSecTime": "90", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "90", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "90", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "29732", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "40", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}