Poprad

Poprad was first recorded on 16 March 1256, in a deed of King Béla IV. After the Mongol invasion the area was resettled by German colonists, and the town became Deutschendorf, the "Germans' village". From 1412 to 1770 it was one of the Spiš towns pawned by the Kingdom of Hungary to Poland, which left a strong Polish influence. For centuries Poprad was only one of several neighbouring settlements — Matejovce, Spišská Sobota, Veľká and Stráže pod Tatrami — and the most important of them was Spišská Sobota, a market town with city privileges from 1271 and the right to hold fairs from 1567. A paper mill founded in 1692 was the town's oldest manufactory.

The Košice–Bohumín Railway, which reached Poprad in 1871, turned the balance. A line to Kežmarok followed in 1892 and the Tatra Electric Railway in 1908, and Poprad became the gateway to the High Tatras. During the Second World War most of the transports of Slovak Jews left from Poprad's station, beginning on 25 March 1942 with about 1,000 girls and young women sent to Auschwitz; by the end of that year more than 58,000 Jews had been deported from Slovakia through the town.

Soviet troops took Poprad on 28 January 1945, and its German population was expelled. The neighbouring settlements were merged into the city between 1945 and 1974, new factories were built, and the population grew from about 12,000 in 1949 to about 55,000 in 1991. Winter sport made the town the starting point for the Tatras, and in 1999 Poprad bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics, losing to Turin.

Poprad belongs to Spiš, and its old quarters show it: Gothic churches with Renaissance bell towers standing beside them, as in other formerly German towns of upper Spiš, and the Church of St George in Spišská Sobota with altars from the workshop of Master Paul of Levoča. The Podtatranské Museum covers the town's history and the region's prehistory, and the Tatra Gallery, in a former power station, shows the art of Spiš and eastern Slovakia.

The town's best-known event is the International Festival of Mountain Films, held every October since 1993 and shared with Kežmarok and Spišská Nová Ves. The main square hosts festivals, the town marks the arrival of St Nicholas and holds a Christmas market, and in 2025 a new professional theatre opened in Veľká.

Sport is central to local identity. HK Poprad plays top-flight ice hockey at the town's ice stadium, which has staged Winter Universiades and world championship matches, and the annual Tatra Cup, first held in 1929, is the second-oldest club tournament in Europe after the Spengler Cup. Women's basketball has a long tradition here, and the town is a base for skiers, climbers and cyclists heading into the mountains.

About 48,000 people lived in Poprad at the end of 2025, making it the largest town in Spiš and the tenth-largest in Slovakia. Most live in the post-war housing estates around the centre and in the absorbed villages of Veľká, Matejovce, Stráže and Spišská Sobota. Since the expulsion of the Germans the town has been overwhelmingly Slovak, with a sizeable Roma minority and smaller Czech and Rusyn communities.

Industry and tourism both matter. The largest firms include Tatravagónka, which builds railway wagons, a Whirlpool appliance plant, a water heater maker and an air ambulance operator, while hotels, shops, AquaCity and the airport live off the visitors heading for the Tatras. The town serves as the market and service centre for the whole basin.

Daily rhythms follow the seasons. Winter brings skiers through the station and frequent snow; summer brings walkers, cyclists on the path to Svit and crowds at the water park. Locals spend weekends in the hills, and the view of the Tatra peaks from the town's streets is a constant reminder of where the region's money and weather come from.

Poprad eats the food of Spiš and of Slovakia as a whole. Bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with bryndza sheep's cheese, are on almost every menu, alongside bryndzové pirohy, dumplings filled with the same cheese, and strapačky, which swap the cheese for sauerkraut. Džatky, small balls of mashed potato and flour often served with bacon, are described as a typical Spiš dish.

Potato dough appears in many forms: lokše, potato pancakes baked directly on the stove, and zemiakové placky, potato pancakes fried in oil. Soups start most meals — kapustnica, made of sauerkraut, often with mushrooms, meat and sausage, and cesnačka, garlic soup, which is often served in a bread bowl. Goulash cooked in a pot and venison goulash suit the mountain climate.

Sweet things are easy to find: cafés and sweetshops on the main square serve cakes and coffee, and home baking includes buchty, buns filled with jam, plum, curd or poppy seed. Kofola, the Czechoslovak cola, is drunk everywhere, and hot drinks warm skiers coming down from the mountains.