Rumanowa Valley (Slovak: Rumanova dolinka) is one of the most secluded corners of the Slovak High Tatras — raw, rocky and almost entirely untouched by tourism. If you are looking for a place that still feels genuinely wild, this small hanging valley delivers exactly that.
The valley is the northernmost branch of the Zlomisková dolina (Valley of Rubble) and splits off from the main valley at Zlomiská rovina. It is enclosed by powerful ridges on all sides: to the southwest runs the lateral ridge of Vysoká through Dračí štít and Ošarpance to Rumanowa Kopka, while the main High Tatras ridge sweeps from the north, carrying Ganek, Rumanov štít and Zlobivá. The scenery is dramatic and austere — vast boulder fields, scree slopes, grassy ledges and quiet mountain lakes form a landscape that feels like the edge of the world. The valley holds the Rumanové plesá lakes: Rumanovo pleso, Vyšné Rumanovo pliesko and Nižné Rumanovo pliesko. Unusually, there is no permanent stream in the valley — water only appears on the threshold a few dozen metres above Zlomiská rovina, trickling through a wide field of enormous grass-covered boulders.
How to get thereThe valley was named after Ján Ruman Driečny the Younger, a celebrated Tatra mountain guide whose memory lives on in this wild and rarely visited corner of the High Tatras.