Malé Tomanovské pleso is a small glacial lake tucked away in the Tomanovská Valley, the upper branch of the Tichá Valley in the Western Tatras. It's a tiny gem - just 36 metres long and 18 metres wide - but its remote, untouched setting gives it a quiet charm all its own.

The lake sits surrounded by dwarf mountain pine, giving the whole area a rugged, wild mountain feel. It belongs to a small family of lakes known as the Tomanovské plesá - the Vyšné Tomanovské pleso lies just 100 metres to the southeast, while the Nižné Tomanovské pleso is 200 metres to the northwest. Above rise the slopes of Liptovská Tomanová and Poľská Tomanová, and the Polish-Slovak border runs just 200 metres to the west. The lake has no surface inflow or outflow, but belongs to the catchment of the Tomanov stream, which further downstream forms the impressive Tomanovský waterfall.

How to get there

• Rázcestie pod Tomanovou junction - a red-marked trail once continued 300 metres north toward the Tomanovské saddle and into Poland, but it was decommissioned in 2008

Practical information

• The lake is currently not accessible to the public, as the trail leading past it has been closed

Precisely because it's off-limits, this little lake retains a wild, undisturbed character rarely found elsewhere in the Western Tatras.