Hikes, hot tubs and proper snow? Our family ski trip in Slovakia is a revelation

The protected summits and valleys of the Tatras offer a return to the pleasures of traditional winter holidays – this time with all mod cons

The Tatra mountains in Slovakia had been touted as a great destination for a family skiing holiday. But as we stumbled out of the sleeper train from Prague at Poprad station at 6am, we were more anxious than excited. From the station we could see the jagged peaks of the High Tatras rising like black and white knives with a luminous pre-dawn glow against a pale blue night sky. Across Europe the news had been dominated by the lack of snow, that climate change was bringing about the end of the skiing industry as we know it.

As the mountain railway from Poprad climbed up through the foothills and wound its way through forests of spruce and larch, stopping at several mountain villages before arriving at the main resort of Tatranská Lomnica, we were slowly reassured. The snow was not deep, but deep enough, and above us we could see the sweep of pistes beneath the peaks and the lights of the snow tractors crawling about their tasks.