Tourist information

Location

Hotel Bránica is situated in Bránická dolina (valley), near the village Belá in beautiful National park Malá Fatra (Low Fatra). Krivánska Malá Fatra with beautiful Vrátna dolina (valley) is a favourite centre for winter and summer tourists. Jánošík´s holes (diery), Malý and Veľký (Low and High) Rozsutec, Veľký Kriváň, Chleb and also other hills from Veľká Bránica offer perfect tracking paths for beginners and also for advanced tourists.

Hotel is situated 22 km eastward from the town called Žilina. You can simply get there by car; there is also some parking place. It is also possible to get there by bus that leaves Žilina very often. There is a micro – bus in the hotel, which can be used for short trips, but also for longer one-day trips.

Downhill race skiing, snowboarding

In the winter season Vratna valley is a sought-after centre for wintersports. There are excellent ski conditions, with a guaranteed 120 days of skiing for the less and also more accomplished skier.

In The Ski Centre there are 11 ski tows and two chairlifts with an overall capacity of 9154 people per hour and a total lenght of 7825m. There are 12.6km of pistes. They are well maintained, and part is artificially snowed. The following services are available for skiers: ski and equipment hire, and ski school for children and also for adults.The opportunity for evening skiing will satisfy even the more accomplished skier.

Winter tourism, nordic skiing

In Mala Fatra there are summer and winter route-marks, which help winter orientation. Due to more difficult orientation in the winter season, impracticability of the terrain, or the danger of avalanche, we do not recommend the other route-marked paths for use in winter exept for access roads to the huts. Going on some of the paths in winter, mainly the ones in the grassy upland zone, could be a risk to your life . Winter-marked routes are only those paths which are often visited in winter and which specially require it.

Nordic skiing has in Vratna a long tradition. The races are executing here regularly, and in winter months the racing tracks are used by our visitors also. In the lending office are at your service complete skioutlifts, so if you didn't try it up to now, you can try.

Summer Tourism

The diversity of the landscape of Mala Fatra gives a lot of possibilities for tourists. In summer allure the visitors trips to the surroundings areas thanks to the large net of marked touristic pavements routing to the Velky Rozsutec (altitude 1610m), Fatransky Krivan(altitude 1709m) and others. Interesting are also the rosky massifs - Tiesnavy with Zbojnicky pavement and Janosiks holes with beautiful waterfalls and hughs rocks. We offer also map of tourist routes in the surrounding Vratna and Mala Fatra.

Cycle touring

When cycle touring you can combine parts of the motor touring routes and circuits. Most of the valleys in the mountain range are passable, whether or not they are path-marked.

Motor touring

For motor-touring routes and circuits we have chosen especially nice places in the Vratna valley and its neighbourhood. Viewpoints such as Choc, Malinne, Velka Raca, Klak and Sip are amongst the best viewpoints in our country. Also places like the Prosiecka and Kvacianska valleys, Maninska tiesnava, and Sulovske skaly are among the natural jewels of Slovakia. All routes go along good metalled roads and all suggested tours are focused on visitors.

Watersports

Mala Fatra is very attractive for watersports. Development has intruded into this area. Waterworks on the Orava and Vah has affected the availability of watersports on these rivers. However, the rivers Vah, Orava, and lower stretches of the Kysuca are open for recreational craft. Other waters are suitable mainly for laminated slalom boats. It is necessary to obey the safety rules (life jackets and crash helmets), because the waters are fast flowing and the riverbeds are strewn with rocks. The Krpelany and Hricov reservoirs are not suitable for watersports.

Rock climbing

In Mala Fatra there are plenty training opportunities for climbers, with ascents of every classification. The rocks are limestone, very breakable. It is hard to hammer climbing nails into them, and you need to wear a safety helmet.