The Háj Nicovô site is a relaxation zone, an oasis of peace in the heart of Liptov. The unique location of the Háj, reaching a height of 748 m a.s.l. and towering above the town, makes it one of the most beautiful viewing points. After an easy hike, it provides a view that is one of the most emotionally powerful experiences, where the scenery of the mountains and the water surface of the Liptovská Mara are unrepeatable depending on the season, weather, and light conditions.
In the past, the first skiers from Mikuláš descended its slopes, the first ski jumping hill in Liptov was built here, and school balls and dances were also held here. The Háj also served as a pasture for cattle breeding and since the 1950s it has been reforested to reach its present appearance.
A regional cycle route passes close to the Háj-Nicovô Forest Park. It leads from Liptovský Mikuláš to Žiarská dolina, with a turn to the top of hill Háj and the possibility of resting in a cycle shelter. The cycle route connects to other cycle routes leading under the Western Tatras.
Interesting features of the Háj-Nicovô Forest Park include the MILITARY HISTORY themed trail documenting the battles of Liptovský Mikuláš during World War II. It leads to the monument-protected memorial area with a monument and the largest war cemetery of Czechoslovak soldiers in former Czechoslovakia. It is built on the places where the second heaviest battles in Slovakia took place.
The memorial and the graves on its top are a national cultural monument registered in the Central List of Monuments under numbers 397-1 to 3.
Other attractions of the forest park include running trails. These are named after famous Mikuláš athletes, Michal Martikán (water slalom) and Petra Vlhová (slalom, downhill). Michal Martikán is the first Olympic champion in the modern history of Slovakia. Petra Vlhová became a junior world champion in giant slalom under 18 in 2011.
As for the interesting facts about the forest park, we would like to look at the ancient history. Would you believe that while climbing up the Háj-Nicovô hill you are walking on the deep seabed? The lost sea of Liptov was shallow at first and teeming with life. This is evidenced by the number of preserved fossilized organisms, which you can see in the Slovak Museum of Nature Conservation and Speleology in the historical center of Liptovský Mikuláš. For example, the tooth of a shark, which was dug up in Háj by the well-known Mikuláš geologist Ján Volko-Starohorský.
The forest ecosystem on Háj-Nicovô is also breath-taking. There is a mixed forest with a dominant presence of Norway spruce, silver birch, larch, Scots pine, elderberry and hazel.
The forests of Liptov have always been full of animals. Typical inhabitants of the Háj-Nicovô site include the wild boar, red fox, red squirrel, tawny owl, great spotted woodpecker, European common frog, common European adder and many others.
The flora of the forest park is rich in species and exceptional. On the edge of the forested part of the Háj, black poplar grows, its age is estimated to be more than 110 years and its trunk reaches a circumference of 5.7 m. It is part of a forest ecosystem in which living and non-living components of the environment are intertwined in various interrelationships. This poplar is therefore rightly included in the list of protected trees in Slovakia.