since 1993 The gateway townMesto pri bráne

Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993, and Poprad settled into the job it still does: the practical capital of the sub-Tatra region, though the mountains themselves belong to the neighbouring town of Vysoké Tatry. Freight wagons and bogies go out from here across Europe; the appliance plant at Matejovce traded as Whirlpool Slovakia until it was renamed Beko Manufacturing Slovakia in 2024; geothermal water from deep boreholes fills a bathing complex with the peaks on the skyline. Since Slovakia and Poland entered the Schengen area in December 2007 the border north of the town has had no checkpoint on it. And on 19 November 2004 a windstorm flattened roughly twelve thousand hectares of Tatra forest above the town in a single evening — the mountains are still growing out of it.Slovensko sa osamostatnilo 1. januára 1993 a Poprad sa usadil v úlohe, ktorú plní dodnes: je praktickým hlavným mestom Podtatranska, hoci samotné hory patria susednému mestu Vysoké Tatry. Nákladné vagóny a podvozky odtiaľto idú do celej Európy; závod v Matejovciach vystupoval ako Whirlpool Slovakia, kým ho roku 2024 nepremenovali na Beko Manufacturing Slovakia; geotermálna voda z hlbokých vrtov napĺňa veľký kúpaliskový areál so štítmi na obzore. Odkedy Slovensko aj Poľsko vstúpili v decembri 2007 do schengenského priestoru, na hranici severne od mesta nie je nijaká kontrola. A 19. novembra 2004 zvalil víchor nad mestom za jediný večer asi dvanásťtisíc hektárov tatranského lesa — hory z toho rastú dodnes.