By taking a red-marked path towards Podbanské one gets to two short ski lifts placed two kilometers from the end of the Žiarska dolina valley at the point where is opens up to the Liptovská kotlina basin. However, the main aim of the tourists and skiers in the area is a seven kilometres long valley bordered in the west by the mountain fork consisting of the Baníkov - Ráztoka - Kečka mountains and in the east by the fork at the Plačlivé - Baranec - Holý vrch mountains. The end of the valley with Smrečianka brook is at a sea level altitude of 900 m and its highest parts reach an altitude of as much as 1,870 m (Baníkov kostol). The lower part of the valley is comparably narrow. It widens only in the central positions where the alpine meadows open to the sunshine. Its ending is formed by a massive amphitheatre with glacier kettles called Veľké and Malé Závraty separated from each other by rocky crest of the Prostredný grúň mountain. The valley was glaciated up to an altitude of 1,000 m above sea level during the last Glacial period. Its glacial past is well visible, especially in the glacier kettle and near the Šarafiov waterfall.
A favourite and sought-after resting place in the upper part of the valley is the tourist cottage of Žiarska chata (1,300 m). Its position amid the mountains represents an excelent departing point for high-mountain tours to the surroudings peaks or passages over the saddles to the neighbouring valleys.