The Tatras are the only alpine range between the Alps and the Caucasus and are just 53 km long, of which a quarter lies in Poland. Rysy, 2499 m, is the highest point in the country. National parks operate on both sides of the border, the trails are densely waymarked and heavily used.
Morskie Oko
The largest Tatra lake, 34.9 hectares at 1395 m, in a cirque ringed by Rysy and Mnich. The approach from Palenica Białczańska is 9 km of sealed road, walked in two hours or covered by horse cart, and it is the busiest trail in Poland — in summer more than ten thousand people a day. Go at dawn, or in September.
The trails
The Kościeliska and Chochołowska valleys are wide and easy, good with children. Giewont, 1894 m, with a steel cross erected in 1901, is the most climbed peak and also where lightning accidents recur. Orla Perć is the hardest waymarked route in Poland, one-way, with chains and staples, not for beginners. Rysy is reached from Morskie Oko; the summit section requires sure footing.
Kasprowy Wierch
A cable car from Kuźnice has carried passengers to 1987 m in under twenty minutes since 1936. At the top are a meteorological observatory, the Slovak border and a view along the whole ridge. In winter it is the main ski area, in summer the start for Świnica and the Gąsienicowa valley.
Zakopane
A town at 800 m that became the summer resort of the Polish intelligentsia around 1900, where Stanisław Witkiewicz created the Zakopane Style, combining highland carpentry with art nouveau. Villa Koliba and Pod Jedlami are the model buildings. Krupówki is a shopping street and can be passed through; the cemetery at Pęksowy Brzyzek and the museums are more interesting.
Pieniny
An hour east, the Dunajec cuts a gorge through the limestone Pieniny, rafted on wooden punts steered by boatmen: 18 km in about two hours. Nearby are Niedzica castle and the UNESCO-listed wooden churches of Dębno and Binarowa.
Rules and safety
The park charges entry, requires walkers to keep to marked trails, and prohibits camping and dogs. TOPR handles mountain rescue and its number is worth saving. Weather changes within the hour and afternoon storms are the summer norm; be off the ridges by midday.
Getting there
Zakopane is two hours from Kraków by bus or train and the road is heavily congested on summer Fridays and Sundays. Once there, buses run to the trailheads at Kuźnice, Palenica Białczańska and the valley entrances, and taxis are plentiful.