5 Days in Zakopane

Start with the oldest graveyard in town, behind the little wooden church of St. Clement on Kościeliska street. It was founded in 1851, takes its name from the man who gave the land, Jan Pęksa, and brzyzek is the highlander word for a steep bank above a stream. Stanisław Witkiewicz designed the gate. Today it's called the Cemetery of the Distinguished: about 500 graves, roughly 250 of them for people tied to Zakopane, the Tatras and Podhale.

It's more art gallery than cemetery. Almost every tombstone is one of a kind, a tiny chapel, a carved highlander cross or a painted-glass plaque, and many sculptures came out of the workshop of Władysław Hasior, who taught at the art school here. Walk quietly: it's a working parish graveyard, and the small fee goes to conservation.

The main building of the Tatra Museum, named after Dr. Tytus Chałubiński, sits at the start of Krupówki and is the best single introduction to how a village of shepherds turned into the winter capital: highlander life, the first tourists and the climbers.

It doesn't sell tickets online, so arrival time decides the queue. It's open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:15), and closed Monday and Tuesday. The permanent exhibitions are free on Thursday, which is why this guide saves the Koliba villa for day five.

Krupówki is the main axis of Zakopane: a pedestrian street a little over a kilometer long, closed to cars and even bicycles, running uphill from the junction with Nowotarska and Kościeliska. It's also the most commercial street in the Tatras: souvenir stalls, restaurant barkers and men in white bear costumes who demand about 50 PLN for a photo (you're not obliged to pay). Walk it once, look up at the wooden facades rather than the shop windows, and eat a block away on either side.

Oscypek, the smoked sheep's milk cheese pressed into a spindle, starts on a mountain pasture, so a small sheepfold is the honest way to meet it. Owczarnia u Edka at Spyrkówka 8, a short drive north of the center, lets you feed and pet sheep for free, watch how oscypek is made and grill your own piece, then buy regional cheese and local beer in the bacówka (the shepherd's hut shop).

One caveat about winter cheese: the protected name allows oscypek to be made only from May to September and sold until the end of October. Much of what is grilled in February is stored cheese or the cylindrical lookalike, gołka. It still tastes good with cranberry jam.

The funicular up Gubałówka is the easiest panorama in Zakopane. It was built in just 168 days and opened on 20 December 1938, the second funicular in Poland after the one in Krynica. Two glass-roofed cars climb the 1,123 m ridge in about three minutes, every 15 minutes or non-stop when it's busy, and the ticket is valid all day.

From the top the Tatras stand in one line above the town. Walk the ridge for about 40 minutes toward Butorowy Wierch, or just have a hot chocolate. The operator's table gives winter hours of 9:00 to 20:00 in January and February, later in school holidays. Sunset in January is around 16:00, so be at the lower station by 14:30.

U Wnuka at Kościeliska 8 calls itself the oldest restaurant in Zakopane, going back to 1850, and sits 300 m from Krupówki in an old highlander house. It's a karczma (the highlander tavern): carved wood, a fireplace and, on selected evenings in the season, a kapela, a highlander band.

Order what the place is known for: kwaśnica (sour cabbage soup) with a smoked rib, placki zbójnickie (potato pancakes with goulash, sour cream and cheese) and grilled oscypek with cranberries. For two, the koryto mięs is a trough of meats at 220 PLN (about 50 EUR). The kitchen says it makes its pierogi by hand.

On the way to Kuźnice you pass the Wielka Krokiew, the biggest ski jump in Poland, set into the north slope of the Krokiew hill at about 1,050 m. It opened on 22 March 1925, designed by the engineer Karol Stryjeński, and is a K125 hill, HS140. It hosted ski jumping at the World Championships in 1929, 1939 and 1962, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II said mass beneath it for several hundred thousand people.

It's a training hill, so don't expect a museum: stop for the view up the in-run, then keep going. World Cup jumping has been held here since the 1979/80 season, usually in January. The FIS calendar for 2026/27 has night events here on 16 and 17 January 2027, and the town will be busy those days.

Kuźnice sits at about 1,010 m, where an old iron foundry stood, and the cable car starts here. It was built in 1935-36, the first of its kind in Poland, rebuilt in 2007-08, and covers about 4.3 km and 936 m of climb in about 20 minutes, changing cabins at Myślenickie Turnie. The cabins carry up to 60 people and leave every 10 minutes, or every 30 in thin weather.

Buy the online Tourpass with a fixed time: a return ticket gives you 1 hour 40 minutes at the top. Be at the gate 20 minutes before the slot. A ski day pass already includes the ride up. The cable car stops in strong wind.

The upper station stands at 1,959 m, 26 m below the summit, on the Polish-Slovak border, which runs along the main ridge. A paved path of about 200 m leads to the Sucha Przełęcz pass, and the weather observatory on the summit, built in 1938, is the highest building in Poland.

If you're not skiing, this is your day on foot, but keep it short. The operator suggests a 30-40 minute walk toward Beskid (2,012 m), a viewpoint over the Gąsienicowa valley. Skip the three-hour walk down: the park says winter paths above the huts need experience and crampons, so ride the cable car back. Even a two-hour stay in winter needs warm boots, a hat, a thermos and microspikes (raczki) for the icy paths.

Gąsienicowa is the first of Kasprowy's two black runs, 1.2 km down into the Kocioł Gąsienicowy, with a four-seat chairlift (8 minutes, 2,400 people an hour) back up. It's steep, narrow at the bottom, and looks across to Świnica and Kościelec. It's natural snow only: ice on a bad day, powder on a good one.

Be honest about your level. Both runs are black, the operator says there are no ski instructors on the demanding runs from Kasprowy, and skiing outside the marked runs is forbidden because avalanches are real here. Gąsienicowa stays open longest: last winter it ran until 3 May.

The upper station has a restaurant called Poziom 1959, plus a shop and a ski test center. It's the practical place for a hot drink or lunch between runs or walks, and better than a sandwich on a freezing terrace.

Plan it around your time slot: with a return Tourpass you have 1 hour 40 minutes at the top. Its menu and winter hours weren't published, so don't count on it as your only lunch and carry a snack and a thermos.

Goryczkowa is the run for experts: 2.1 km of black down the Kocioł Goryczkowy, looking toward Giewont and the Czerwone Wierchy, with a slow two-seat chairlift (15 minutes, about 720 people an hour). At the bottom it joins the nartostrada, 3.5 km of red down to Kuźnice, and the operator calls the whole thing, almost 6 km with over 900 m of drop, the longest run in Poland.

Here's the catch. The only easier section is the nartostrada, and the only way to reach it is down Goryczkowa, so a beginner has no easy way off. The run opens late: in 2026 it reopened on 18 February after weeks without snow, and the March snowfall closed it again. If it's shut, a day pass lets you ride the cable car down.

Kotelnica is the largest ski complex in the Podhale, and its operator says the largest in Poland. Tatry Super Ski counts a dozen or so runs and almost 17 km, served by chairlifts and drag lifts, with runs groomed, lit and fed by snow cannons, some homologated by the FIS. The hills top out around 900 m, so the Tatras are a view here, not a playground.

It suits beginners, families and intermediates far better than Kasprowy: wide, forgiving slopes, a big snowpark and four free cross-country loops of 1,250 to 4,380 m. The downside is crowds on Saturdays and in the school-holiday weeks.

Around Kotelnica the smell of grilled oscypek is the signal for a break. The resort's kitchen blog says the cheese goes on the grill when the slope fills up around midday, served with cranberry jam, and lists what skiers actually eat: kwaśnica, sausage with mustard and bread, warm apple pie, hot chocolate, tea with honey and mulled wine.

For a longer dinner, the karczmy (highlander taverns) of Białka serve the same dishes with more time.

A Tatry Super Ski pass also opens the other lifts in Białka. Bania Ski & Fun, beside the thermal pool and hotel, has gentle slopes that the pass operator calls ideal for learning; Kaniówka, east of Kotelnica, has its own chairlift; Horników Wierch is on the same pass. Together they make a good afternoon if Kotelnica is busy.

Hop between them on the free skibus. The 2025/26 timetable ran from about 08:30 to about 22:30, a bus every 30-40 minutes, linking Grapa, Kotelnica, Remiaszów and Kaniówka, and skis can go on board. The 2026/27 timetable wasn't out on 16 October.

Between runs and pool, stop at the old wooden church of Saints Simon and Jude, built around 1700 by Jędrzej Topór and Jan Chlipalski. It's shingled like the other churches of the Wooden Architecture Trail, with a tower with an overhanging gallery and a baroque interior, and stands in a walled churchyard shaded by old linden trees.

Białka was founded in the 17th century, probably around 1616-1618, as a shepherd village stretched for more than 8 km along the river.

The thermal pool beside Hotel Bania is the standard way to end a ski day in Białka: 15 pools, more than 300 m of slides in total, geysers, jacuzzis and artificial waves, all working whatever the weather. It was open 9:00 to 22:00 on the day this guide was checked, with tickets from about 53 PLN and an afternoon ticket for entry after 16:00 from 57 PLN.

It's a family waterpark rather than a quiet spa, so expect noise on weekends and in school holidays.

The road to Palenica Białczańska is the Oswald Balzer road, finished in 1902 and used for the Tatra Race between the wars, and it passes the chapel of the Sacred Heart in Jaszczurówka. Stanisław Witkiewicz designed it, building started in 1904 and it was consecrated in 1907. It's a textbook of the Zakopane style: log walls, a high stone base in arcades, a shingled roof with a small bell tower and an altar styled like a highlander cottage.

Fifteen minutes is enough; the stained glass was designed by Stefan Matejko. The chapel stands on land owned by the Tatra National Park.

The walk starts at Palenica Białczańska at 990 m, about 21 km from Zakopane. Buy the park ticket online or at the gate (11 PLN, 5.50 PLN reduced, 55 PLN for 7 days) and save it on your phone, because the signal fades. If you drive, buy the parking e-ticket online: it costs 36 to 75 PLN depending on the date, is 10 PLN dearer on the day, and when the site says sold out, the official lots are full.

The e-buses are suspended in winter. Horse carts and sleighs may run in winter, but since September 2026 only as far as Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza, about 2.9 km, so plan to walk the rest. Regular buses leave Zakopane for Palenica, and since 1 January 2026 you pay the driver.

After about 2.9 km up the Białka valley a stone bridge from 1900 crosses the Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza, a cascade on the Roztoka stream. In winter it's a frozen staircase. Along the first stretch the Białka river is the Polish-Slovak border, and the largest glacier of the Tatras once filled this valley.

The walk is easy underfoot but long: the park says about 2.5 hours each way, plus two at the lake. A trail near the boulders at Wanty, left by the glacier, cuts the road's hairpins by about a kilometer. Wear boots with grip and carry microspikes.

Włosienica is a former shepherds' meadow, now a halfway stop with a PTTK refreshment pavilion, where the horse carts used to end. Just beyond it the road crosses the Żleb Żandarmerii gully, where avalanches often come down, which is why the forest is thin here; the last big one, in February 2023, broke the trees you can still see. This is the stretch to respect: from level 3 of 5 ask at the gate before going on, at a high level turn back at Włosienica, or stay home.

Hot tea and soup are the point of the stop, but the pavilion's winter opening isn't confirmed, so carry a thermos and a snack. There are no bins on the route, so carry out what you carry in; dogs and drones are banned in the park.

Morskie Oko lies at 1,395 m and is the largest lake in the Tatras: 860 by 560 m, 34.5 ha, below the wall of the Mięguszowieckie peaks. Old legends linked it to the sea (hence the name, the Eye of the Sea). The PTTK hut on the moraine, built in 1908 in the Zakopane style, stands where the first hut opened in 1827; the old hut beside it began as a coach house in 1891.

Expect a frozen lake under snowy walls and, on a weekday, far fewer people than in summer. If there's no snow on the ground, the loop around the water is 2.5 km, about an hour. Start down by about 12:30: the walk back can take 2.5 hours, and darkness on an icy road is a bad idea. Don't continue toward Five Ponds: that trail is closed every winter from 1 December to 15 May.

The Villa Koliba on Kościeliska street is the first house in the Zakopane style, designed by Stanisław Witkiewicz and built in 1892-93 for the collector Zygmunt Gnatowski. Witkiewicz wanted an architecture grown from local building, as an answer to the Swiss and Tyrolean chalets arriving in town. He took the plan of a highlander cottage and added log walls, a stone base, shingles and carved sunbursts on gables and windows.

Inside is the Museum of the Zakopane Style, with rooms furnished as a dining room, salon and bedrooms and Gnatowski's own collection of highlander objects. In the war the villa was the seat of the Hitler Youth, and until 1981 a children's home; the museum opened here in December 1993. Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 9:00-17:00, Friday and Saturday 11:00-19:00, closed Tuesday.

Polana Szymoszkowa is the small ski area at the western end of Zakopane, with Giewont and the Tatras across the view. It has two lifts: a big six-seat chairlift up to the Gubałówka ridge for confident skiers and sightseers, with restaurants at the top, and a short one halfway up for beginners beside a Kids Park with a conveyor lift. The Tatry Super Ski pass is valid and parking is free.

After the cable car and Morskie Oko, ride the chair for the view and ski a run or two. The 9:00 to 18:00 hours on the site are the autumn sightseeing schedule, which ends on 18 October 2026, and winter hours weren't published, so check the site.

Chochołów is the most intact wooden village in Podhale: almost every house is an original highlander cottage of dark logs, packed along the road. The village was chartered in 1592 and is known for the Chochołów Uprising of 1846, when highlanders led by the local organist and teacher Jan Andrusikiewicz disarmed the Austrian revenue guards. The Austrians turned peasants from Czarny Dunajec against them, Andrusikiewicz was badly wounded and more than a hundred rebels were jailed.

One living tradition: villagers wash their cottages with soap and water twice a year, at Easter and Corpus Christi. The brick church of St. Hyacinth was finished in 1873 and consecrated in 1886, and a Polish-Slovak border crossing stood here until December 2007.

The thermal complex has its own restaurant, Restauracja Chochołowska, which makes it the easy place for a late lunch before you swim. It's open from 12:00 (to 21:00 Monday to Thursday, later on weekends).

If you'd rather eat in the village, any karczma along the road serves the Podhale staples.

Chochołowskie Termy opened in 2016 and calls itself the biggest thermal pool complex in Podhale: pools, a sauna complex (Saunarium), a spa and a normobaria room. It's open Sunday to Thursday 9:00-22:00 and Friday and Saturday 9:00-23:00 (the site announced a closure for building work from 19 to 30 October 2026, not in winter). In the low season to 24 December 2026 a three-hour pool ticket cost 95 PLN (22 EUR) Monday to Thursday and 115 PLN (26 EUR) Friday to Sunday; the winter list wasn't published. Large-family card holders get 15% off.

Compared with the waterpark at Białka, this is the more spa-like finish to a trip, and a Thursday evening is calmer than a Friday.