Give Zakopane three days. Ride the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch for the ridge view, walk the paved nine kilometres to Morskie Oko, and keep an evening for Krupówki and a bowl of kwaśnica. A fourth day buys either the thermal pools at Chochołów or a flat valley walk through Kościeliska. In winter the trails give way to lift-served slopes and the ski jump at Wielka Krokiew.
Poland's mountain capital sits in a basin under the Tatras, about two hours south of Kraków. It runs on two seasons: skiing and ski jumping from December, hiking and thermal pools the rest of the year. The town is small. The mountains behind it are not.
The largest lake in the Polish Tatras, 1,395 m up and ringed by the highest peaks on this side of the range. Getting there is nine kilometres of asphalt from Palenica Białczańska, roughly two hours each way, so it is a long day rather than a hard one. Start before eight or queue for the car park.
Poland's first aerial tramway, running since 1936, lifts you to 1,987 m in about twenty minutes with a change at Myślenickie Turnie. The summit sits on the Polish and Slovak border ridge, so the view runs both ways. Timed slots sell out in season, so book online rather than joining the Kuźnice queue.
The pedestrian spine of the town, running from the old church down towards the Gubałówka funicular. It is loud, commercial and unavoidable, and it is also where the oscypek grills, the highland bands and most of the museums are. Walk it once in daylight and once after dark.
A 1,298 m track climbs around 300 vertical metres to the 1,126 m ridge in a few minutes, and delivers the postcard view: Giewont dead ahead and the whole Tatra wall behind it. The ridge walk west along the meadow is the part most visitors skip.
Nine kilometres of near-flat limestone valley, the gentlest serious walk in the Polish Tatras and the one families do. Five caves open off it, and the Ornak hut at the head serves kwaśnica. Horse carts cover the first 3.5 km if legs are short.
The HS-140 hill named for Stanisław Marusarz has hosted World Cup ski jumping for decades, and a two-section chairlift runs to the top all year. Standing at the inrun explains the noise a full stadium makes in January better than any broadcast does.
Zakopane's first cemetery, opened in 1851 on land given by Jan Pęksa, and the resting place of the people who made the town: the doctor Tytus Chałubiński, the storyteller Sabała, and generations of mountain guides. The carved wooden markers are folk art in their own right.
Stanisław Witkiewicz's first building, raised in 1892 and now the Museum of Zakopane Style. It is an argument made in timber: highland carpentry pushed up into a national architecture. The rooms are furnished to his own drawings, down to the chairs.
The largest thermal complex in Poland, thirty indoor and outdoor pools running 30 to 38°C, twenty minutes west of town. The outdoor basins facing the Tatras are the reason to come and they are best in falling snow. Weekends and school holidays fill the place.
The 1,894 m ridge that shapes every view from town, topped by a 15 m iron cross raised in 1901. The blue route from Kuźnice via Hala Kondratowa takes about three hours up, with the final stretch on fixed chains. The cross draws lightning: turn back at the first thunder.
World Cup ski jumping at Wielka Krokiew, and the loudest weekend of the Zakopane year.
The valley meadows turn purple with crocuses for two weeks, and everyone comes.
Shepherds drive the flocks up to the high pastures, which is when oscypek season opens.
Ski jumping on the plastic-matted Wielka Krokiew, the biggest summer round in Poland.
A week of music and dance troupes from mountain cultures worldwide, on Równia Krupowa.
The flocks come back down from the pastures, with music and a fair to meet them.
Mountain film festival with competition screenings, climber talks and exhibitions.
Open-air concerts and fireworks in the centre. Rooms book out months in advance.
The nearest airport, about 110 km north. Direct coaches and shuttles reach Zakopane in roughly two and a half hours.
PKP Intercity runs from Kraków Główny in about two to two and a half hours, into Zakopane station in the centre.
Coaches leave Kraków's MDA terminal every half hour and take around two hours ten, traffic on the Zakopianka permitting.
Minibuses from the bus station serve Kuźnice, Kiry and Palenica Białczańska for the trailheads. The town itself is walkable.
Smoked sheep's cheese, grilled and served with cranberry. Made May to September.
Sour cabbage soup, usually with smoked ribs or mutton. The regional staple.
Potato flatbread cooked on a griddle and eaten with garlic butter.
Fresh unsmoked sheep's cheese, mild and soft. Oscypek before the smokehouse.
Soft salted sheep's cheese, protected by EU origin status.
The whey left over from cheesemaking, drunk warm and lightly salty.
A potato pancake buried under goulash. Lunch for a day on the hill.
Trout from the Podhale farms, grilled or baked whole.
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