Zakopane tourist information
Zakopane is Poland's best-known mountain resort - and has been since the 1860s. The driving time from Krakow is about two hours.
Good facilities and the immediately accessible slopes of the Tatra Mountains make skiing the big wintertime attraction. Peak season is January through March. Downhill runs closest to town descend from a 6,514-foot-high peak called Kasprowy Wierch, reached by a gondola and two chairlifts. Antalowka, a small hill on Zakopane's western outskirts, is used as a beginners slope, and cross-country trails fringe the forested foothills. In addition, a skating rink is in the center of town.
Most tourists would prefer a visit during the area's high-season months, June through August. Hiking is an immensely popular activity for groups and individuals. Dozens of well marked trails extend through meadows and canyons shaded by spruce, pine, oak and larch trees. Hikers can make their way past alpine lakes up to the highest Tatra summit, 8,200-foot Mt. Rysy.
August is highlighted by the rousing Tatra Autumn or International Festival of Highland Folklore - featuring music, dancing, food, arts and crafts - which takes place annually. Then comes foliage time, with flaming red the predominant color here in Europe. There are several other advantages to the Tatra autumn - crystal-clear air and low-season prices.
Within the villages of the Tatras, particularly Zakopane, the largest town in the region, visitors will see Poland's highlanders. Men wear low, rounded black hats, ornately embroidered cloth jackets, white cloth trousers and moccasins made from one piece of leather fastened with thongs and maybe carry a walking stick. Women are dressed in flowery kerchiefs, colorful short jackets and aprons with beads around their necks and the same leather moccasins. Even the dwellings reflect what would seem to be a long lost time - steep-roofed timber houses built from roughly hewn logs, decorated with flowers and brightly colored motifs, each different from the next.
by Polish National Tourist Office New York
Zakopane aerial map
Please click on any icon on the Zakopane aerial tourist map, to find close by places, offering hotels and tourist information. You can zoom in and zoom out our touristical map as well as switch between satelite and map view of Zakopane.
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