Krakow · Tatra Foothills and Zakopane

A 202 km loop from Myślenice

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Why this ride

Mountain views, villages and traffic-aware timing. A 202 km loop that starts and ends near Myślenice, about 3 h 29 of riding. It goes by way of Chochołów wooden village, Zakopane and Gubałówka view area. The highest point is about 1,050 m. It keeps to quiet secondary roads.

Roadbook

1. Myślenice fuel fuel

   Myślenice is a small, sturdy town in the foothills south of Kraków, on the Raba river, and for generations it has been the first place on the road to the mountains where travellers draw breath. The old market square has a pleasant, unhurried look, with a town hall in the middle and a handful of cafés and ice-cream shops around the edge. It sits in the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids, a landscape of separate, rounded, forested hills that stand like islands among the valleys, and the shapes in every direction give the place a soft, rolling character.

   The road running through town is the Zakopianka, the old highway that carries Poles to Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains, and anyone who has driven it on a summer Friday or a winter Sunday will have a feeling about it. Traffic has long been heavy, and a new expressway has relieved much of it, though the old road still jams on busy weekends. Timing matters, and an early start or a weekday ride makes a big difference. On the old roads, the lanes are narrow, with trucks, tourists and the occasional horse cart, and overtaking needs care.

   From here the landscape grows steadily more mountainous. The Gorce range lies to the south-west, with beech and spruce forest and high meadows, and beyond it the Tatras rise as a jagged, grey wall, snow-capped into early summer. Along the way, villages of wooden houses with steep roofs give a hint of highland culture, with carved gables and roadside chapels. In the foothills the surface is generally good, the bends are gentle and the scenery changes with every kilometre.

   Myślenice has more than seventeen thousand people, with plenty of fuel stations on the main road, and the best strategy is to fill the tank here before the climb. Bakeries sell fresh bread and poppy-seed pastries, and a bowl of żurek, a sour rye soup, is a good way to start. Kraków is about thirty kilometres north, so it makes a handy start or end point.

2. Chochołów wooden village sight

   Chochołów is a village that is better than a museum because people still live in it. A single long street, running through the Podhale region of southern Poland, is lined with log houses of dark, weathered timber, their gables facing the road, with carved decoration, small windows and steep roofs. Most date from the nineteenth century, built by highland families, the Górale, from spruce and fir, and the whole street is protected as a monument. Behind them, on a clear day, the white ridge of the Tatra mountains fills the horizon.

   The village has a place in Polish history, too. In 1846, a peasant uprising broke out here against Austrian rule, part of a wider revolt in Galicia, and it was quickly suppressed. The local tradition of independence and pride has never gone away, and the region is known for its highland culture: music played on fiddles, intricate costume, dialect and a strong sense of identity. The Górale are also known for their smoked sheep's cheese, oscypek, sold in small spindle shapes at roadside stalls and grilled on the spot.

   The ride from Kraków to this area is a pleasant run through the foothills of the Beskids and the Gorce, with rolling farmland, hay meadows, wooden churches and steep-roofed barns. The main roads can be busy, especially on summer weekends, when traffic heads for Zakopane, and the road through Chochołów is slow, with pedestrians, pedestrian crossings and sometimes tourists photographing houses. A weekday morning or a late afternoon is far calmer. Weather can change quickly in the foothills, with sunshine, storms and clouds spilling off the mountains, so a waterproof layer is wise.

   As a stop, it is a short and rewarding one. Cafes and small restaurants serve żurek, a sour rye soup, pierogi and kwaśnica, a hearty sauerkraut stew, and you can walk the length of the street in half an hour. Fuel is available at Czarny Dunajec, about eight kilometres away, and in Zakopane, around twelve, where the traffic is heavier. Park the bike at the side of the road, respect the residents' privacy, and look closely at the carved gables and doors.

3. Zakopane food food

   Zakopane is where Poland goes to feel like it lives in the mountains. It lies at the foot of the High Tatras, the only truly alpine range in the country, and it has been a resort since the late nineteenth century, when writers, painters and doctors found the thin air and the clear light. The town grew around the culture of the górale, the highlanders of Podhale, whose wooden houses, sheepskin waistcoats, fiddle music and dialect still define the place. Look at the carved timber villas and you are seeing the so-called Zakopane style, an architecture invented here in the 1890s by Stanisław Witkiewicz as an attempt at a national style.

   Food is why you are stopping, and the menu is hearty without apology. The cheese to try is oscypek, smoked sheep's milk cheese pressed into spindle shapes, often grilled and served with cranberry jam. Kwaśnica, a sour cabbage soup with pork, will warm you if the day has turned cold. The better places are the ones tucked up side streets or at the edge of town, in timbered rooms with a stove and a menu that does not need translating into six languages. Krupówki, the main pedestrian street, is lively, loud and a bit kitsch, worth a stroll but not the best table.

   The ride in from Kraków follows the foothills through Rabka and Nowy Targ, and the final run on the main road is famous for its traffic. At weekends and in holiday seasons the road to Zakopane clogs badly, so an early start or a late arrival makes a real difference. Once you pass Nowy Targ, the Tatras begin to appear on the skyline, a serrated grey wall that makes you forget the slow lorries in front.

   Zakopane is a big town of over twenty-seven thousand people, so fuel, parking and repairs are no problem. The practical challenge is parking a motorcycle in the centre. Look for side streets slightly away from Krupówki, and do not leave luggage on the bike. In summer evenings the town buzzes until late. In autumn and winter it is quieter and cheaper, and the stove-heated rooms come into their own.

   If the weather turns, mountain storms can arrive quickly. Check the sky over the Tatras before you head out, and keep a rain layer handy.

4. Gubałówka view area photo

   Gubałówka is the ridge that stands between Zakopane and the open Podhale plain, and it exists for one reason, which is to look at the Tatras. From the top, at a little over eleven hundred metres, the whole range spreads along the southern horizon in one go: Giewont with its cross, the long saw-edge of the High Tatras behind, and the town laid out in the valley like a model. It is the view that people on postcards mean when they say Zakopane.

   Most visitors ride up on the funicular, which has been hauling people up from the edge of town since the 1930s. At the top there is a market of wool socks, sheepskin and smoked cheese, a handful of restaurants, and a long ridge walk with every bench facing south. It is commercial, but it is also cheerful, and on a clear morning the commerce hardly matters because the view does all the work.

   For riders, the ridge is more about the approach than the summit. The roads around the north side of Zakopane and toward Poronin and Kościelisko link villages of wooden farmhouses with steep shingled roofs, small chapels and hay meadows. The surface varies, and in the hills the corners can be tight and sudden. Take it slowly. In the foothills you get a feel for the old highland life, with shepherds still driving flocks in summer, and the smell of woodsmoke in the cooler months.

   The light here changes everything. Early morning gives you clean air and sharp peaks, while afternoon haze flattens the distance. Clouds often gather on the Tatras by midday, so if a clear view matters, go early. In summer, thunderstorms build over the mountains in the afternoon and can sweep across the valley in a matter of minutes.

   Fuel, food and repairs are all in Zakopane, a few minutes away, and Poronin and Kościelisko have smaller services. There is no need to carry spare fuel. But do bring a warm layer, because the ridge catches the wind, and in shoulder seasons the temperature at the top can be several degrees below the town.

   Photographers should walk a little along the ridge away from the lift station. The crowds thin out within a few minutes, and the angle to the Tatras gets cleaner.

5. Back to Myślenice fuel finish

   Back at Myślenice fuel. That is the ride.

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