CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
133 km one way from Kraków - plan on about 2 h 16 of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Poland into Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 22 km this is Polish Tatra Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Kraków has the kind of old town that makes you slow down on foot, and it deserves it. At the centre is the Rynek Główny, the main market square, one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, with the Cloth Hall in the middle and the two uneven towers of St Mary's Basilica at the corner. Each hour a trumpeter plays a bugle call from the taller tower, and the tune stops abruptly in mid-phrase, in memory of a watchman said to have been shot in the throat by a Tatar arrow while sounding the alarm.
Read the complete Krakow write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Krakow is where the day begins. Next is Nowy Targ.
Nowy Targ is the main town of Podhale, the highland district at the foot of the Tatras, and it feels as if it had always been a place where mountain farmers came down to trade. About thirty-four thousand people live here, in a broad, windswept basin about six hundred metres above sea level where the Czarny and Biały Dunajec rivers meet, and the weekly market, held on Thursdays, is a long-standing tradition where highlanders in embroidered waistcoats still sell sheep, cheese, wool and wooden goods. The cheese to look for is oscypek, a smoked, spindle-shaped sheep's-milk cheese pressed in carved wooden moulds, and you will find it on stalls throughout the region.
Read the complete Nowy Targ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nowy Targ comes up about 87 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zakopane.
Zakopane has been the capital of Polish mountain life for more than a century, and it wears the role with a mixture of pride and fatigue. About twenty-eight thousand people live here, right below the Tatra range, and in peak seasons several times that many visitors pour in for skiing, hiking and a stroll along Krupówki, the crowded main street of souvenir shops, grill stands and music. Behind the bustle lies a distinct culture, that of the Górale, the highlanders, with their own dialect, music, costume and wooden architecture, and the Zakopane style of timber building, popularised in the late nineteenth century by the artist Stanisław Witkiewicz, still shapes the best old villas.
Read the complete Zakopane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 109 km into the recorded legs you reach Zakopane. Next is Lysa Polana.
The tarmac ends at a border that no longer behaves like one. Łysa Polana sits on the Polish-Slovak line in the High Tatras, a clearing in spruce forest where the Białka stream comes down from the granite and the two countries simply hand the road to each other. Since both states joined Schengen there is no barrier and no queue, just a sign, a few stalls, and a lot of walkers in boots heading for the trails.
Read the complete Lysa Polana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Łysa Polana closes the day.
Krakow → Nowy Targ is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nowy Targ → Zakopane is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zakopane → Lysa Polana is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.