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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Out of Zakopane, one way: 149 km, roughly 2 h 29 in the saddle. On the way it passes Bukowina and Nowy Targ. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 34 km this is Polish Tatra Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Zakopane is the winter capital of Poland, and in summer it is the hiking capital too. The town lies at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, the highest range in the Carpathians, with the peak of Giewont, topped by a metal cross, looming above it. Nearly thirty thousand people live here, and many millions visit each year, so the main street, Krupówki, is crowded with souvenir stalls, grill restaurants and walkers. It is lively rather than quiet, but the mountains behind it are real.
Read the complete Near Zakopane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zakopane is where the day begins. Next is Bukowina.
Bukowina is what happens when a mountain village decides to become a ski and spa resort and only partly forgets its roots. It lies on the Podhale plateau, the high rolling country at the foot of the Tatras, and the view from the open ridges around it is the thing you ride for: the whole Tatra wall standing across the southern horizon like a stage set, with Slovakia just behind. On a clear morning the sharp summits look almost close enough to touch.
Read the complete Bukowina write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bukowina comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Nowy Targ. Next is Czorsztyn.
Czorsztyn is a small village on the shore of Lake Czorsztyn, a reservoir in the Pieniny and the Spisz region of southern Poland, and it is dominated by the ruins of a castle on a rocky hill. The castle, first built in the fourteenth century, guarded the border between Poland and Hungary, and its twin, Niedzica Castle, stands on the opposite shore, in what was once Hungary. The two fortresses face each other across the water, which was created in the 1990s by damming the Dunajec river, and the lake covers parts of old villages. Niedzica, Kluszkowce and Krośnica are the nearest settlements, each a few kilometres away.
Read the complete Czorsztyn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Czorsztyn closes the day.
Zakopane → Bukowina is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bukowina → Nowy Targ is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nowy Targ → Czorsztyn is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.