Chochołowska Valley

The Chochołowska Valley is the largest and longest valley in the Polish Tatras: about 10 km long and covering more than 35 km². In spring its meadows turn purple with crocuses, in summer sheep still graze here and you can taste fresh sheep's cheese. It is also the only valley in the Polish Tatras where dogs are allowed.

History: sheep, mines and a pope

The name comes from the village of Chochołów, whose inhabitants held grazing rights here as early as the 16th century. The valley became the biggest shepherding centre in the Tatras: in 1930, 70 shepherds grazed around 4,000 sheep here. From the 16th to the second half of the 19th century iron ore was also mined and smelted in the valley. Place names such as the Huciska clearing ("smelters") and Hala Stara Robota ("old works") still recall that era.

Tourism only really took off just before the First World War, largely thanks to skiers. In 1930–1932 the Warsaw Ski Club built a large hut on the Chochołowska Clearing, which German troops burned down in January 1945 during fighting with partisans. Today's PTTK hut was built in 1951–1953. In June 1983 Pope John Paul II met Lech Wałęsa and his family here, an event marked by a plaque on the hut's wall.

What to see along the way

The green trail follows the valley floor from Siwa Polana to the hut. Look out for:

• Siwiańskie Turnie – slender limestone crags on your right just after Siwa Polana,
• the Lower and Upper Chochołowska Gates – two narrows where the valley becomes a rocky gorge,
• the Chochołowska Spring (Wywierzysko) – a powerful karst spring a few steps off the trail,
• the Chochołowska forester's lodge, once the Blaszyński family's hut,
• the Chochołowska Clearing, with shepherds' huts, views of Bobrowiec and Wołowiec, and the wooden chapel of St John the Baptist.

Did you know?

The valley lies within the Tatra National Park but does not actually belong to it. Its owner is a forest community of eight local villages based in Witów, which won back the right to manage the land in court in 1983. That is why grazing continues and the meadows have not become overgrown. In 1938 the balloon "Gwiazda Polski" was meant to take off from here in an attempt on the world altitude record. The wind thwarted the plan and the partly hydrogen-filled envelope exploded.

Tripto tip

The route from Siwa Polana to the hut is 7.3 km long, with about 278 m of ascent, and takes around 2 hrs 20 min; the hut stands at 1,148 m. The first stretch to Huciska is asphalt, after which the track becomes gravel and stony. You can ride to Huciska on a tourist road train or in a horse-drawn cart, and cyclists and dog owners may go as far as the hut. Siwa Polana has a paid car park and a ticket booth.

Allow 5–6 hours for the round trip. Crocuses usually peak in April, when weekend crowds are heavy, so arrive early. Stay off the flowering meadows and keep dogs on a lead. Note that the stony upper track and the horse carts make it hard going for some pushchairs.