Old towns & squares

Krupówki Street in Zakopane

Krupówki is the main axis of Zakopane — a pedestrian thoroughfare longer than one kilometre, closed to car traffic, where a stroll comes with oscypek sheep cheese, kierpce footwear and horse-drawn carriages. The street starts at the crossing with Nowotarska and Kościeliska streets and runs south-east, steadily uphill, to the junction with Zamoyskiego street and 3 Maja avenue.

A name taken from a meadow

The name comes from the Krupówki clearing, and in the past it was also applied to the neighbouring Zamoyskiego street, which today forms a single pedestrian line with the promenade. This is the busiest spot in town: shops and highlander inns line the street, and carts with regional crafts stand along the walkway.

Holy Family Church at the bottom

At the crossing with Nowotarska stands the neo-Romanesque Holy Family Church, erected in 1896 to a design by the architect Józef Pius Dziekoński. Inside survives a historic chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Zakopane style — a wooden memento of the older architecture of the Podhale region.

In practice

The street is pedestrianised and open all year round. Regional souvenirs are part of its character: carts selling oscypek cheese and kierpce shoes line the promenade. Nearby stands a house built upside down, one of the more photogenic attractions for children and adults alike. Traffic is heaviest in the winter season and at weekends — choose a weekday morning for a quieter stroll.