Other

Rafting and Kayaking in the Pieniny

The Pieniny are the shortest route to water-based thrills in the Polish mountains. Here the Dunajec cuts through the range of the Pieniny Właściwe with its famous gorge — a section about 8 km long between Sromowce Niżne and Szczawnica, where the river carved its bed among limestone walls reaching 300 m. You can paddle it yourself in a kayak or hand the oar over to the timber raftsmen and float through in a raft or pontoon — both variants show the same, most photographed bend of Polish rivers.

The oldest national park in Poland

The water and the rocks it flows through are protected within the Pieniny National Park, established on 1 June 1932 as the first national park in Poland. The park has the highest ratio of tourist traffic per hectare among all Polish national parks and offers visitors 35 km of trails. Above the river rise the Three Crowns massif and Sokolica with their viewing galleries, while the Pieniny Road runs along the river at the bottom of the valley.

Rafting in practice

The gorge is a chain of bends between Sromowce and Szczawnica — the route requires no mountain-river experience, and the oldest depiction of the trip comes from a polychromy of 1589 in the church in Krościenko. As a tourist attraction the cruises took hold from around 1831. In summer it is worth booking in advance: the area attracts so many visitors that the park records exceptional attendance nationwide.