Vistula Cycle Route

The Vistula Cycle Route (Wiślana Trasa Rowerowa) is meant to link the Beskid Mountains with the Baltic: it starts at Wisła Uzdrowisko railway station and is ultimately to end on Sobieszewo Island in Gdańsk. The planned length is around 1,200 km along the Vistula, through eight provinces. The route is only partly finished, though – today the best riding is on the sections in Silesia, Lesser Poland, Kuyavia-Pomerania and Pomerania.

History: from an idea to the embankments

The idea dates from around 1995 and came from MP Grażyna Staniszewska. The first finished section, in Silesia, was signposted in spring 2007. In 2014 the route opened in Kuyavia-Pomerania – along both banks of the Vistula, 450 km in total – and around 5,000 cyclists joined the opening rides. Since that same year the law has allowed cycle routes on flood embankments, and in 2015–2016 most of the Lesser Poland sections were built. Today 215 of more than 230 km there are ready to ride.

The Silesian section: 79 km from Wisła to Dankowice

According to the Silesian Tourist Organisation, the Silesian part is 79 km long: Wisła – Ustroń (8.5 km) – Skoczów (20 km) – Drogomyśl (30 km) – Chybie (45 km) – Goczałkowice Reservoir dam (59 km) – Czechowice-Dziedzice (68 km) – Dankowice (79 km). It is waymarked with R4 signs: an orange plate with a black bicycle and the route logo. Cycle paths make up 31% of the section, asphalt public roads 53% and unpaved tracks 16%. From Wisła to Ochaby Wielkie you ride mostly close to the river on cycle paths; further on, from Drogomyśl to Dankowice, quiet local roads prevail.

Good to know

• The route is intended not only for cyclists but also for runners, and in winter for cross-country skiers.
• In Lesser Poland it runs past Oświęcim, Skawina, Kraków and Niepołomice to Szczucin, largely on asphalt along the Vistula embankments.
• In Pomerania it is signposted as EuroVelo 9 / WTR, with links to railway stations marked R9.
• In the Świętokrzyskie, Subcarpathian, Lublin and Masovian provinces the route is still at the concept or design stage.

Tripto tips

For a first trip, choose a finished section: the Silesian one (one day, starting at Wisła station) or the Lesser Poland stretch along the embankments around Kraków. A road bike will cope on the asphalt embankments, but on the unpaved stretches a trekking or gravel bike is better. Check for disruption notices before you go – in Silesia, railway reconstruction may temporarily make the level crossings in Drogomyśl and Chybie harder to pass.