The tripto catalogue lists 26 tourist trails – long-distance hiking and cycling routes, Tatra ridges and short paths you can walk with children.
The Trail of the Eagles' Nests runs 163.9 km along red waymarks from Kraków to Częstochowa past Jurassic castles, from Ogrodzieniec to Olsztyn; the cycling version is about 190 km. The Main Beskid Trail covers about 500 km from Ustroń to Wołosate through every Beskid range, and the Main Sudeten Trail about 440 km from Świeradów-Zdrój to Prudnik. In the Western Tatras, Czerwone Wierchy is the most popular ridge without technical difficulties, unlike Orla Perć – the hardest trail in the Polish Tatras. The Pieniny Road, cut into the rock from Szczawnica through the Dunajec gorge, is closed to cars and suitable for a walk with a pushchair, and the Podlachia Stork Trail is a 412.5-kilometre bike route through stork villages and four national parks.
Most trails in the catalogue start in the Silesian region and Lesser Poland (a handful each); the rest run through the Sudetes, West Pomerania and Podlachia.
In practice: long trails are done in stages – for a single day, pick a 15–25 km section. Trails are free except in national parks: the Tatras require a park ticket (11 zł) and Bory Tucholskie 6 zł. Set out early for the Tatra ridges and check the forecast and TOPR mountain rescue bulletins; dogs are not allowed in the Tatra National Park. The best mountain season is June to October.
Hiking & tourist trails
Podzamcze
The red-marked Trail of the Eagles' Nests links Kraków with Częstochowa over 163.9 km, winding between the limestone outcrops of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, also known as the Polish Jura. Along the way it passes medieval castles and wat…
Hiking & tourist trails
Ustroń
The Main Beskid Trail (Główny Szlak Beskidzki, or GSB) is Poland's longest mountain trail: a red-blazed route of roughly 500 km (310 miles) running from Ustroń in the Silesian Beskids to Wołosate (pronounced "vo-woh-SAH-teh") in the Bieszc…
Hiking & tourist trails
Świeradów-Zdrój
The red-blazed trail across the Polish Sudetes passes Śnieżka and Śnieżnik but does not climb to their summits. That is a legacy of communist times, when the border zone was tightly guarded and the waymarks were kept away from the frontier…
Hiking & tourist trails
Kościelisko
The Czerwone Wierchy ("Red Peaks", roughly "cher-VO-neh VYEH-rkhih") are the most popular ridge walk in the Western Tatras, a chain of four summits linked by a red-marked trail with views reaching the High Tatras. The summits are Ciemniak…
Hiking & tourist trails
Szczawnica
The Pieniny Road (Polish: Droga Pienińska, say "DRO-gah pyeh-NEEN-skah") is a car-free path carved into the cliffs of the Dunajec River gorge, linking the Polish spa town of Szczawnica with the village of Červený Kláštor in Slovakia. Nearl…
Hiking & tourist trails
Białowieża
The red markers of the Podlaskie Stork Trail lead cyclists through a land where storks nest in almost every village – from Lake Hańcza and the viaducts of Stańczyki to the Białowieża Forest. Work on the trail began in 2002; it links four n…
Hiking & tourist trails
Świeradów-Zdrój
The red-blazed trail across the Polish Sudetes passes Śnieżka and Śnieżnik but does not climb to their summits. That is a legacy of communist times, when the border zone was tightly guarded and the waymarks were kept away from the frontier…
Hiking & tourist trails
Zakopane
Orla Perć ("Eagle's Path," roughly "OR-lah PERCH") is the most famous and widely considered the hardest marked hiking trail in the Polish Tatra Mountains: a red-marked ridge route between the Zawrat and Krzyżne passes, crossing Kozi Wierch…
Hiking & tourist trails
Podzamcze
The red-marked Trail of the Eagles' Nests links Kraków with Częstochowa over 163.9 km, winding between the limestone outcrops of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, also known as the Polish Jura. Along the way it passes medieval castles and wat…
Hiking & tourist trails
Kościelisko
The Czerwone Wierchy ("Red Peaks", roughly "cher-VO-neh VYEH-rkhih") are the most popular ridge walk in the Western Tatras, a chain of four summits linked by a red-marked trail with views reaching the High Tatras. The summits are Ciemniak…
Hiking & tourist trails
Szczawnica
The Pieniny Road (Polish: Droga Pienińska, say "DRO-gah pyeh-NEEN-skah") is a car-free path carved into the cliffs of the Dunajec River gorge, linking the Polish spa town of Szczawnica with the village of Červený Kláštor in Slovakia. Nearl…
Hiking & tourist trails
Ustroń
The Main Beskid Trail (Główny Szlak Beskidzki, or GSB) is Poland's longest mountain trail: a red-blazed route of roughly 500 km (310 miles) running from Ustroń in the Silesian Beskids to Wołosate (pronounced "vo-woh-SAH-teh") in the Bieszc…
Hiking & tourist trails
Święta Katarzyna
The red-marked trail from Gołoszyce to Kuźniaki is the backbone of hiking in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains): it crosses Łysica and Łysa Góra, the boulder fields known as gołoborza, Święty Krzyż and Święta Katarzyna, an…
Hiking & tourist trails
Częstochowa
The Kraków-Częstochowa Jura is a limestone upland between Kraków and Częstochowa where a bike lets you see several castles, rock towers and gorges in a single day. It is also Poland's largest karst area – there are about 900 caves between…
Hiking & tourist trails
Podzamcze
Red markers showing a bicycle on a white background lead across the whole Kraków-Częstochowa Jura – from Kraków to Częstochowa, along a chain of medieval strongholds known as the Eagles' Nests. The Eagles' Nests Cycle Trail is almost 190 k…
Hiking & tourist trails
Bielsko-Biała
The Small Beskids Trail (Mały Szlak Beskidzki) is 137 kilometres of red waymarks from Straconka in Bielsko-Biała to Luboń Wielki in the Island Beskids. Once known as the Northern Trail, it is the fourth-longest trail in the Polish Carpathi…
Hiking & tourist trails
Białowieża
The red markers of the Podlaskie Stork Trail lead cyclists through a land where storks nest in almost every village – from Lake Hańcza and the viaducts of Stańczyki to the Białowieża Forest. Work on the trail began in 2002; it links four n…
Hiking & tourist trails
Sułów
The cycle path along the former narrow-gauge railway is roughly 20 km of flat riding in the Barycz Valley, laid on the embankment of the dismantled Żmigród–Milicz District Railway. The stretch from Sułów via Pracze, Postolin and Milicz to…
Hiking & tourist trails
Charzykowy
The Seven Lakes Stream (Struga Siedmiu Jezior, roughly "STROO-gah SHYED-myoo YEH-zhor") is a short, winding waterway in Bory Tucholskie National Park in northern Poland. Over 13.9 km it strings seven glacial lakes together like beads befor…
Hiking & tourist trails
Białowieża
In the Stara Białowieża forest tract, about a kilometre from Pogorzelce, wooden boardwalks lead between ancient oaks, each named after a Polish king, a Lithuanian grand duke or a queen. This is the Trail of the Royal Oaks and Lithuanian Du…
Hiking & tourist trails
Sułoszowa
The yellow-marked trail from Chrzanów to Pieskowa Skała strings together the small valleys north-west of Kraków – limestone gorges with rocks up to 100 m high. The Jurassic Valleys Trail, named after John Paul II, is about 90 km long and c…
Hiking & tourist trails
Stara Wieś
The red-marked Wieluń Jura Trail runs from Częstochowa to Wieluń and is usually given as 113 km long (some sources say 112 or 106.5 km). It continues the Eagles' Nests Trail – both start on the Old Market Square in Częstochowa – but has a…
Hiking & tourist trails
Międzyzdroje
The red-marked Coastal Trail follows the entire Polish Baltic coast: from the German border at Świnoujście to Żarnowiec, a distance of 377.8 km. It runs along beaches, dune ridges, clifftops and coastal forest, passing two national parks,…
Hiking & tourist trails
Susiec
The blue-marked Szlak Szumów ("Trail of the Rapids") is the loop most often recommended in the Susiec area. Over roughly 16 km it takes in almost everything central Roztocze is known for: a waterfall on the Jeleń, fir-lined ravines, an ear…
Hiking & tourist trails
Piekary Śląskie
Two of the region's long-distance trails, laid out by the local guide and priest Jerzy Pawlik, run through Piekary Śląskie: the red Polish Hussars' Trail and the blue Silesian Insurgents' Trail. Within the town they are joined by shorter r…
Hiking & tourist trails
Częstochowa
Eight days in the saddle from Olszanica on the edge of Kraków to Częstochowa, with nights in riding stables and views of the ruined Eagles' Nests castles – that is how the mountain riding committee of PTTK, the Polish Tourist and Sightseei…
Hiking & tourist trails
Zalesie
Twenty-one kilometres of forest roads at 750–1,000 m above sea level circle Mogielica, the highest peak of the Beskid Wyspowy range (1,170 m). In winter this is a groomed cross-country ski trail; in summer it complements the hiking, cyclin…
Hiking & tourist trails
Srebrna Góra
Srebrna Góra Enduro Trails is a bike park on the slopes around Srebrna Góra Fortress – the land around the Prussian stronghold, and even some of its structures, has been adapted for downhill mountain-bike trails. You ride among 18th-centur…
Hiking & tourist trails
Krynica-Zdrój
Krynica-Zdrój has its own network of mountain bike trails: eight themed loops totalling 125 km, named after the town's mineral springs. All start from the same spot – on the promenade just below the tourist information office – and all are…
Hiking & tourist trails
Limanowa
From Limanowa, a county town in the heart of the Island Beskids (Beskid Wyspowy), ten cycling routes described by the town set off, plus three shorter rides in the Gorce Mountains. The loops range from 16 to 59 km and mostly follow paved r…
The Main Beskid Trail – about 500 km of red waymarks from Ustroń to Wołosate. The Main Sudeten Trail is about 440 km.
The trails themselves are free, but some national parks charge entry: 11 zł in the Tatra National Park (reduced 5.50 zł) and 6 zł in Bory Tucholskie National Park.
A short, flat one: the Pieniny Road from Szczawnica, the cycle path in the Barycz Valley or the short Royal Oaks Trail in Białowieża (about 500 m).
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.