Poland: Trekking Through the Breathtaking Tatra Mountains

The Tatra mountains hadn’t even been on my radar when I first started planning this trip, but boy am I glad that my plans were flexible and I had chance to go!

After meeting up with my friend Aga, and running the Wrocław half marathon on a whim, we headed to the south of Poland and towards a town called Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra mountains.

Holy smokes. Not sure I can find the words to write this blog. Maybe I should just let the pictures do the talking for me…

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Morskie Oko

The first day in the Tatra mountains, we were still aching from the half marathon so we decided to have a slightly more chilled day and go for a recovery walk (or so I thought!).

We headed to Morskie Oko just outside of Zakopane (thanks for the recommendation Patrycja!), which is a lake whose name translates to “Eye of the Sea”. The lake is the largest and fourth deepest in the Tatra mountains and is surrounded on all the sides by spectacular forests and snow-capped summits.

We’d stopped at a bakery in the morning and managed to get a couple of cinnamon buns, so we packed them in our bags and set off on our walk.

The walk is one of the most popular in the area so it was very busy, and when we got there I could see why! The surroundings were absolutely breathtaking and everything was so lush and green 😍

The track up to the lake is 8km, and by the time we had walked up, round the lake and back down again, we’d done 21.5 km 😱 so much for the chill day 😂

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Skrajny Granat

The day after our warm up hike, the real hiking could begin. We headed up a steep peak called Skrajny Granat, which is 2,228m high and part of Orla Perc (the Eagle Trail).

We stopped along the way for a coffee at a hiking lodge called Murowaniec, before starting our ascent.

Despite the warm weather, there was still a lot of snow around, but thankfully our path was more or less clear. I couldn’t get enough of the views. Everywhere I looked was just jaw-dropping.

Once at the summit, we hiked along part of the Eagle trail, where we had to wear helmets as there is a lot of loose rock.

It was quite late by the time we finished, and the sun was dipping in the sky, but we were treated to a gorgeous golden hour. We then stopped for a kebab on the way home, but after just the 23 kms of hiking we felt like we deserved it!

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Slovakia – Kôprovski štít

Where we were staying in the Tatra mountains was very close to Slovakia, so we took a day trip over the border to go for a hike.

It was another stunning day, and we set off on a trail that would take us up Kôprovski štít – another peak over 2,200m.

When we got to the top, we literally felt like we were on top of the world! We sat at the top for ages just taking in the scenery.

It was another really long day, with a further 20km under our belts, but worth every second 🥰

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Czerwone Wierch

After a rainy day and a proper rest where we just chilled in Zakopane, we headed out on our final Tatra hike – Czerwone Wierch. This is the name given to the ridge that connects four peaks and runs right along the border between Poland and Slovakia.

Once again, we were blessed by stunning sunshine so we set off and hiked up to the ridge.

It was a steep hike up, and very hot 🥵, but once we were at the top we had an amazing stroll with a bit of scrambling along the ridge.

Just the 18km this time, but we had to get back to watch the Poland game, obvs 🇵🇱

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I’m not sure I can describe how amazing this week has been 🥰

It’s the most beautiful location and we had the most amazing weather. To be able to explore these parts has been unreal. Exactly why I wanted to take this trip.

And as for the company, it was lovely to spend some quality time with my friend, even if I did spend the whole time embarrassing her with the most cringey sayings 🤣🤣🤣 Plus, it was nice to have my very own photographer / translator / chauffeur for a while 😝

Thanks pal ❤️

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Travel Stats:

• Days: 52
• Countries: 13 (🇫🇷🇧🇪🇳🇱🇩🇪🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪🇫🇮🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇸🇰)
• Distance driven: 6,153miles (9,902 km)
• Distance hiked: 140 miles (225 km)
• Half marathon PBs: 1 🏅