This Is Why You NEED To Visit Zakopane | Poland’s Unexpected Paradise
All right now hello and welcome we are in the south of Portland in a town called zakopane this place is absolutely incredible I’m not sure how well you can see those mountains there and there this place is stunning but anyway come along and explore it with me as always it’s
Been a while hasn’t it let’s Go Oh wow this place is absolutely incredible nearly everything you can see is coated in beautiful white snow but I’m going to start off being honest with you so this is a pretty popular place and just when we head over to the main street in a minute you’ll see that there
Are quite a lot of tourists even in the thick of winter but I I think if you’re from the UK or Western Europe you’ve probably got absolutely no idea that a place like this exists in Poland so we’re going to have a little wand around
I’ll show you a thing or two and it does get a lot better than this unfortunately the sun’s in the way so I can’t show you the most the best view uh but that’ll come in a minute so we’re going to have a little Wonder around I’ll try and
Teach you a thing or two perhaps and uh yeah you can come here for yourself but anyway let’s get started let’s Go All right so we’ve made it to the bottom of the Main Street which is just over there and I think it’s pronounced koki I’m not sure if I’ve got that right someone polish let me know in the comments polish is not my strong point but uh just before we do head up turning
Around we’ve got all of these sort of beautiful wooden style lodges uh which you’ll see throughout the video they are everywhere they’re absolutely stunning we’ve got this beautiful stream which runs all the way down through the Main Street probably comes from the mountains over that way and yeah so you can see
We’ got like this beautiful H in the background with all the snow on obviously so there’s plenty of sking and stuff like that which is probably why it’s such a popular place in winter and summer but anyway rambling on as always let’s H up the Main Street Ki see what
We find well it turns out that I lied I decided to actually head down towards the market instead where you can find interesting looking authentic Polish foods things like mold wine chimney cakes local handcrafted wooden utensils and if you do come and winter no out you’ll see plenty of reluctant parents
Ping their kids around on sledges and just down from the market there was also a cable core which you can take for 32 slotty or about6 up and down this will take you up the hill you can see in the background here where you can access ski
Slopes but also stop in some restaurants bars or cafes and enjoy the spectacular views of a zakupan looking towards incredible Alpine peaks in the background anyway it’s time to head up back towards Zupan’s Main Street on the way passing over an almost completely Frozen river which is perhaps unsurprising since since temperatures
Dropped as low as – 16 during my visit however the cold snow and ice really do add to the magical feeling you get in a beautiful place such as this during the winter months anyway I’ll try and stop getting distracted but no promises so we’ve got like these lovely again like I mentioned
These sort of wooden Lodgers where you’ve got sort of nice uh local restaurants and stuff but it is also quite commercialized with how many tourists there are as you can see next to a next to a TK and uh yeah so there are quite a lot of
People as well but we’re going to make our way street over a kilometer long which is crazy it takes over 10 minutes to get to the top I think so Wonder I’ll show you what’s there let’s go carrying on just off from the bottom of the main street there’s a lovely cute little
Church and then I find myself passing by more of the beautiful wooden Lodgers built in what is known as the Highlander style which is typical in the regions of zakupan heading further up I passed numerous cute little carts selling Polish foods and also the lovely stream which runs parallel to the High Street
I’ve also seemingly passed quite a few horse and carriages and a fair few icies hanging from building roofs too and then just here as well we’ve got what seems to be sort of the traditional wooden large but I think that’s absolutely stun it certainly is and one
Of my favorite things about this place however despite the more traditional style along the High Street you will also see it contrasted with a touch of modern globalization with popular brands such as Costa MD Donald’s and surprisingly Mountain Warehouse of course though you will also pass plenty of more traditional and authentic
Bakeries dessert shops and restaurants in which you will also typically find live performers accompanying your evening Meal in the main part of the Main Street you’ll also find a small modern shopping center which has enough shops to fulfill an outdoor adventurer’s dreams but I was also surprised to see a gallery of Steel figures Museum like the one I saw in Prague they make impressive cars iconic
Superheroes and more out of recycled scrap metal for £ 39 Lotty are around £750 I’d say it’s probably worth a look in and as I get sick of the tourists I decide to take a little wander in a random Direction and quickly find myself pretty much all alone wandering through
A quiet park with some cute little duckies but honestly I just can’t get over it when it’s all blanketed in fresh snow it really is something else And also just a heads up you’ll find these euronet cash machines all over the the main street they were absolutely flee here so they’re basically just a scam so don’t use them so make sure you bring cash either just bring pans or zotti and if you bring pans you can
Exchange it at the proper exchange places there all right so we’ve just pretty much made our way to the top of the main street so I’m just going to head back for some lunch so I’ll see you in a couple minutes for lunch I just headed into shabka which is a great Supermarket
You’ll find all over Poland I got this ready meal and pancakes for quite cheap and then headed back out in the evening to check out the tatra museum inside you can get a bit of a glimpse into what life was like in this region of Poland historically and then
Heading up the stairs there’s a little section of geology and rocks but more interestingly some pretty cool exhibits of the wildlife here in Poland with cool animals like the Shamir the lynx w Wes and of course the big scary brown bear of which there are only around 150 in
Poland all found roughly within this region all right so to be honest that museum probably wasn’t really worth it considering it cost me nearly 5 but anyway all the shops and all that rubish aside the stuff we really want to see I’m going to teleport back in time and
Bring you along with me on my adventure to moso one of the most popular walks in the Tess in the mountains here in zakupan so let’s fast forward to yesterday like I I said zakopane isn’t a special place because of the shops and the High Street it’s so much more than
That it’s the scenery the sloping Hills and the ski slopes the incredible mountain peaks in the background and the Beautiful delicate coating of fluffy white snow all over the landscape but also the possibility of Adventure which excites me the most and I think it’s about time we head out so I
Can show you why I think you should really be visiting zakupan so I’m going to bring you along on the most popular walk near zakupan it’s something I would absolutely recommend you do if you do decide to visit the walk brings you to a beautiful place called Moko which is an absolutely
Stunning Glacier Lake but of course in Winter it tends to freeze over and also before I bring you along I really don’t want you to think that zakupan is just a winter destination either this is a little sneak peek of what it looks like in summer it’s like being in a
Completely different place so I’d recommend visiting any time of year but anyway let’s get started first of all you can drive if you have a car but if not you want to head to zakopane Coach Station which is right next to the train station you’ll see cute little buses
Like these with more skoko written on it should be about 15 slotty or3 there and 15 slot back just make sure you have cash the bus ride will last for about an hour taking you deeper into the mountains and I would absolutely recommend getting the first bus so that
You can avoid the crowds the bus will terminate at this car park here and then you go to to this desk which is the entry into the national park it costs around five Lotty which is only about1 and now we can begin the walk the route you want to follow is this red
Route and you’ll see the markens all the way along the trail and to be honest with you some may call this a hike as it can take around 2 hours just to get up to the lake including around 8 km distance of walking and approximately
500 M of elevation just to get to MOS Kyoko however the whole route you’re walking on a road and the incline is pretty gradual so even if if you AR that fit or much of a hiker you can always just take your time on the way up but
This walk is so worth the effort and an absolutely must do while you’re in zakupan I mean the views speak for themselves this place really is Paradise and it may seem a bit obvious but if you are visiting in Winter make sure you wrap up with plenty of
Layers as you start getting nearer to the lake making your way through most of the thick Alpine Forest the landscape starts to open up little by little offering views beyond what you can imagine And finally it looks like things are open up now I think it’s just there we are so Close All right and finally after what seems like I’ve been walking forever we finally made It wow wow wow so here we are Moko I believe it means blue eye and polish and we on it right now on top of it I can’t imagine how thick the ice is probably quite thick cuz it’s been about I think last night it was about- 16- 17
Overnight absolutely freezing hence why I’ve got all of this stuff on and I’m dressed like I’m going to rob a bank but yeah so we’ve got we’re in the tatras mountain range I believe which is just on the Polish border right in the very bottom in the South and uh so I think
Just over there at Slovakia I think from what I can remember but just look at like all the snow coated trees this is an absolute Winter Wonderland but any I think can have a little Wonder across the lake and uh see what it looks like from the other side we’ve also got this
Mountain hut just there which I believe you can stay in but you probably have to beot quite far in advance maybe uh definitely in summer in Winter I’m not so sure maybe go and get some food there later on and maybe stop in the warmth
And have a little rest but for now we’re going to have a little walk across the lake this really is a special part of the world and one you perhaps wouldn’t expect to find in Poland anyway I think this place sort of sells itself doesn’t
It so I’ll hope one day you can come and visit too but just before we finish off if you want to make a bit more of a walk out of it you can do a loop around the lake or there’s plenty of other Trails which lead off from the lake also and
Thankfully this little Hut just by MOS Kyoko is also perfect if you want to stop off have a rest and have some food or a Drink anyway sadly it’s time to head back down but if you need a reason to come down early first thing on the first Bo people piling in now so get yourself here before everyone else does and just before I round off I’d like to make a little note of how
Accessible zaco Pani is from kco it’s only around a 2-hour drive and you can easily get a Flix bus for around £8 so bear that in mind aside from that I’m sure there is so much more to this region of zakopane than I’ve covered in this video but I
Hope I’ve at least given you a brief idea of how beautiful this place is and again it is just as stunning in summer if you enjoyed this video you may want to come along and join me on my adventure to CCO which I’ll leave a little teaser trailer for now anyway
Thank you so much for watching as always take care and I’ll see you Soon
Welcome to another adventure, this time we’re in the South of Poland in a beautiful town called Zakopane, sat at the feet of the Tatra Mountains, which are part of the wider Carpathian mountain range which stretches across Eastern Europe.
Join me as I show you around Zakopane, and specifically the Main Krupówki Street in terms of what Zakopane offers regarding shops, restaurants and architecture. But more importantly the wider landscape, stunning views and adventure that Zakopane presents.
Within this video I’ll also bring you along into the mountains on the most popular walk in Zakopane, up to Morskie Oko. If you have any questions about this trip, just ask me in the comments!
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As always, a huge thanks to Scott Buckley for his incredible compositions, used in this video:
https://youtube.com/c/ScottBuckley
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If you enjoyed this video, you’ll love my other city vlogs across Europe:
Newcastle upon Tyne, England:
Brasov, Romania:
Sofia, Bulgaria:
Madrid, Spain:
Wroclaw, Poland:
Gdańsk, Poland:
Riga, Latvia (summer):
Riga, Latvia (winter):
Tallinn, Estonia:
Prague, Czech Republic:
9 Comments
Less finger pointing please. Your words are enough. Beautiful area! Thanks!
Point as much as you like mate. Your videos your way. Love them all. Especially Newcastle. You're very talented.
The wooden mountain chalets are I think termed 'Dom Goralski"
We went end of November, such a amazing place. Really miss going. Brings it all back watching this video. Amazing video as always
morskie oko and tatra mountains are more beautiful summer than winter time, city of zakopane as well
Wow, it's amazing beautiful!
Great video! looking forward to Krakow!
Another stunning vid Ben 🎉 amazing stuff!
Great production