discover ZAKOPANE with ALTIUS TRAVEL AGENCY

ZAKOPANE

• when to come
• how to get here
• tourist information
• health
• art & culture
• Zakopane city plan

ACCOMMODATION

• guest rooms
• apartments
• cottages
• villas for rent
• lodges B&B
• hotels * and **
• hotels*** and ****

The TATRAS

• the shelters
• hiking
• climbing
• useful links

SKI in Zakopane

• easy slopes
• red & black slopes
• Kasprowy Wierch
• SKI TOURS
• SKI SCHOOL
• useful links

WINTER in Zakopane

• snowmobiling
• sleigh rides
• husky rides
• day trips

SUMMER in Zakopane

• DAY TRIPS
• offroad rides (ATV & 4x4)
• rafting on Dunajec
• biking trails
• Zakopane for KIDS

OTHER OFFERS:

• INCENTIVE an offer for the busines travel
• STAG WEEKENDS for active STAGs nd HENs
• WALKS & TRIPS our suggestions for easy walks and one day bus trips
• PHOTO GALLERY Zakopane and Tatras on the pics
• KRUPOWKI website about Zakopane's pedestrian centre
• webcamera LIVE!

THE TATRAS:

The Tatras are Poland's only alpine-type mountains, indeed forming the highest part of the huge transboundary arc that is SE Europe's Carpathian chain. They cover just 785 km2, being only 57 km long in a straight line, and as little as 19 km wide. Yet they have a true mountain feel about them, rising to their highest elevation at 2654m Gerlach, on the Slovakian side. The Tatras are in turn surrounded by four historico-geographical regions, of Podhale, Orava, Liptov and Spis, and are themselves conventionally divided into the Western Tatras, High Tatras and White Tatras. As has been implied, they form part of the state border between Poland and Slovakia that leaves just one-fifth (175 km2) on the Polish side, albeit with several fragments of extreme beauty and a highest summit - the north-western apex of Rysy - at an impressive 2499 m a.s.l. ***

The climate here is that of mountains in the temperate zone, and there are marked high-mountain features. Snow covers the higher slopes, ridges and peaks for 7-8 months of the year and a strong (warm) föhn-type wind called the halny blows at regular intervals. The mountain valleys have a host of brooks whose courses total some 175-km on the Polish side. There are places where these pour over lips of rock, creating waterfalls several tens of metres high. Valleys and cirques higher up hold tarns, which owe their existence to the massive glaciers once present here. In turn, in the Western Tatras, a quite different landscape reflects the penetration of water into cracks in the limestone rock, giving rise to a karst system that includes caves and kettle-holes among its landforms.