Zakopane

From Kuźnice up to a summit just under 1,987m on the Slovak border. Tickets are timed and sell out; buy online at pkl.pl days ahead.

Poland's most famous glacial lake. Bus to Palenica Białczańska, then a 9km walk up the paved road, or a horse cart if you must.

The pedestrian spine of town: oscypek grills, highlander bands, souvenir stalls and roughly half of Poland on a summer evening.

Na Gubałówkę 4. Two minutes up for the classic postcard panorama of the Tatra ridge, then walk back down through the meadows.

The gentlest of the great Tatra valley walks: a nearly flat 7km through limestone gorges to a mountain hut, then the same way back.

The quickest way in. Coaches and private minibuses run from Kraków's MDA station to Zakopane in about two to two and a half hours.

Direct trains run Kraków Główny to Zakopane in roughly three hours. Slower than the bus, but much more comfortable and scenic.

The road south from Kraków takes two hours off-peak and four on a sunny Sunday. Parking in town is scarce, paid and fiercely contested.

January to March for snow; June to September for hiking

April, May and late October, between the two seasons

Christmas to New Year and the February school holidays

Check the mountain webcams over breakfast, then get to Kuźnice early for the Kasprowy Wierch cable car before the queue builds.

Walk the ridge at the top for views deep into Slovakia, then ride back down or hike out through the Gąsienicowa valley.

A highlander karczma: żurek in a bread bowl, kwaśnica cabbage soup, and grilled oscypek cheese with cranberry jam.

The Tatra Museum on Krupówki, Villa Koliba's Zakopane Style rooms, then the carved wooden crosses of Pęksowy Brzyzek cemetery.

Oscypek from a Krupówki grill, then a karczma with a live highlander band and a glass of something plum-based.

Half an hour west: a whole village of 19th-century log houses, still lived in, with a large thermal bath complex on its edge.

A broad, easy valley famous for its crocus bloom in early spring. Walk or cycle the 8km up to the hut and back.