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1. You can travel to Krakow either by bus: 07.30 am or 11.20am: 14zl each way, 90 minute trip to Central Bus Station just north of the Main Square, the last return bus leaving Krakow at 20.00 (but you must check this yourselves when you arrive there) 2. OR by train, a 3 hour trip (!) leaving Raba Wyzna at 10.40, arriving at 13.30 and the return train leaving Krakow at 14.40, arriving Raba Wyzna 15.30 3. OR our driver can take you (2-6 people) one way to Krakow for 100zl 4. OR our driver can take you and bring you back, waiting in Krakow for you. You can leave him at Carrefour and take the tram into the centre and back (4zl) and find him in the car park where you left him (350zl between 2-6 people, up to 12 hours door to door) 5. OR he can drive you into the centre and wait in the parking beside the Main Square so you can return to the car with shopping bags and so on. 400zl between 2-6 people, up to 12 hours door to door. 6. OR if you have an evening flight back to the UK, our driver can return you to Balice airport free of extra charge, and you can leave your bags in the left luggage lockers outside, suitcase size 8zl/24hr ( http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/20/46/22/Baggage-lockers ). The shuttle train to Krakow Central Station costs 8zl and you can buy your ticket on board. http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/3/176/35/en 7. OR you may decide to spend either your first night or your last night at a hotel in Krakow. There is so much evening entertainment available, that it’s well worth while. If so, we are happy to collect or return you to the airport but only taxis can enter the centre of the city so we advise you to travel with luggage by taxi between Krakow centre and the airport. Once in Krakow centre, there is so much to see! We highly recommend taking a horse drawn carriage trip around the centre for an hour: you will be taken through the streets surrounding the Main Square (Stary Rynek), past the Castle (Wawel) and through the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz). There are shopping centres next to the Main Station and south of Kazimierz, and the Main Square hosts market stalls and the Corn Market in the middle. Cafes and restaurants ring the Main Square with outdoor seating, and all sorts of entertainments take place in the Square throughout the year. There are many churches and museums all over Krakow, but as most guests intend to visit the Wawel Castle, please note that the Wawel Cathedral and some other exhibits are shut on Mondays. http://www.krakow.pl/en/ |
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Day tour of churches in Podhale If a group of you are interested in art, architecture and seeing as much of Podhale as possible by car, then this day trip is your choice. 350zl between 2 – 6 people, we will take you on a round trip, visiting a selection of churches, both wooden and of particular artistic interest. Rdzawka, Ludzmierz, Nowy Targ, Lesnica, Koscielisko, Bachledowka, Dzianisz, Chocholow and Spytkowice are on the list but we may either spot more on the way, or call it a day after 6. Your call. We'll be driving across most of Podhale so we'll make sure you choose a day with good weather and you will get so many beautiful photos. If you would like to hear Mass at a particular church, let me know and we will arrange the day accordingly. The trip will take us east, south, west and then north through Podhale and a stop for lunch in Zakopane is usual. |
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This is a lovely walk, following a marked trail south from the chaplet on the lane outside Morawczyna. We’ll lend you well marked maps before we drop you off (no charge for taking you to the start of this walk) so you won’t get lost. Running gently downhill between fields, you are facing the Tatra Mountains all the way down to the plain so you’ll have beautiful scenery all the way. Local people will probably be working in the fields, so remember to greet them: “Szczęść Boże!” to which they will reply “Daj Boże!” Passing through the village of Krauszow, you join the country lane which takes you on into Ludzmierz. Visit the Sanktuarium at Ludzmierz church and the beautiful church gardens with the statue of Jan Pawel II. We can collect you here, or, alternatively, you can walk on another 10 minutes down to the main road, turn left towards Nowy Targ, and about 10 minutes along the road, as you come into the forested area either side of the main road, you will see a signpost right, to Goralskie Strawa. This is a beautiful restaurant with traditional Goral indoor bars, and an outdoor terrace bar, but it is in the middle of an old industrial estate so the approach to it is very odd, but worth finding, especially for apple cake and coffee after a walk. Again, we can collect you here, ata charge of 50zl for the car, so between 2-6 of you, or you can return to the main road, and walk 10 minutes towards Nowy Targ and catch a train back to Raba Wyzna and home. The trains leave Nowy Targ for Raba Wyzna at 14.54 and 17.56, and take about 25 minutes to get to Raba Wyzna, with 3 stops in between. A single adult ticket costs 5zl. |
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Babia Gora and Spytkowice wooden church We’ll drive you out through Spytkowice and Jablonka (on Wednesdays, you can combine this walk with a visit to Jablonka market), to the beginning of the marked trails at the edge of the forest above Lipnica Gorna, and armed with maps, you can either go west across the border into Slovakia, then climb north east up the steep side of Babia Gora to the summit, or you can take the track that ascends directly north through the forest up to the summit ridge. Continue along the marked track across the summit ridge heading east, and descend to the picnic area and car park above Zubrzyca Gorna where we will be waiting for you. Or, after your climb, you can walk down to the Ethnological Museum at Zubrzyca Gorna, and we will collect you from there. We charge 200zl for this full day trip which can also include Spytkowice Church, Garden Centre and Carpentry Shop. http://www.babia.pl/ |
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Raba Wyzna is quite a big village now, with some 2000 houses spread along the valley and up the slopes either side. This is a family village, with only one bar: the local people are very keen on church although in a family, relaxed way. You can attend mass any day of the week at 07.00am or 17.00pm, and on Sundays there are masses throughout the day every 90 minutes. You can buy just about anything in Raba Wyzna. Five minutes down the road, our little shopping centre has a very well-stocked supermarket, with, for example, over 50 different vodkas for you to choose from. In the same block you will find toiletries and makeup, clothes and jewelry, household supplies and gifts, household linen and shoes, shoes, shoes! And there are other shops around the village selling everything from sewerage piping to sewing needles. The shop assistants are always happy and helpful, especially when they realize you are a guest at Raba 500. |
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In this 400 year old wooden church is a Goral folk museum, with a wall in a cupboard full of people’s teeth, and dedicated to St Apollonia, the patron saint of toothache. If your child loses a baby tooth whilst staying with us, we will take you to the church and s/he can stick the tooth in the wall with all the others. The nave of the church was painted with water colours some 200 years ago by the priest and his helper. Really worth seeing! Marbling at it’s best. In the spring, the ‘palms’ made by local children for Palm Sunday are on display, some of them 6-7 metres tall. |
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We have a wide range of maps showing the various tracks and trails people follow to climb the Tatra Mountains. Giewont, the sleeping knight, has a cross on the summit so something to head for. You travel to Zakopane (10zl return by train, or 50zl each way, between 2 – 6 people with our driver) then take a bus, taxi or horse drawn cart up to Kuznice in the National Park, entrance fee between 2 and 5zl depending on the time of year. From here, it takes 3 to 4 hours, following tracks of varying steepness, to ascend to the cross on the summit. There’s some rock climbing involved so you’ll need good footwear, but you don’t need to be a mountain climber to follow the path. Set off early, take suitable clothing (it can easily be 15 degrees colder than Raba Wyzna on the summit of Giewont) and footwear, water and a snack. The Cross was erected in memory of Pope Jan Pawel II, who regularly walked and skied in the Tatra Mountains. Fantastic views! Don’t forget your camera. If our driver is collecting you from Zakopane, make sure you arrange a pick-up time and place, and take a mobile phone with you in case you are delayed, or in difficulties. http://www.gory-szlaki.pl/giewont.htm |
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The Sanctuary is situated in buildings of the nunnery of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, which was founded in 1891 as A. Lubomirski's Foundation for girls and women in need of moral renewal. In this Monastery, in the period between world wars, lived and died Saint M. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938). Through Saint Faustina Lord Christ gave the message of the Divine Mercy to the Church and to the whole world. It sheds light on the mystery of the Divine Mercy, calls to put trust in God and have a merciful attitude towards neighbours and also to proclaim and pray for Divine Mercy for whole world through practicing new forms of worship of the Divine Mercy (the Divine Mercy Image, the Divine Mercy Sunday, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Hour of Mercy). You can visit the Sanktuarium during a trip to Krakow, or you can ask our driver to take you there for a couple of hour’s visit before returning to the airport for an afternoon flight back to the UK (50zl supplement to your free airport transfer). See Krakow Centre for costs on traveling to Krakow. http://www.milosierdzie.pl/ |
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A full day out, our driver will take a group of 2 – 6 of you to spend the day at Kalwaria for 350zl. The Sanctuary of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is located about 40 km. southwest of Krakow, and 15 km. east of Wadowice. In 1999, the Sanctuary of the Passion and of the Madonna of Kalwaria was added by UNESCO to its World Heritage List, with the following motivation: “Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a cultural site of great beauty and of spiritual importance. Its natural setting, which contains some symbolic places of worship related to the Passion of Jesus Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary, has remained almost unchanged since the 17th century. Still today, it is a place of pilgrimage”. The Sanctuary of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska consists of a basilica in baroque style dedicated to the Madonna of the Angels, a convent of the minor Franciscan friars (called affectionately in Poland bernardini) and a series of baroque and mannerist style chapels situated in an area of six kilometres, dedicated to the Passion of Jesus and to the life of the Madonna. Click on this link to see the map of the devotional walk around Kalwaria, including the gardens of the Stations of the Cross. http://www.sacrimonti.net/User/index.php?PAGE=Sito_en/kalwaria_zebrzydowska_geog |
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Chocholow to Zakopane centre walk You can either get the bus to Chocholow from Raba Wyzna centre – about 8zl each - we supply you with maps so you’ll know where you are - or our driver can take you, 2-6 people, for 50zl. Our driver, or the bus, will drive south from Raba Wyzna over the ridge and across the plain where in summer you will see storks and their babies in the nests perched on roof tops and telephone posts. Ask Staszek to stop for photos anytime. Chocholow, a 400 year old wooden village, is the start of your walk: can set off across the field track towards the eastern end Gubalowka Ridge. Before you trek off, there is a general store in Chocholow if you want to stock up on water and so on. Visit the imposing stone church, and on the main street across from the church car park where our driver will leave you, is Chocholow Museum, a wooden house that has been maintained in the style in which it was first lived in, where central heating is a little wooden panel in the kitchen ceiling to let smoke out if the room gets too hot, and contraception is a bed for the husband in the barn. The track takes you south between fields in which, in summer, there will no doubt be local people raking hay. Your greeting is “Szczęść Boże!” to which they will reply “Daj Boże!” The track becomes a lane through the forest and up to a stunning view across Zakopane in the valley, to the Tatra Mountains. Walking east along the ridge will bring you to a lovely wooden restaurant at the top of the Szymoszkowa chair lift, on which you can take a ride down into the valley, where the horse drawn carts wait to take visitors into Zakopane centre for shopping and market, or to the church at Koscielisko where Pope Jan Pawel II was made Cardinal many years ago. The train home to Raba Wyzna leaves Zakopane at 17.33 from the Main Station, or you can pre-arrange with our driver to collect you from the market pick-up point: 50zl between 2-6 people, home to Raba 500. |
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Picnic on Raba Gora and walk to wooden church above Rdzawka At Raba 500 we have phrase books and dictionaries you can use to write a shopping list of supplies required for a picnic up the hill in a forest glade on Raba Gora, above our house. You can walk into the village and make your purchases, then take the Jan Pawel II marked path (and our map) and wander up the hill past the village cross, into the forest and along to the picnic area. A good walk, but not too far for children, although we can drive you up the hill as far as the forest edge if some of you are not keen on up hill walking. Lovely views, take the camera, but do stay out of areas of untended long grass and weeds: there may be snakes. You can carry on along the Jan Pawel II marked path as far as Rdzawka village across the Zakopianka, then walk back via a visit to the wooden church above Rdzawka. Also, visit the art gallery on main road above Rokiciny Podhalanska, then the path bringing you down through the village with a short walk along the 958 back home. Or ring us from the church and we’ll collect you! |
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Spytkowice wooden church, garden centre & carpentry workshop About 10 minutes drive away, no charge for taking you there, is Spytkowice, the village over the ridge to the west. Here you can visit a beautiful old wooden church, and our local garden centre, Skalniak, which many guests like to wander around. Seeds are much cheaper here than in the UK and take very little room in your luggage so take a few Polish varieties back with you. Just along the road towards Skawa, is J Andrew, the carpentry workshop where, in the warehouse, they have a small showroom. You can buy all sorts of wooden toys, implements, souvenirs and decorations here, much cheaper than on the market stalls in Zakopane. |
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Wadowice is the town where Pope Jan Pawel II was born. Visit the house at 7 Koscielna St where the future Vicar of Christ was born and raised. The place has been turned into a museum and exhibits include the Wojtyla family's former possessions and family pictures as well as personal belongings of Father Karol Wojtyl, a rucksack, a cap, a prayer book, etc. and a collection of photographs from his three visits to Wadowice as the Pope. The building is situated near the baroque church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the central square. Also, the nearby church itself where the future John Paul II grew up in its shadow, was baptized a Catholic and later confirmed in it, served as an altar boy and prayed daily here before its miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The church's Gothic chancel dates from the 15th century while the late-Baroque nave and aisles were built in the 1790s. The left aisle contains a baptismal font where the baby Karol Wojtyla was baptized. Also the high school where young Karol Wojtyla was educated has remained in place. Our driver will take you there for a full day trip for 350zl between 2 – 6 people. http://www.wadowice.com/news.php or we have guide books for Wadowice at Raba 500. |
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On Thursday and Saturday mornings, the market at Nowy Targ opens around 05.00am, starting to close around 13.00. The Thursday market has a livestock section with farmers offering pigs, sheep, horses, cows, goats and so on for sale. Get there by 08.00am to really enjoy this part of the market. Saturday market can claim to be the biggest street market in Europe, especially in summer. You can buy just about anything here, from hand made wrought iron products to ball gowns, potatoes to trees, hammocks to skis: really, just about anything. During the market, there are various food stalls selling open-air grilled meats and sausages. Or there are several very Polish cafes offering traditional local fare in traditional local surroundings. Try Rumcajs. Otherwise, you can take a short walk up into the Main Square of Nowy Targ, where, on Thursdays, the town museum is open in the middle of the square, and any day of the week, you can visit the Church of the Most Blessed Heart of Jesus which, behind the altar, has an beautiful white stone sculpture of the Last Supper. Also, don’t miss the best ice cream ever, available from the kiosk next to the bakery in the main square, west side. For New Year, the restaurants in the Square put on all-night parties, including a display in the Square. |
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Horse and cart ride to Morskie Oko lake Our driver will take you past Nowy Targ, then round the back lanes of Szaflary village, up and over to Lesnica, where you can stop and visit a beautiful wooden church. The gardens hold wonderful wooden statues representing the Stations of the Cross. Then on up into the Tatra Mountains through Lysa Polana Pass at the border with Slovakia, continuing on the Polish side of the border to the car park at the base of the National Park road up to Morskie Oko. Here, you pay a small entrance fee to the National Park (between 2 and 5zl depending on time of year), then climb on board a horse drawn cart (summer) or sledge (winter) for a 2 hour journey (25zl each way, either single or return) up the Tatra Mountains. It’s worth packing an inflatable cushion if you intend to take this trip. About a 30 minute walk below the lake, the cart will wait while you walk up and around the lake. It’s worth checking what time your cart descends of you have bought return tickets. There is a lake-side restaurant which serves wonderful apple cake. A glacier feeds the lake, so expect it to be noticeably colder than home – sometimes 10 to 15 degrees lower than at Raba Wyzna. Don’t wear sandals, and make sure children have something warm to put on and a pair of gloves for May/June snowball fights beside the glacier. Coming down, you can either take the cart again for a 1 hour descent, or walk down at your own pace. Our driver can wait for you in the car park, and return you to Raba Wyzna via Nowy Targ town centre square (300zl day trip for 2-6 people, up to 8 hour day trip). Otherwise, he can drop you off, and when you come down in the afternoon, there are tourist buses waiting in the car park to take you into Zakopane town centre, via the National Forest road along the base of the Tatras. The train back to Raba Wyzna leaves Zakopane at 17.33, or if you want to stay later, our driver can fetch up to 6 of you, either from the car park by the market, or outside the bus station (which ever suits you), for 50zl, or 80zl after 21.00. Or a taxi for up to 4 people from Zakopane to Raba Wyzna will cost about 200zl. http://www.gory-szlaki.pl/rysy.htm |
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Easter week at Raba 500 In Podhale, the week leading up to Easter is a very important time. From Palm Sunday to Easter Monday the churches are full several times a day for mass. We take our own palms to church on the Palm Sunday to be blessed by the priests, and in many villages, the children make palms at school the week before. Palms can be 6 to 7 metres tall, real works of art. At the wooden church museum in Rabka, the palms made by the local children are on display for most of the year. Every day of the week heralds special services, marking Christ's progress to His Rise on Easter Monday. On Good Friday and Easter Saturday, the churches are open day and night with the local fireman, and many ordinary people holding vigil over the representation of His Tomb. On Easter Saturday morning, everybody takes baskets of traditional foods to the church for blessing. the priest wields and enormous broomstick, dipped regularly into a bucket of Holy Water, and showers the entire congregation and their baskets of food. Easter Monday is the day when, traditionally, the celebrations begin with local men tipping buckets of water all over their womenfolk. |
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