We described in detail how we got to the Tatra Mountains and where we stayed in our previous article. And now we are already setting off on our first hike in the Tatras.
Before you go hiking, you need to purchase tickets for entry to the national park.
You can do this online and easily add the tickets to your phone wallet. We bought 7-day tickets and at the entrance simply showed the QR codes and continued on our way. A 7-day ticket for an adult costs 40 PLN, and for a child under 7 years old 20 PLN. The total for us was 100 PLN, which is a little over 21 euros.
By the way, on the website you can also pay for parking if you are planning to visit Morskie Oko.
We left the car in the parking lot before the entrance to the trail.
Now it is time to set off towards our first peak, Giewont. I will leave the Google Maps route for reference here. Keep in mind that Google only approximately indicates the time and distance, and the trails there are not very accurate. It is better to use the Trails Tatra Mountains app on your phone. It is much more convenient for planning routes, has color-coded trail difficulty markings, and much more. We talked about this in our first article.
The first place we reach is Wielka Polana Małołącka. There is a table for resting, benches for a break, an information board with a description of the place, and route options from this point. It is a very picturesque place where you can feel like a grain of sand surrounded by majestic mountains. Since we were there in summer, nature was in bloom and there were very beautiful flowers in the meadow. From this place you can either go directly to Giewont or first head to the Siklawica waterfall.
We decided to make a detour and go to the waterfall. The road from the meadow to the waterfall took about an hour. The trail was quite comfortable and went downhill. To be honest, we expected to see a large mountain waterfall, but it disappointed us a little. In addition, there were a lot of people there, so if you want a photo with the waterfall, it will most likely include a crowd of tourists as well.
If you are already tired and want something to eat, there is a café open here where you can get coffee, tea, and cocoa, and fast food such as pancakes, French fries, and nuggets. We did not check the prices because we always bring food from home for our hikes. It is not possible to have a comfortable rest here because there are too many tourists. Therefore, we did not stay long and decided to continue to the summit of Giewont.
