Liskove › Trip ideas › Cheap getaways in Poland for couples
33 ideas for a cheap getaway in Poland: cities you can reach by train, trails, lakes and small towns where you can see a lot without spending a fortune. Every place shows its budget and a practical tip. The best memories rarely depend on the price of the room anyway.
Dolina Pięciu Stawów at dawn
Tatra Mountains, Lesser PolandHike from Palenica Białczańska up Dolina Roztoki, past the Wielka Siklawa waterfall, to the highest mountain hut in the Polish Tatras. Stay the night and sit by the lake in the morning, before the first day hikers arrive.Beds at the hut go fast, especially in summer, so book well ahead.Matching: 33 ideas
Hike from Palenica Białczańska up Dolina Roztoki, past the Wielka Siklawa waterfall, to the highest mountain hut in the Polish Tatras. Stay the night and sit by the lake in the morning, before the first day hikers arrive.
💡Tip: Beds at the hut go fast, especially in summer, so book well ahead.
A lookout tower tops Lubań, and on a clear day it looks out over the Tatras, the Pieniny and Lake Czorsztyn. Bring a map and have a little contest to see who can name more peaks.
💡Tip: The shortest climb starts at Przełęcz Snozka in Kluszkowce, and a longer trail leads up from Krościenko nad Dunajcem.
Set off from Przełęcz Krowiarki while it is still dark and take the red trail over Sokolica to Diablak, the summit, to watch the sunrise. Then walk down via Przełęcz Brona to the mountain hut at Markowe Szczawiny.
💡Tip: The summit is windy even in summer, so pack warm layers and headlamps, and walk quietly at night, when the mountain belongs to the animals.
From Czarne in Wisła, walk a loop: up the Czarna Wisełka valley to the Przysłop hut, over Barania Góra, and down the Biała Wisełka valley past the Kaskady Rodła cascades. These two streams join to form the Vistula.
💡Tip: Start in the morning, since the loop takes several hours, and plan a long break at the Przysłop hut.
Hike the red trail from Krynica-Zdrój along the Jaworzyna ridge to Hala Łabowska and spend the night at the mountain hut there. Pack a deck of cards, because evenings up on the meadow are long and quiet.
💡Tip: Bring a headlamp, because it gets truly dark around the hut after nightfall.
Walk up Żar from Międzybrodzie Żywieckie, spread a blanket to one side of the launch site and watch the paragliders take off from the slope. From the top you can see Lake Międzybrodzkie and the peaks of Beskid Żywiecki.
💡Tip: Paragliders fly most on sunny, breezy days, so check the forecast before you go.
Walk from Karpacz, starting at the Wang church, to the Samotnia mountain hut on the shore of Mały Staw, a glacial lake, and stay the night. In the evening, once the day hikers leave, the lake goes completely quiet.
💡Tip: Buses run to Karpacz from Jelenia Góra, so you can leave the car at home.
Hala Izerska lies in the Izera Dark Sky Park, with almost no artificial light. Stay at the hut on the meadow, and on a clear night around the new moon, take a blanket outside and look for the Milky Way.
💡Tip: From the train station in Jakuszyce, a marked trail takes you to the meadow in two to three hours at an easy pace.
From Przełęcz Sokola, take the red trail up Wielka Sowa, the highest peak of the Owl Mountains, topped by a stone lookout tower. Snap a photo together by the tower, then come back each year to retake it.
💡Tip: The climb is gentle, so this route works in winter too.
Come to Ustka in late fall, when the beach is nearly empty and the sea runs high. Walk the promenade to the harbor, watch the waves from the shore, then warm up with a bowl of fish soup.
💡Tip: During a storm, stay off the breakwaters, because the waves can be dangerous.
On the cliff in Trzęsacz, a piece of wall is all that remains of a Gothic church that once stood far from the sea. See it from the viewing terrace, walk the beach to Rewal and return for sunset.
💡Tip: Come in fall or winter, when the ruins are quiet and the waves pound the shore.
Get up before dawn and bring a blanket and a thermos to the pier in Orłowo, where the sun rises over the Gulf of Gdańsk. Then walk the beach below the Orłowo Cliff before the crowds arrive.
💡Tip: In fall and winter the sun rises later, so catching dawn doesn’t mean getting up in the middle of the night.
Walk all the way around Lake Bachotek, a long lake with an island in the middle, on paths through the woods of the Brodnica Landscape Park. Rest on a beach along the way, then finish in Brodnica’s old town.
💡Tip: Set aside a whole day for the walk around the lake and pack some food.
Walk Piotrkowska Street from Plac Wolności and step into Pasaż Róży, a courtyard covered in a mosaic of mirror pieces. Then wander the side streets, take in the huge murals on tenement walls and pick a favorite together.
💡Tip: Piotrkowska runs for several kilometers, so plan a few café breaks along the way.
At Lublin Castle, find King Jagiełło, who paid for the paintings, among the Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes of the Holy Trinity Chapel. Then share warm cebularze, onion and poppy seed flatbreads, on a walk through the Old Town.
💡Tip: Bakeries all over town sell cebularze, and they are usually freshest in the morning.
Zamość was planned from scratch as a Renaissance ideal town, and it still shows. Circle the Great Market Square under the arcades and look for the ornate facades of the colorful Armenian houses.
💡Tip: Come back to the square after dark, when the town hall and houses look completely different in the lamplight.
Head down into Queen Jadwiga’s Ravine and walk between its tall loess walls under the trees. Then climb the Opatów Gate to its terrace for a view of the Old Town roofs and the wide Vistula.
💡Tip: Loess paths turn slick after rain, so wear shoes with solid tread.
Wander around Nikiszowiec, a brick mining estate over a century old, where the windows have red frames. Walk through the courtyards and past St. Anne’s Church, then order a Silesian lunch of roulade, dumplings and red cabbage.
💡Tip: City buses run to Nikiszowiec from downtown Katowice, so you will not need a car.
Przemyśl sits on hills above the San river, so it’s best seen from up high. Climb the Tatar Mound on Zniesienie Hill, spot the Old Town church towers, then walk down to the sloping market square.
💡Tip: Trains run to Przemyśl from Kraków and Rzeszów, and comfortable shoes help on the hills.
Chełmno is called the town of lovers because its parish church holds relics of St. Valentine. Walk along the medieval walls, then find the Chełmno rod, an old measure of length, on the back of the town hall.
💡Tip: A few hours are enough for the Old Town, so Chełmno pairs easily with a visit to Toruń.
Bike around the Milicz fish ponds on the marked roads and dikes, and take long breaks at the bird towers. Bring just one pair of binoculars and pass it back and forth every time something flies over the water.
💡Tip: You will see the most birds in spring and fall, in the morning or just before sunset.
Start at Brama Krakowska near Ojców, a rock gate beside the Spring of Love, and walk the Prądnik valley to Pieskowa Skała. The walk ends at Maczuga Herkulesa, or Hercules’ Club, a limestone rock wider at the top than at its base.
💡Tip: The valley gets crowded on weekends, so come on a weekday or early in the morning.
Take a city bus from Warsaw to Truskaw and follow a trail from there between pine-covered dunes. Stop for a moment and listen to how quiet it is just a few miles from a big city.
💡Tip: There are no shops or huts along the forest trails, so bring your own water and sandwiches.
Walk the boardwalk from Waniewo to Śliwno across the Narew wetlands. Cross the river channels on floating platforms, pulling them across together by hand, and from the lookout tower watch the river split into many branches.
💡Tip: The crossings are sometimes closed when the water is low or out of season, so check before you go.
Bring bikes and ride through Trześcianka, Soce and Puchły in the Narew valley, past wooden houses with colorful decorated shutters. Guess the color of the next shutters, and whoever guesses wrong more often buys ice cream.
💡Tip: Most houses are lived in, so admire them from the road and stay out of the yards.
Poland’s oldest open-air museum was founded in 1906 by a married couple, Teodora and Izydor Gulgowski. Wander past the cottages, the inn and the windmills, then sit by the lake and share memories of your grandparents’ homes.
💡Tip: Climb the nearby lookout tower too, above lakes that form a cross on the map.
From spring to late summer, Żywkowo has more storks than people, with nests on roofs and trees all over the village. Climb the observation tower, guess how many nests there are, then count them together.
💡Tip: Storks arrive in spring and leave at the end of summer, so in fall and winter the nests stand empty.
Drive from village to village below the Izera Mountains and look for Umgebinde houses, where the upper floor or roof rests on wooden posts along the ground-floor walls. Pick your dream house and decide which window would be yours.
💡Tip: They usually give themselves away with wooden arches between the posts, easy to see from the road.
Stroll among the wooden cottages of the open-air museum in Nowogród, on a bluff where the Pisa meets the Narew. In the evening, cut a Kurpie lily from colored paper and hang it over your bed.
💡Tip: Paper cutouts were once made with sheep shears, but ordinary scissors work fine.
Wooden houses with deep eaves, rebuilt after a 19th-century fire, line the sloping market square of Lanckorona. After a stroll among them, take the forest path up Lanckorona Hill and reminisce about your first trip together.
💡Tip: Lanckorona is close to Kraków, so a single day is plenty.
Walk along the wooden graduation towers in Ciechocinek while brine trickles down the blackthorn branches, and breathe in the salty air as if you were by the sea. Then sit in the spa park by the Grzybek fountain.
💡Tip: Come between spring and fall, because that’s the only time brine runs down the towers.
In Nałęczów, taste the local mineral water at the pump room, then find the Spring of Love in the spa park. Also see the wooden cabin where the writer Stefan Żeromski worked, and walk the loess ravines around town.
💡Tip: After rain the loess turns to mud, so save the ravines for a dry day.
Follow the main trail between the sandstone towers to the viewpoint over two rocks called “the Lovers,” which look as if they are hugging. Take a photo with them behind you, striking the same pose.
💡Tip: Summer weekends get crowded, so come first thing in the morning or on a weekday.
Cities with fewer tourists, such as Łódź or Lublin, and quiet regions like Roztocze, Podlasie and the Beskid Niski hills are good value. Off-season, consider the coast and Mazury too, where prices for places to stay drop noticeably after the summer holidays.
Start with the dates, since they change the price of a room the most: midweek and off-season you usually pay much less than in summer or on long weekends. Then pick a place with a kitchenette and add things you don’t need to spend money on, like an old town stroll or a forest trail.
Spend on the mood, not on hotel stars, because small gestures and time together make a weekend romantic, not the price. A thermos of tea at sunset, a note tucked into a backpack and an evening without phones cost little and stay with you for years.
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