Karpacz

Climbing Śnieżka from Karpacz

Start early from upper Karpacz near Vang Church, where the national park trails begin and park tickets are sold, and climb to the bare 1,602-metre summit of Śnieżka with its observatory. To save your knees, ride the Kopa chairlift and walk the last stretch along the ridge. On a clear day, give the walk most of the daylight.

The summit is a bare cone at 1,602 metres with the observatory on top and the Czech border running across it, so you can return on the Czech side if you have planned transport. Cloud and wind arrive quickly on this range, even in July. Carry layers, water and a waterproof, and turn around if the path vanishes into fog. Back in town, the bus from Vang Church saves the long downhill walk.

On a clear day, give the walk most of the daylight hours. Dom Śląski, the mountain hut in the saddle below the summit cone, is the natural place to rest, eat and decide whether the weather allows the last steep section. Coming down, the Kopa chairlift takes the strain off tired legs if it is running.

A cloudy day in Karpacz with Vang Church, the Łomnica dam and rides

Cloud often hides Śnieżka, so have a low-level plan. Ride the bus to the top of Karpacz for Vang Church, the Norwegian stave church moved here in the 19th century, then walk out to the Łomnica dam at midday. With children, spend the afternoon at the Kolorowa amusement park on Konstytucji 3 Maja.

Walk a little way down to the Wild Waterfall opposite the Biały Jar upper station. It is really a dam, but after heavy rain the cascades below it are at their loudest.

Midday. Take the bus down and walk out to the Łomnica dam, built in the 1910s to tame floods. Its crest path is part of the Main Sudetes Trail and gives a view over the lake even when the peaks are hidden. Lunch at Bar Wrzos on Kościelna, a wood-panelled room straight out of the 1990s that serves plain Polish food at lunchtime.

Afternoon. With children, spend a couple of hours at Kolorowa on Konstytucji 3 Maja, where the alpine coaster runs in most weather. If you have a car, drive to Strażacka for the gravity hill, where bottles seem to roll uphill. Finish with cake at Spokojna, a café that has been on Konstytucji 3 Maja since the 1970s.

Mountain huts, żurek in bread and Bar Wrzos lunches in Karpacz

Food in Karpacz is about refuelling after a day outdoors. Restaurants on Konstytucji 3 Maja and Karkonoska serve żurek in a bread bowl, pierogi and potato pancakes, Bar Wrzos on Kościelna is the local lunch institution, and on the trails the mountain huts, or schroniska, are part of the experience.

Portions are built for hikers.

Bar Wrzos on Kościelna is the local institution, open from lunchtime into the early evening, with its 1990s wood panelling intact and a menu of Polish standards. It closes early, so plan around the early close. For something sweet, Spokojna on Konstytucji 3 Maja has been serving cakes and fruit milk drinks since the 1970s, with a few garden seats out front in summer.

Dom Śląski, in the saddle just below the summit cone of Śnieżka, serves hot soup and simple meals to walkers coming off the ridge, and in bad weather it is the place to warm up before the final climb or the descent. Carry cash as a back-up on the mountain.

Many hotels in town include half board, which suits families. If yours does not, book a table on Saturday evenings in the winter school holidays, when the resort is at its fullest.