Zawrat, Dolina 5 Stawow And Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

You may remember a few recent posts about my hikes in the Tatra Mountains – I went on a hiking holiday to my home country, Poland. Today, I’d like to share the final hike from that trip. It was our last day of the holiday, and the longest hike we’ve done. We went to Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, and Morskie Oko – some of the most popular destinations in Polish mountains. It was a long and tiring hike, but the views were spectacular. We even managed to see some of the elusive, protected animals in the national park!

Getting to the start of the trail – Palenica Bialczanska

First of all, it’s worth mentioning that Morskie Oko is by far the most popular place in Tatra Mountains. There’s an asphalt trail running all the way to the picturesque lake, which makes it the most accessible trail in the area, with one of the most stunning views at the end. On bank holiday weekends in the summer, tens of thousands of people visit Morskie Oko over the 3-4 days.

Palenica Bialczanska, the start of the trails to Morskie Oko and Dolina 5 Stawow, is in the middle of nowhere. The main town in the area – Zakopane – is about a 30 minute drive away. In other words, walking to the start of the trail isn’t feasible.

There’s a car park in Palenica Bialczanska. A large one, but not large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. It’s worth knowing that car park spots have to be booked online in advance. You can’t just drive there and hope to get a spot, it’s not permitted. In the summer, car park slots sell out very quickly. But don’t worry! There are frequent mini bus services between Zakopane and Palenica Bialczanska. That’s the option we chose, and I highly recommend it. When we got to Palenica Bialczanska, there was a long queue of cars waiting to enter the car park. The buses, however, had a priority lane and quickly got to the start of the trail to drop people off.

We got off the bus, purchased tickets to the National Park, and entered the trail.

Easy start – Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza

The first part of the hike was simple. For about 25 minutes, we walked along an asphalt road, with just a small incline. There was a crowd on the trail, which we fully expected. After a short walk, we reached Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza – a moderate in size but powerful waterfall, named after one of Poland’s most famous poets. That’s where the trail forks. You can continue walking along the road towards Morskie Oko, but we turned into the green trail leading to Dolina 5 Stawow.

An asphalt road with several hikers, with mountains in the background — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A two-tiered waterfall in a forest — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland – Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza

On the way to Dolina 5 Stawow via Wielka Siklawa waterfall

We were happy to leave the asphalt road behind and enjoy a proper hike. The trail quickly started to ascend. It’s not a challenging path – there’s no height exposure at that point – but it was a good cardio workout. There were considerably fewer people on this trail compared to the one leading to Morskie Oko, but it was still quite busy. At one point, the trail forked again – both options lead to Dolina 5 Stawow, but one of them runs next to a popular waterfall, while the other goes directly to Dolina 5 Stawow. Both options are similar in length, so we chose to go via the waterfall. After about an hour since the trail forked at Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza, we reached Wielka Siklawa waterfall – the tallest waterfall in Poland. We took a short break for pictures, and then continued our hike towards Dolina 5 Stawow.

A gravel trail in the woods, with mountains in the background — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

Wielka Siklawa waterfall in Tatra Mountains — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

Dolina 5 Stawow – 5 Pond Valley

Dolina 5 Stawow means “5 Pond Valley” in English. The ponds/lakes are some of the most beautiful in Tatra Mountains. Once we reached the area, we were immediately greeted with the most wonderful view.

There’s a shelter in Dolina 5 Stawow, which is essentially a restaurant/hostel. We had a peek at the menu but didn’t stop for food just yet – we just checked our options for later in the day. It was still early, and we decided to keep going. Our next destination was Zawrat.

A lake surrounded by mountains in Dolina 5 Stawow — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A lake and a wooden building - the shelter in Dolina 5 Stawow — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

On the way to Zawrat

Zawrat itself isn’t one of the most popular hiking destinations in Tatra Mountains, but it’s part of a few challenging routes. You can get to Zawrat from Dolina 5 Stawow, which is the trail we followed. It’s an easy route with little exposure but quite a lot of elevation gain, so keep that in mind.

You can also get to Zawrat from Hala Gasienicowa, but that trail is a lot more challenging and requires prior climbing experience and good tolerance of heights. Additionally, two one-way trails start at Zawrat. The first one leads to Swinica, and the other is called Orla Perc. Both of those trails are demanding and require technical skills and experience. Orla Perc, specifically, is considered the most difficult trail in the Polish mountains. It starts at Zawrat and runs through several peaks.

Zawrat often gets mentioned in the national news, for all the wrong reasons. Because there are so many challenging trails running to or from Zawrat, there are also accidents – especially in the summer, when a lot of people overestimate their abilities. Several tourists are evacuated from Zawrat area by rescue teams each year, including inappropriately dressed families with children. Unfortunately, serious accidents – sometimes fatal – also happen there each year.

That being said, the trail from Dolina 5 Stawow to Zawrat isn’t technically challenging. Once we got there, we were standing just a few steps away from the start of the famous Orla Perc, the most difficult trail in the Polish mountains. I’ve dreamt of attempting that hike since I was a child, but I’ve never seen it up close. One day, maybe…

The view from Zawrat was beautiful, but you could really feel the roughness of the terrain. At 2159 metres above sea level, it was the highest peak we climbed during our holiday, and the highest I’ve ever been.

Two lakes surrounded by mountains in Dolina 5 Stawow — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A rocky path in the mountains - the trail from Dolina 5 Stawow to Zawrat — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

The view of the trail from Dolina 5 Stawow to Zawrat — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A pole with signs with various trails at the top of Zawrat — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A small lake surrounded by rough mountains — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A ridge of a mountain - the beginning of Orla Perc trail — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

Descent back to Dolina 5 stawow

We walked back from Zawrat to Dolina 5 Stawow following the same trail we took to climb up. On our way, we were fortunate to see some of the protected animals of Tatra Mountains. We saw a goat sitting high up on some rocks, lazily watching the hikers underneath. We also saw two marmots – I had never seen any before! The first one crossed our path, running incredibly fast, and quickly disappeared under some rocks. Seeing it run was rather hilarious – they have short, stubby legs, but he really was sprinting fast. The second marmot we saw was munching on the grass. This time, I managed to take some pictures. It was so cute!

Once we got back to Dolina 5 Stawow, we bought lunch to refuel our energy for the rest of the hike. I chose beans in tomato sauce, one of the staples in mountain shelters in Poland. It was delicious!

A marmot sitting in tall grass — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A goat sitting high up on a ledge of a mountain — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

Beans in tomato sauce served with two slices of bread — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

From Dolina 5 Stawow to Morskie Oko

From Dolina 5 Stawow we decided to go to Morskie Oko – the most famous lake in the Polish mountains. I vaguely remembered that route from a summer camp I went on 20 years ago. In my head, it was a trail with great views which I thoroughly enjoyed. The views were indeed stunning, you could see some of the ponds of Dolina 5 Stawow. However, the trail felt incredibly long and exhausting. It might be because we had already hiked for many hours, but that 1.5 hours between Dolina 5 Stawow and Morskie Oko was the most tiring part of our holiday. There was quite a bit of an ascent initially, which then turned into a very long descent on a steep, rocky path. The views were phenomenal at the start, but once we got to the other side of the mountain, we could no longer see the lakes.

Eventually, we got to Morskie Oko – beautiful, as always. I’ve been there many times in my life, but I’m always in awe. The weather wasn’t looking great and we were rather exhausted, and it was getting late – we decided not to walk around the lake. If you’re ever at Morskie Oko and have an hour or two to spare, I highly recommend walking around, or even climbing towards Czarny Staw – another nearby lake, higher up in the mountains.

Two lakes and a wooden building - the shelter in Dolina 5 Stawow — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A panoramic view of a couple of large lakes surrounded by tall mountains — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A wooden, large building - mountain shelter at Morskie Oko — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

A lake surrounded by tall mountains — Dolina 5 Stawow, Zawrat, Morskie Oko Hike – Tatra Mountains – Poland

Back to Palenica Bialczanska

We had a short break at Morskie Oko and enjoyed a cold drink at the restaurant in the shelter, which was undergoing renovation. After that, it was time for the final stretch of our hike – the way back to the car park where our journey began. The trail from Morskie Oko to Palenica Bialczanska is essentially an asphalt road. It can feel a bit mundane, especially after a very long hike, but it’s an easy way to wrap up the day.

Overall, on that day, our hike was 28.5 kilometres long, with 1450 metres elevation gain. It took us 9 hous 30 minutes (breaks not included). It was definitely the most challenging hike of our holiday, but I loved it. It was the perfect way to finish our holiday, and I can’t wait to go back to my beloved Tatra Mountains.