Visit Zalipie from Krakow – Most Beautiful Polish Village
If you are looking for unique places to visit in Poland, the charming village of Zalipie might be right up your alley. Located in the Małopolska province, or Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Zalipie is known for its cute painted houses dotting this small village.
Considered one of the most colorful and beautiful villages in Poland, Zalipie became famous for beautifying houses, wells, storage units, barns, fences, furniture, and basically everything with traditional folk flower patterns.
On my second trip to Krakow, I made it my mission to research as much as possible and figure out how to get from Krakow to Zalipie by public transport. Renting a car and joining the tour is the easiest, but not everyone likes driving in a foreign country or joining tours.
Therefore, this detailed guide provides information on how to get there and what to do in Zalipie.
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Why is it worth visiting Zalipie?
The tradition of decorating these small wooden cottages with folk floral patterns started in the 19th century. Every house in Zalipie had a wood stove but no chimney. Therefore, the interior and exterior had black marks from the smoke. A local female resident began to paint to cover up these black marks with white paint and flowers.
Soon, the custom spread among other women who joined her, doing the same to their homes. As women didn’t have professional equipment back then, they made brushes using the cow’s tail hair, while the color came from powdered dye and milk.
Over time, the custom was passed on from generation to generation. It became even bigger as youngsters would find inspiration in local folklore and nature, bringing more colorful and larger paintings.
Felicja Curyłowa (1904 – 1974), a local Zalipie resident and artist, became obsessed with the tradition and decorated every surface, furniture, and item in her three-bedroom cottage. After she passed away, her house was turned into a museum, now open to the public.
While there is no problem with soot today, art has become Zalipie’s identity, which the village is very proud of. Even during the wartime, women never stopped the tradition.
To encourage these practices to continue, the Ethnographic Museum of Tarnow organizes an annual competition, Malowana Chata, or Painted Cottage in June, when locals enter their decorated homes into the contest. The cash prizes are awarded to the participants based on artistic flair and originality.
Currently, there are around 30 houses either entirely or partially covered with flower patterns, making the village worth visiting. Moreover, due to the slightly complicated public transportation options, only a few people make an effort to visit Zalipie.
No place mimics or copies one another, so patterns and paintings are unique, creating an even more authentic and endearing vibe while walking past them.
Looking at them slightly reminded me of the Gorelovka village and orphanage in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region. But unlike Zalipie, we only have one colorfully painted building with floral decorations, and I wish Gorelovka was on such an extensive scale today.
Best time to visit Zalipie
The best time to visit Zalipie is spring or summer when the paintings are more vivid in natural sunshine with a backdrop of blooming real-life flowers. The competition held in June is also the best time to visit Zalipie to experience the local life and community spirit.
We visited at the beginning of November and luckily had a sunny day to walk around, even though it was pretty windy and cold. Unfortunately, as it was off-season, the village looked deserted, and because it was Monday, the museums were closed. However, it didn’t stop me from exploring and still enjoying one of the beautiful and unique places in Poland that I finally managed to see.
Zalipie travel tips
Here are a few essential tips when planning a visit to Zalipie. If using public transport, start your journey in the morning and carefully read the section below, where I explain in very detail how to get from Krakow to Zalipie using public transportation.
Bring cash for the local bus, museum tickets, or souvenirs. Pack a snack or a light lunch and enough water, or buy a pastry at one of the bakeries in Tarnow. There are no restaurants or cafes in Zalipie, and I haven’t seen a small grocery store either. Maybe because our visit was off-season and they were closed, but it’s always good to be prepared.
How to get to Zalipie from Krakow or other Polish cities
As mentioned earlier, Zalipie is in Lesser Poland province. The closest cities are Tarnow, Krakow, Katowice, Czestochowa, and Sandomierz.
Visiting Zalipie is the easiest as a day trip from Krakow with public transport or joining an organized tour. However, if you plan on driving a car, you can also travel from other cities. That said, the journey from other major cities, such as Warsaw to Zalipie, would be long, covering around 270km.
We traveled from Krakow to Zalipie using public transport, and this post gives a detailed overview of how to do it. Although I understand that comfort and time are a priority for some of you, I also include other options.
Driving a car from Krakow to Zalipie
Having your own car gives you flexibility regarding time, visiting other places along the way, or adding Zalipie as a detour from one city to your final destination. It is the quickest, easiest, and most comfortable way to travel from Krakow to Zalipie.
The colorful village is around 100 km from Krakow. Depending on which road you take based on Google Maps’ suggestions, it will take you between 1:30 and 1:40 minutes.
If you need to rent a car, I suggest doing so at DiscoverCars, which offers a wide array of international standard vehicles.
Joining an organized tour from Krakow
If you prefer to join a tour, a few companies offer guided visits from Krakow to Zalipie with transportation. Most of these tours last 6 to 8 hours, where you have a set time to wander freely and independently through the village at your own pace.
Some of these tours only provide guided transportation, while others also include museum visits, so I suggest carefully reading the description of each tour.
You can check out GetYourGuide or Viator to choose the best option for your needs and budget.
Using public transport from Krakow to Zalipie
For those who don’t know how to drive or the organized tours seem expensive, your best option is to use a train and bus combination.
This is where logistics and planning come in handy as it is slightly challenging to travel with public transport, but it’s absolutely doable. That said, because it is relatively time-consuming, set aside a whole day for your Zalipie visit, and if you have enough time and energy, you can also wander the streets of the charming village of Tarnow.
The best time to visit Zalipie using public transport is on weekdays as the local bus doesn’t run on weekends or public holidays. Moreover, note that museums in Zalipie are also closed on Mondays.
To get from Krakow to Zalipie by public transport, first, you need to get to the city of Tarnów. Trains between Krakow and Tarnow run very often and cost only 30 PLN.
Take one of the morning trains that run between 8:30 to 9:30 am. The journey takes, on average, 50 minutes, which gives you a window to catch the local bus from Tarnow to Bieniaszowice, which passes by Zalipie.
You need to coordinate your train tickets with the local bus schedule. Here is the online schedule in English I found and was relevant during our visit in November. You can always pop inside the Tourist Information Center in Tarnow Old Town and ask them about the timetable.
When looking at the schedule for the Tarnow-Zalipie bus, you notice letters next to the time slots. While the legend is provided at the bottom of the page, you need the times with S next to it, for example, 7:30 S, 8:35 S, 11:15 S, 12:35 S, etc.
S, in this case, means that the bus runs at this time during school days only. In case of no school days, look at the times with H; this is when the bus runs from Monday to Friday on school holidays.
You need the Euro Plawecki Trans bus that stops at Krakowska-Planty Street almost in front of the big red brick Church of the Holy Family. The bus stop is only a few minutes from the train station; the exact location is here. On our visit, the bus stop had ads promoting Zalipie, so you are in the right place if it’s still there.
There might be another Euro Plawecki Trans bus that might come first, so you can always ask the driver if he goes to Zalipie and wait for another.
Have cash with you to pay for your ticket. During our visit, we paid 8 PLN per person one way.
The journey takes around 30-45 minutes, depending on the traffic. The driver will drop you off on the main highway at the village entrance. There is a sign, but monitoring your bus via Google Maps is always convenient.
From here, you’ll need to walk to the village’s center and wander through its colorful cottage houses.
On your way back to Tarnow, you must return to the same spot the driver dropped you off and wait for the same Euro Plawecki Trans bus to Tarnow.
As for the Zalipie-Tarnow schedule, do the same steps on reverse – look at the timetable provided above that says Greboszow-Zalipie-Dabrowa-Lisia Gora-Tarnow and mark down times that have S (school days) or H (no school days) next to it.
What to do in Zalipie
When visiting Zalipie painted village, you can walk around and admire the charming folk art. Remember that it isn’t a museum and people live in these houses.
Be respectful of local residential areas, don’t just walk inside someone’s courtyard, and don’t take pictures outside their homes. Instead, you can take photos inside the buildings open to the public or with decorative walls along the road without disturbing locals.
There is little to do in Zalipie besides visiting a few museums and just walking around the village. Some of the places are pinned on Google Maps, so it makes it easy to navigate around. Here are venues open to the public:
House of Malarek (Painter’s House): a museum where you can learn about the history of the village’s folk art and buy souvenirs. Besides entering the building, walk around its courtyard to see the similarly decorated sun clock, flower pots, a bicycle, and bee houses. Please consult their website for opening hours, as it has a seasonal schedule.
Felicja Curylo’s Farm House: another museum that was the home of a local artist. She was the head of the village painters and became famous and respected within the community, keeping the tradition alive for many decades. The house is well-preserved to its original state when she lived here, and every surface has a floral pattern, including the oven.
St Joseph’s Church: you wouldn’t think of a church having flower patterns, which makes Zalipie unique. You’ll find art everywhere in St. Joseph’s Church, including the altar, walls, and tablecloth.
Where to stay in Zalipie
Zalipie is a small village with no accommodation options. Therefore, if you are visiting it independently, your best option is to find a hotel in Krakow or Tarnow. As mentioned above, we did a day trip from Krakow, which was perfectly doable.
But if you prefer to avoid traveling from Krakow to Tarnow in the morning, overnighting at one of Tarnow’s hotels is the best option.
Visit Tarnow before or after
The small town of Tarnow is worth visiting as you are already here. We wandered the streets as we got pretty early from Krakow and had an hour to spare before the bus to Zalipie arrived.
After we visited the painted village, we also had a few hours before heading back to Krakow. Therefore, if you plan accordingly, it’s perfectly doable to compact your day with two places in one day, even during the off-season when the days are shorter.
This mid-size city has an almost untouched layout since the Middle Ages. The main square features a gorgeous town hall and museums representing the city’s history. There is a remnant of synagogue bima, an enormous Jewish cemetery, and an old bathhouse if you are interested in Jewish history.
It is also a town with a dark past. Being one of the first conquered cities during the Second World War, it was from here that many prisoners were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
If you like beautiful architectural buildings, the main street, Krakowska, has stunning Art-Nouveau buildings.
Tarnow is a fully functioning town with shops, bakeries, and a few restaurants and cafes where you can grab dinner or lunch when you get hungry.