Polana pod Gorcem

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• Scenic spot
• Open 24 hoursEvery day
• 4.7 / 515 reviews
• Poland

A meadow built for stopping

The meadow earns its keep as a viewpoint precisely because it invites you to linger rather than photograph and drive on. A cleared fire/grill area, a wooden table and benches mean you can sit a while, share a meal, or warm up on a cool mountain evening, with the slopes of the Gorc as your backdrop. The repeated theme in visitors' accounts is the combination of that open mountain outlook and the peace and quiet — a handful of people, far fewer than at the better-known peaks nearby.↗↗

It sits within a landscape that was shaped by generations of highland herding. The Gorce polany — these open, flower-rich mountain meadows — are the legacy of the Wallachian (Vlach) shepherds who cleared and burned forest for summer pasture centuries ago. Many of the glades around Gorc are still bright with grass and wildflowers, and the very name of the range is tied to that old tradition of 'burnt-out' clearings. Polana pod Gorcem is one of the surviving openings in that story.↗↗

The Gorc backdrop

Looming above the meadow is Gorc itself, one of the high points of the eastern Gorce at around 1,228 m. Its summit carries a tall wooden observation tower, built in 2015, whose fully enclosed staircase and viewing platform reward the climb with a sweeping panorama across the Tatras, the Pieniny and the Beskid ranges. Even if the meadow's own view is gentler, the tower is the dramatic landmark that gives the whole area its sense of place, and it is a natural ambition for anyone who stops down here.↗↗

The meadow belongs to a wider network of these open, picture-postcard glades that the Gorce are known for. Walk up toward the summit and the hills keep revealing themselves from one grassy clearing after another — the characteristic Gorce experience of a forested trail that bursts into view, then into forest again.↗↗

Making a day of it

The Ochotnica valleys were deliberately developed as an outdoor-recreation hub, with four timber viewing towers crowning nearby summits — on Gorc and Lubań, on Magurki right here in the Ochotnica Górna side of the range, and at Koziarz across the Dunajec. Each tower has its own panorama and a commemorative stamp for collectors, and the municipality has strung them together as a 'Conquer the Four Towers' challenge for energetic walkers.↗↗↗

Nearby, the 30-metre roofed tower on Magurki (1,108 m) is an easy, family-friendly outing from the same village, with views over the Gorce, the Sącz and Island Beskids and the full Tatra range. For a slower, cultural visit, the Studzionki open-air museum preserves Gorce highlander folk life, while the 'Na Skałce' hut in the Jamne valley offers a simple place to stay on the trail toward Turbacz.↗↗

Polana pod Gorcem works best as the quiet, roadside-style gem at the start or end of a Gorce day — a place to picnic and watch the light on the hills before or after you commit to a proper climb up to the summit tower.

Visiting

The meadow is a public scenic spot and is open at any hour of the day, with no admission gate or posted hours; it is reached from the Ochotnica Górna side toward the Gorc massif, on ground where parking and access are informal rather than developed. As with most of the Gorce, the nearest city is Kraków, roughly an hour or so away by car, which makes this an easy half-day from the city. The surrounding trail network threads through the edge of the Gorce National Park, so check current park entry rules and trail conditions if you plan to go higher.↗↗↗↗

Bring your own firewood, food and water — the grill/fire spot is basic, and there are no facilities on the meadow itself. Sturdy footwear is sensible for the surrounding trails, and mountain weather in the Gorce turns quickly, so carry a warm layer even in summer.↗