Ciche: Our Authentic Village in the Tatras

Our accommodation: a wooden chalet amid the meadows

We reached Ciche from Piotrowice, near Oświęcim, in under two hours on the road, driving through a string of small villages where you need to go slowly (typically 40 to 70 km/h, with speed bumps at every crossing). The scenery changed completely: from flat plains to mountains, right by the Slovak border.

True story, July 2026: our accommodation, the Na starej drodze guesthouse, was a small brown wooden chalet, set on the edge of a meadow, next to grazing cows, in a secluded spot with hill views. Well equipped (good bedding, Netflix, a fireplace), it meant we didn't miss a thing — including the World Cup final. We stayed two nights and three days. Looking back, we'd have loved more time there: the area gave us ideas for a return trip.

Having arrived a little early, we were able to drop off our bags before heading out for a walk. The key handover was very simple — the owners seem to live close by. The chalet is easy to find by car, at the end of a small dirt track, with parking right next to it. A very well-equipped kitchen, a spotless chalet and no mosquitoes: nothing negative at all. It was perhaps the most beautiful place we stayed on the whole trip, and our favourite of the six places on our road trip.

It's also one of the few places on our trip where, while researching this article, we found almost no existing content in French: Ciche remains an authentic Podhale village, off the classic tourist trail, but perfectly suited as a base for exploring the Tatras at a lower cost than staying in Zakopane itself.

What we did from Ciche

Ciche served as our base for exploring the whole area: the Chochołowskie Termy, one of the very best memories of our Polish trip, plus a round trip to Zakopane and the Kasprowy Wierch cable car to watch the sunset over the Tatras. The full detail of these outings, stories and practical tips included, is in our article What to Do in Zakopane.

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