The dinner starts at 20:30. The T/L explains tour details

After breakfast we pick up the bikes and go for an introductory ride around Kraków old town. In the afternoon a bus takes us up to the village of Ząb from where we descend via Poronin to Zakopane all the time enjoying the lovely panorama of magnificent Tatra mountain range. Zakopane has developed a very distinctive cultural character. The folk culture of the people who live in the Tatras, the Gorale, has been preserved in their music, their songs and their local costume. The characteristic "Zakopane Style" of timber architecture, which developed around the turn of the twentieth century,is found nowhere else in Europe.

We start by taking a cable car up the Gubałówka hill. Then we ride down through the long village of Dzianisz as far as Chocholow, a village which is now a "living open-air museum" of vernacular timber architecture, where we have lunch in the village inn. Then after a short climb we enter the valley of Cichy Potok ("the quiet stream"). Further downhill along the quiet path, through Ciche, Stare Bystre, Ludzmierz (with a famous Marian pilgrimage shrine), to the town of Nowy Targ, the main centre for the Gorale. Not far from Nowy Targ, we cycle past the point where the White and Black Dunajec rivers meet. The route then runs for part of the way along riverside path, to the historic villages of Waksmund and Lopuszna where we spend the night in a pension at the edge of the forest, not far from the fishponds.

After a visit to the old wooden manor house in Lopuszna, we turn south and follow the course of the Bialka, a third mountain river flowing into the Dunajec. Here we see its impressive gorge near Nowa Biala. On the way we can also have a look in the church at Debno, one of the oldest wooden churches in Poland (built around 1500) with an impressive painted interior which has recently been put on the UNESCO heritage list. Following the bank of the reservoir, we reach one of these castles, at Niedzica and spend the night in a nearby hotel.

After visiting a Spisz village of Kacwin we cross the border with Slovakia on a newly built bridge. We head then to the village of Cerveny Klastor (Red Monastery), above which rise the three peaks of Trzy Korony (Three Crowns), the highest point in the Pieniny range. Here we have a meal and visit the local museum. Then we cycle along the "Pieniny Way" (for walkers and cyclists only), a narrow ledge carved out of the cliff running the whole length of the Dunajec Gorge. The breathtaking limestone cliffs and luxuriant greenery along the way soon banish everyday cares. You feel you are in a different world, when all you can see are limestone cliffs dotted with unusual rock plants. We wave to the tourists on wooden rafts being steered down the river by Gorale, and we know that unlike them we can stop at any time to take photographs or even swim in the river. In the afternoon we arrive in Szczawnica which is a very bikers friendly little spa town.

This takes us through what is known as the "green Dunajec Gorge", where the river passes between two ranges of Beskid mountains. Although there are no stone cliff walls here, the slopes with their beech woods are still impressive. We soon leave the main road, turning across a suspension bridge to the right bank and making our way between the paths among the farms of the village of Tylmanowa. We can catch a glimpse though the open doors of the old barns, granaries and hen-houses. An attraction of a different kind is the stretch of river at Wietrznice which has been artificially prepared for whitewater canoeing. After a meal at a guesthouse in Zabrzez, we ride through Łącko, known for its slivovitz, and then alongside more fruit gardens on the valley slopes. At Golkowice we leave the Dunajec and ride to Rytro, an old feudal village at the foot of castle ruins. The night is spent in a small hotel on the shady banks of the Poprad, a tributary of the Dunajec. On the last evening we have a camp fire with grilled trout fresh from the water.

After breakfast we take a 10 km ride through the Poprad Valley to Stary Sacz. The morning is spent exploring this historic little town, one of the most beautiful in Southern Poland. Here we can breathe the atmosphere of past times and discover the maze of narrow streets by bike. Then we follow our way (by coach) to the neighbouring town of Nowy Sacz, which still has something of the Habsburg Empire about it. The neo-gothic town hall in the beautiful market square dates from that period, and the streets are lined with well-restored art nouveau houses. From Nowy Sacz we return to Krakow (bus journey about 1.5 - 2 hours). Our accommodation for the last night is in the same Hotel as in the beginning, but we will spent rest of the day in quiet Kazimierz district, once the Jewish quarter. An evening of klezmer music brings our tour to a close.

Tour ends after breakfast in Krakow, passengers can extend their stay, either in Krakow or in the mountains if they wish.