Snowboarding Poland

‘Ah cool, you’re going snowboarding? Where are you going?’ ‘Poland!’ ‘Ah okay…interesting. Well, let me know how it was.’ And here I am, letting everyone know how snowboarding in Poland was. Who knows me knows that I traveled to Spain for snowboarding last year which already raised a lot of attention and interest. Seemed like it was time to discover yet another destination. Hello Poland. We traveled to Poland with no expectations so we wouldn’t get disappointed. Well, let me tell you, it turned out even better than we could have possibly imagined. So here comes a secret recommendation for a long weekend of snowboarding fun. Especially for those of you who are looking to invest their money wisely.

Accommodation in Sklarska Poreba

We booked an amazing hotel Cristal Resort which was a 4 star rated hotel located at the edge of the little winter holiday town Sklarska Poreba right next to the forest. The interior is very modern and the overall appearance very stylish. The hotel has a little Spa area with a finnish sauna and a hot steam sauna. There is also an indoor swimming pool and an outdoor whirl pool. It is amazing for some relaxation in the evening. On saturdays, you might have to deal with a couple of kids occupying the pool area. On weekdays you will have the area all for yourself though. There’s nothing better than relaxing in the outdoor whirl pool surrounded by the winter wonderland forest after a long day of snowboarding.

The room and appartments are big and well-equipped with a kitchen area which we thought was really handy as you can quickly have breakfast in your room before hitting the slopes and are even free to cook dinner in the evening. And if you ever feel like it, you can book a breakfast or dinner buffet in the common area. We felt extremely comfortabel at the resort and now comes the best part…we only paid 85€ for 3 nights (p.p.). Price-value-ratio check! Now let’s check how snowboarding in Poland will turn out to be.

Snowboarding Poland

The skiing area Szrenica is located only 5 min. from the hotel. You can easily take the car up there and park it right infront of the lift the whole day for 6€. You can rent your gear for a very affordable price of 11€ per day. I have to say my snowboard and boots were of the best quality compared to other rental gear I’ve used throughout previous vacations. If you thought this couldn’t get any better, there comes the ski pass that’s only 20€ per day. Yes, the skiing region is not as big as regions in Austria or Italy…but the slopes were in really good condition and it was not nearly as crowded as compared to other well-known regions.

On our second day, we even had our favorite slopes all for ourselves all morning. The sun was shining bright and the trees looked as it they would collaps under the weight of the thick snow they were covered in. We were pretty much in our very own winter ferry tale. Beware though, it’s crazy cold. On top of the highest mountain is a ski lodge where you should spend at least 1 lunch break. Just take the lift that will take you all the way to the top. The view from up there is truly unique. It is located in the Karkonosze National Park which a lot of people visit to do full-day snow hikes. Climbing up there though we almost froze to death.

Tasty Food in Poland

This was long forgotten as we had a good laugh while trying to order our lunch from an all polish menue. You truly have to take blind guesses what the words mean. The other day we meant to buy a tasty looking sweet pastry filled with as I assumed some word that sounded like vanilla. Well, the sweet pastry turned out to be a big fat piece of smoked cheese. This gets truly interesting when you take a bite with the expectation of tasting something sweet. Besides that unfortunate experience, the food we ate was really delicious. Dumplings stuffed with meat, pancakes filled with cream cheese and served with berries or hash browns with spinach and cheese sauce. And of course the warm beer with honey and slices of orange. This is an experience but it definitely served the purpose of warming us up.

Spending Quality Time with Friends

All in all, snowboarding in Poland definitely gets a 10 star rating from us. We acutally couldn’t believe how amazingly cheap everything was. Also, the Polish people are indeed very friendly people and make you feel very welcome. Well, on the way back our car broke down not even close to home. This truly made the way back an adventure. No matter what though I always try to focus on the good in a situation. We had to wait 2 hours in the cold for the ADAC but we said with a smile it could have been worse. It could have been pouring down yet the sun was at least shining.

In general, whenever something goes wrong I believe it’s simply a stronger stimuli to memorize the event. I think it’s funnier to think back to the situation with a smile being like ‘Gosh, remember the disaster?’. And I definitely will remeber this trip with a lot of smiles on my face. Actually, my friend I went with I originally met when I started learning snowboarding years back. So, it was such a fun reunion considering we haven’t been snowboarding together for over 7 years.