Gęsia Szyja

Trail Variants

Rusinowa Polana green trail from Wierch Poroniec

The simplest and fastest trail leading to Rusinowa Polana. The entire route goes gently uphill, sometimes completely flat, along a rocky wide path. We saw that people with strollers also easily managed to walk this trail.

Parking

The trail starts from the parking lot at this location: 49.284499, 20.112998. Paid parking 40 PLN (for 2025). Right at the entrance there is a ticket office where you can buy an entrance ticket to Tatra National Park. If you can't find a space in this parking lot, it's worth going a bit further, there are other parking lots at similar prices, but then you need to walk this section along a busy asphalt road. There are quite a few parking lots in the area and there are even special minibuses that take you to specific trails, but this always involves additional costs. From our observations, to park in the parking lot directly at the trail, it's best to arrive very early in the morning, or in the afternoon hours, after 1 PM when people are already returning from the trails. There is also a bus stop near the trail.

Trail Description

This trail is only 3.2 km of road leading gently uphill. Takes 45 minutes to complete. It mostly goes through forest, providing shade on hot days. Because it's so easily accessible, it's quite popular among tourists, especially during the holiday season. Already halfway through the trail, sharp peaks begin to emerge, but it's only after entering the meadow that a magnificent panorama unfolds. From there you can continue on further or stay and enjoy the views. This trail is a good option for people with children, as well as those looking for a pleasant trail after difficult and long hikes to other peaks in the Tatras.

Sheep grazing on the meadow

Rusinowa Polana

Rusinowa Polana blue trail from Dolina Filipka

A trail with greater elevation changes than the green trail, but still technically simple and not very long. Here too, most of the route goes through forest, but along the way, in addition to numerous climbs, we also have to overcome stairs.

Parking

The trail starts at the parking lot: 49.282163, 20.087908. It's located along the road, the advantage is that it's free, but it's not very large. Other parking lots are somewhat distant from the trail entrance. However, we warn against parking in prohibited places and areas outside designated spots. When leaving, we saw fines behind windshields.

Trail Description

The blue trail to Rusinowa Polana is a pleasant 2.7 km, takes 1:15h to complete. At the entrance there is a ticket office. Right away the first meters lead uphill. Halfway through the route, wooden stairs begin and the trail somewhat emerges from the forest. Along the way we also visit the Chapel of Our Lady Queen of the Tatras, surrounded in summer by blooming fireweed. After overcoming the stairs, it's a short route to the meadow. Right after the bridge, the forest ends and the goal (or stop) of our hike is revealed.

Chapel of Our Lady Queen of the Tatras

Gęsia Szyja via Rusinowa Polana green trail

Trail length: 4,5 km
Duration: 1:45 h
Elevation gain: 419 m
Difficulty level: easy

Trail Description

Since you already know how to get to Rusinowa Polana, you can consider extending your hike and also visiting the nearby Gęsia Szyja peak. If you came via the green trail, continue your route with it. This is the simplest and fastest way to reach the summit. Practically the entire section of the route leads steeply upward on stairs. The trail quickly enters the forest again, but opens up in places. During the season this trail is quite frequently visited, so it can be quite crowded in places. However, the views from above compensate for everything.

Gęsia Szyja loop from Rusinowa Polana

Our proposal for a pleasant route in the Tatras. We chose to ascend to Rusinowa Polana via the blue trail. Then we went via the green trail to the summit of Gęsia Szyja. To diversify our hike, we decided to descend from the summit on the other side, still on the green trail.

Trail length: 11,8 km
Duration: 4:45 h
Elevation gain: 676 m
Difficulty level: easy

Trail Description

You already know how to get to Rusinowa Polana via the blue trail from Dolina Filipka. The green route to Gęsia Szyja has also been described above - steep and more crowded. Therefore, we propose descending from the other side of the summit, still on the green trail. This route is more varied, mostly leading along forest paths covered with stones, only in places with shorter sections of stairs. Sometimes the route goes up to lead down again - unlike the green trail to Gęsia Szyja from Rusinowa Polana, which leads steeply uphill all the time. A large part of the route to Rusinowa Polana leads through forest, so you can hide in the shade. In our opinion, this trail is less besieged by tourists, who mostly return from the summit via the shorter route leading on stairs.

The green trail leads along a narrow forest path, mostly gently downhill. After less than a kilometer we reach Rówień Waksmundzki, a small meadow and intersection with the red trail. We head left, this time on the red trail to Roztoka through Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza and thus traverse a more varied section of the route, with a bridge over the charming Waksmundzki Stream along the way. We cover another 2 km downhill, and sometimes steeply uphill, until we reach another fork and this time turn onto the black trail indicating Rusinowa Polana. We can continue on the red trail to reach the asphalt road on the route to Morskie Oko or in the other direction to the parking lot at Palenica. However, we head on the black trail. We pleasantly, sometimes even flatly, cover the next part of the route, slightly less shaded by trees, but largely leading along raspberry bushes. Here we also cross Waksmundzki Stream once again. At the end of this section, a view of the Tatra peaks emerges. And so we reach the intersection with the blue trail, which will soon lead us back to Rusinowa Polana. From here we continue trekking on the blue trail to the parking lot from which we started.

Practical Information

• In the areas and trails mentioned in this article, there is a complete ban on entry with dogs. It's worth taking this into account when traveling with a pet.

• Entrance tickets are required for Tatra National Park. The cost per day is 11 PLN regular and 5.50 PLN reduced. Tickets can be purchased at ticket offices at the trails, or online - https://tpn.gov.pl/wstep-do-parku