From Zakopane bus station you can catch a minibus for the 30 minute drive to Morskie Oko for 15 zloty (cash) each way. It’s then 10 zloty to enter the park. At this point you have the choice between a 3 hour uphill walk on tarmac, or a horse and cart ride, for 100 zloty per person (cash only), which takes about an hour, and leaves you with the last 20 minutes to walk to the lake. This is a very popular area and there were lots of people both walking up and taking the cart. The lake was busy but is very beautiful and it’s worth walking at least part of the way around the lake to get away from the crowds. There’s a restaurant/toilets at the lake, and another one near the horse and cart drop off point. Having caught a ride up, I decided to walk down through the beautiful scenery, which took about 2 hours. It was then easy to catch a bus back to Zakopane. A really enjoyable day in the stunning Tatra mountains.

Allow around 2 hours each way for to get to the lake. Its a gradual incline on the way there with plenty of seating opportunities along the way and loos. It's cold once you get to the lake so keep that in mind. Absolutely stunning and well worth the hike! DO NOT USE THE HORSES. The horses are overworked and used in extreme heat ( it gets over 30 degrees in poland in the summer and carts have too many people in them) There have been instances of horses collapsing and dying. If kids can walk up and down the mountain so can you ! Stop this pointless mistreatment of animals to make money until their wellbeing improves!

Beautiful place, the mountains are amazing. However, it’s horrible seeing people still exploiting animals in 2024. Don’t use the horse carriages. If you want to go out in nature and parks, expect to walk or don’t go instead of exploiting animals. I saw people young and old walking, no need at all. Would highly recommend the lakes valley walk also, it’s long but beautiful.

The walk from the parking lot is 2 hrs one way which many have critized for being boring. It may be a wide paved road, but this allows you to really appreciate the amazing beauty of the Tatras without having to constantly watch your footing as you do on forest hikes. Loved it! It takes a good hour to walk around the lake and it is a min 1hr return to go up to Czarny staw (the ascent starts about 1/2 way around the lake.) This is a steep ascent though the stones are quite good so it isn't too much of a scramble. So amazing up there and worth it! Buses leave from Zakapone regularly (bay 1 at the main station) and take about 45mins, so you really need to leave early if you want to spend quality time truly appreciate the stunning beauty of Morskie Oko. There are portable toilets located along the route too, which is handy, though, if you decide to go later in the day on your way down, you will most likely find all the toilet paper gone so bringing some with you is a good idea.

What a beautiful park!! We spent the night in Zakopane, Poland and drove to the trailhead of Morskie Oko early the next morning. We purchased our parking ticket and entry passes to the park ahead of time. This is recommended for the busy summer season as the large parking lot will fill up. The hike to the lake is listed as an easy hike, but I would say it’s an advanced beginner hike if you hike to the lake, then around the lake before descending back to the parking lot. The views are beautiful! Pack snacks and water👍 Unlike American parks, there are NO garbage cans🤷‍♀️It’s a carry in, carry out your own garbage and the park was very clean😊 It was fun to discover a destination with virtually no other Americans around…primarily Polish families enjoying a weekend holiday, FYI…explore options into the park from Slovakia. The park is quieter and just as beautiful from there.

Fantastic place. You can choose longest distance or shorter. Before hiking start near lake is restaurant and buffet, at the end of hiking is place to rest and eat too. Distance and hiking there is easy and enjoyable. Great place to rest from city life.

Such a fantastic day. The views on the walk up to the lake are absolutely unrivalled, it's so lush and the mountains are breathtaking. The lake is absolutely worth the walk as well! The only downside is the use of horses to take people up and down, the poor animals just go back and forth all day in the heat. Please please do not support this business, we're better than this in 2024 :(

It is a nice lake in the mountains but in August there were so many people it took away the pleasure. It is not well signed and we ended up walking 5 hours (there and back) thinking it is only a couple of hours excursion. This is how long it takes to get there and back, small shortcuts cuts down to maybe 4.5 hours. Take cash with you. The restaurant at the top only takes cash and if you want to take the carriage pulled by horses you also need to pay in cash (60 pln per person one way). It is also good to book in advance a car parking near the entrance to the park. We boked only a day before togather with the tickets and it was fine.

There are a lot of buses that can take you to the trail start, but if you want it to be with less people, you have to star realy early or later in the evening. We started at 12:00. Its a long walk on asfalt, 8km both ways, for us it took about 4h to go up and down. A bit tyring till you reach the lake, there were so many people, but it was worth it. You can go around the lake and find a better spot for taking pictures or eating lunch with less people, it was so beautiful.

Breathing view. We hiked for about 2 hours to get there but it wasn't difficult. At this time of year there weren't that many people there and we were able to sit alone and admire the lake. The water was crystal clear and we saw a lot of fish. The atmosphere was amazing and we went around the whole lake in about an hour. The whole path around the lake is made out of big rocks and in some places we were able to stand on the rocks in the water and get beautiful pictures. I would recommend going there 100%.