The Vistula Cycle Route I

The Vistula Bike Route is one of the largest projects among bicycle trails in Poland. The route is designed to cross the whole country from the springs of the Vistula River high in the mountains to the Baltic Sea. The total length of the trail is about 1200 km. At present, there are two sections of this trail in Poland in three voivodeships: Śląskie, Małopolskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie. 

The route starts in Wisla at the train station. After about 70 km, which run through the province of Silesia, we enter the area of Malopolska.

That is a description of the first part of the route. It starts in Wisła (a city named after the Vistula River) and ends in Szczucin, the city near to the border between Podkarpackie and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeships. The route runs through the most attractive places in the Vistula River and its tributaries valleys in the Silesian and Lesser Poland Regions (Śląskie and Małopolskie Voivodeship).

The trail starts in Wisłą and runs along the Vistula River through Ustroń, Skoczów, Ochaby, Drogomyśl, turning before Strumień to Zabłocie, then through Zarzecze, Chybie, Zabrzeg (passing near to the Goczałkowickie Lake dam) and Czechowice-Dziedzice to Kanów. The section of the trail that leads through Małopolskie Voivodeship starts in Jawiszowice and ends 230 kilometres further – in Szczucin. The route runs, among others, through Oświęcim, Skawina, next to the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec, on Vistula Boulevards in Kraków, just near Niepołomice and Zalipie.
The trail is well marked, the cyclists travelling along the route are guided by R4 type signs, i.e. an orange plate with a black bicycle and the trail’s logo, sometimes accompanied by signs informing about the distance to particular towns. The surface of the trail is not uniform. The trail runs mostly on asphalt roads with little car traffic, and in some parts on gravel roads.