Travel / Most beautiful small towns / villages of Poland [49]


There are a plethora of beautiful small towns in Poland. Some of them are:

- Reszel
- Zakliczyn
- Lipnica Murowana
- Żabno
- Tyczyn
- Stary Sącz
- Leżajsk
- Bisztynek
- Głogów Małopolska
- Szydłów
- Klimontów
- Lubliniec

...and a few hundred more, too many to name.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Carrots are not difficult to grow at all. My neighbor has land adjacent to mine and had literally hundreds of beautiful, tasty, large carrots this year without any cover or spray. All natural. Keep in mind, it also depends on what type of soil you have. In this area the soil is excellent. Our location is in Southeastern Poland, between Tarnów and Nowy Sącz in the Carpathian foothills.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

I have a newly renovated barn (can be seen in the background in the video on the left) but no livestock, yet. There will be chickens, and perhaps a pony.

My home is a center of agro-tourism and eco-tourism, and yes, I do accept guests. There are many such guest houses all over Poland.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Yeah, he's a nice horse and works all the time with his owner. This year, I had around 15 kg beans and over 120 kg of potatoes. Next year, I will plant carrots, onions, and potatoes.

The music is typical Polish Góralskie (Highlanders) by the Polish group "Misart".

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Here is a short video of some of the village I live in and neighbors plowing my land with a horse. It's beautiful here. Enjoy!

Genealogy / LISIA GORA - village in Poland [16]


I live only 44 kilometers directly south of Lisia Góra in the Carpathian foothills near Gromnik. My family actually comes from Dąbrowa Tarnowska, which is only about 12 kilometers north of Lisia Góra.

The main road going from Tarnów to Warszawa (via Szczucin over the Wisła river) passes directly through Lisia Góra. The village has a beautiful church and a few other historical sites.

Travel / Castles and Palaces in Poland (with pictures) [154]


If you enjoy castle ruins, I suggest you visit the Melszytn ruins located near the small town of Zakliczyn, which stands above the Dunajec river. There are MANY hidden tunnels located all around where the castle walls once stood, and numerous wall fragments and partial bastions still stand. Part of the former aqueduct still survives near the main structure and there is a tunnel in the aqueduct 'pit' which is supposed to lead far underground, underneath the Dunajec river. The authorities have sealed off this tunnel due to several reports of people entering it and never coming back. I live only 10 km East from Melsztyn. It's a great place to go hiking, have a picnic, and to do some mountain biking.

News / Flood situation worsens in southern Poland [119]

My home and property is located on top of a mountain, between Zakliczyn and Gromnik, and I am lucky due to the slope of the land and how I have the drainage set up. The rain did not flood my house or property at all, so I am very lucky. My large basement is completely dry, not one drop of water. The only casualty on my land is one large apple tree which collapsed from the saturated water in the soil.

Language / Free and accurate Online Polish-English / English-Polish translator? [49]

An excellent Polish-English online dictionary can be found at: dict.pl

Real Estate / Foreigners can now buy houses in Poland [55]

I know. That is why I included the line "...European Union citizens can buy houses in Poland without any special permits...".

Genealogy / Family Decendent of Gen. Jozef Bem [28]


Please look at the Muzeum Okręgowe W Tarnowie
muzeum.tarnow.pl
It has a link on the front page which says that this year is the "Year of General Jozef Bem" and there is plenty of information about it on their website.

Genealogy / Family Decendent of Gen. Jozef Bem [28]

General Jozef Bem was born in Tarnów, Poland (only 30 km south of me) and a hero in both Poland and Hungary who fought for independence. He was brought back to Poland in 1929 and laid to rest in a mausoleum in Tarnów, located in the center of a pond in a beautiful park.

Love / Top 5 Cities with most beautiful/ugly girls in whole Poland [65]


Precisely. Every country, city, town, and village in the world has its variations of population appearances.

Love / Top 5 Cities with most beautiful/ugly girls in whole Poland [65]


Agreed! How can one possibly attribute a trait such as 'beauty' to a city they are living in? There is no correlation between the beauty of a women and the city they live in. Absolute nonsense.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is beautiful to one set of eyes may be average looking to another, and vice versa.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


It's all part of the experience here.


Sure, my neighbors would be more than glad for you to shovel manure out of their stable 2 times per day. You might even get a meal out of it!


The train ride takes longer than the bus and is more expensive. About 3 hours. The bus ride is more pleasant, with views via rolling hils and sleepy towns, and takes only 2 hours.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


Yes, my house is ready for guests in almost every respect. It beats staying in a hotel because you get to mingle with the locals and really see Poland and experience Polish culture, take rides in horse drawn wagons in the mountains, have campfires, pick mushrooms, berries, fruits, take walks in the forest trails, and even be part of the local gossip. :-) You get to help the owner split wood! Not only that, but there is more freedom of movement by staying here and the price is much lower than any hotel or motel. All facilities are available for use (kitchen and living room), and free unlimited internet. It's also a great base to visit Kraków (by bus for about 12 zloty each way or train for slightly higher amount - train station in the next village), Tarnów, Nowy Sącz, Biecz, etc. I don't mean this to be an advertisement, but you did ask.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]

When living in a village and area with such a small population, how can you not know what is going on around you? Everyone pretty much knows about everyone else's business here. One doesn't even have to buy a local newspaper...just talk to your neighbors. This is very typical.

I'm not involved in any local planning or tourist board. I came here over 6 years ago by myself as a foreigner and built a new home. My nearest relatives are about 70 km north of me. This has been my primary residence ever since then. It really is beautiful. I'm not promoting this area in any "organized" way, however, I don't mind when tourists do visit and stay with me. It's also good to inform others who seek a similar lifestyle what's it's like here. I would also welcome opinions from others who have a rural lifestyle in Poland. This would provide a more balanced view on living conditions and the real estate market in a rural setting.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


Agreed, I notice that as well. There also seems to be an influx of people now longing to own their own house on a piece of land where they can breath a bit.

I'll give you some examples of the recent activity in my village. A Spaniard who has a Polish wife just recently purchased a large brick home here near the parish church. They have around 1/3 hectare of land surrounding their home and recently put in a new roof. We now have about 8 families from the Śląsk area that have bought wooden homes and farms here. One Pole from Tarnów bought a farm and now produces home made wine and sells rabbits. Another Pole from Tarnów bought vacant, unused farm land on top of the highest mountain here and opened up a very successful ski area. It's not large like Krynica, but people still swarm in to go skiing. Two villages away from me, the number of people from Śląsk is even higher. In an adjacent village, a German (along with his Polish wife) bought a charming farm exceeding 3 hectares and great views, before I moved into the area. He got a great price and that was in the year 2000. The family that sold it to him seems to be regretting the sale because they know they could have gotten over 15 times more for the same farm today. This is an unfortunate consequence for those locals who sold in the early 2000's (or even before that). Not many people really anticipated how much of a demand there would be for the simple rural life.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


Your prognosis is fair and accurate, because you specify a component of the real estate market ("flats") instead of lumping the housing category into one. That's what more property analysts should be doing. They should be more specific as there are obviously various components comprising real estate.

Recently in my village, there was an old wooden home in inhabitable shape (no other farm buildings except for an outhouse) for sale down the mountain from me, near a stream and paved road. It sits on only 0.40 hectares of arable land with no forest and has electric and well water. A nearby local Polish family just purchased it for 120,000 zloty. In itself, this amount of land would not qualify someone to become a farmer. However, this particular family already owns over 3 hectares elsewhere in the village, so they can live there and maintain their farmer status. Overall, a good investment as opposed to dropping money on a flat.

Love / Woman 23, man 47 years old. What do you think about ? [162]

I think it's great. I'm 45 and my girlfriend is 25. Things are fine between us and marriage may be in the horizon.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


B&B, maybe horse riding and hay rides in the future. You are welcome to visit anytime. I'm about 30 km south of Tarnów in the mountains.


I'm quite comfortable financially already, so there is no reason to 'suck' people into doing anything. The fact is, parcels of land over 1 hectare haven't been exposed properly to any form of supply and demand 'Europe-wide', so prices haven't been determined according to true market value yet, which makes land / forest / meadows underpriced. It's no delusion.

You sound very bitter "Guest". Why hide behind a guest nick?

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


You're very welcome.


No, that was probably Wildrover. I'm more into Agro / Eco Tourism, and hope to complete and open a pub in my barn along with activities in the other half of the building, like ping pong, basketball, and even dances every once in a while.


I was able to buy my property in Poland because my mother was born and raised in Poland and later went to the USA. I was born in the USA, but now I hold dual citizenship (USA and Poland). Poland has a great law which allows non-Polish born individuals to become a Polish citizen if one of your parents or even grandparents were born in Poland. If this is the case, in Poland's eyes, you are a native Pole. So, I was able to purchase as much land as I wanted, unrestricted.

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


Agreed, I think this provision is a good one. Another theory behind this was to give some time for land prices in Poland to reach a near equilibrium with Western European countries.

1 hectare = 2.471 acres

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


It is true. Foreigners are allowed to buy a flat without any permission, and as many as they wish. They can also buy a private home on a parcel of land less than 1 hectare also without permission, although, permission may be necessary under certain circumstances. Anything exceeding 1 hectare needs permission without a doubt until the year 2016. This mostly has to do with the status of being a 'farmer' and the special privileges they have when it comes to insurance, pension, and taxes.

To me it is clearly a hidden market in Poland that most foreigners don't pay attention to. Also, all of the property price reports focus only on flats, and not the houses on larger parcels of land. They tend to group everything into 'property' or 'houses', which isn't accurate at all. It is true that there are currently an abundance of flats on the market for resale. Small farms are much more scarce, although there are some still to be found at reasonable prices.


It really is. I remember at one time the date was 2012, and then got bumped up to 2016. I think Poland is trying to keep the date in sync with when Germany allows Poles to work in their country legally.

Life / Good place to live in Poland (if you want to move on)? [66]


In the Carpathian foothills in south-east Poland, south of Tarnów. :-)

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]

It should be stressed that most 'house' price analyses for Poland and other countries in Europe are actually for 'flats' and not houses per se. It is a grave error to bundle the drop in 'flat' prices with that of private 'house' prices. Keep in mind, as I have often mentioned numerous times on Polish Forums, land exceeding 1 hectare has not been allowed for sale to foreigners without permission from the Polish government. That law will end in the year 2016. This pertains to private houses on such land, and small farms. This is where the real estate market in Poland still thrives and has the most potential. I can attest to that since I own a large small farm exceeding 7 hectares, with a new home, barn, two farm buildings, arable land and forests, well with spring water, plumbing, and electricity. Such property represents true ownership, rather than a cramped flat in a large concrete apartment building stuffed with hundred's of other families.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Nature's gift of a view behind (south) of my house. :-)

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Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]


In my area, south of Tarnów, there is an abundance of: Fox, deer, owl, eagle, rabbit, squirrel, stork (in-season), pheasant, and more.