Dunajec River Rafting

Two landings, one gorge

The organiser is Polskie Stowarzyszenie Flisaków Pienińskich, the Polish Pieniny Raftsmen Association. The English page dates the tourist tradition to the early 20th century and the association to 1934, two years after Pieniny National Park. The season runs every day from 1 April to 31 October, except Easter Sunday and Corpus Christi. The about page says boats start at the raft marina in Sromowce Wyżne-Kąty or at the marina in Sromowce Niżne. The English page names only Sromowce-Kąty, address Kąty 12, 34-443 Sromowce Wyżne, and lists the national-park exhibition pavilion, a tourist information office, souvenir shops and a restaurant. Depending on the point in the season the association has 50 to 200 rafts, which it counts as 600 to 2,400 places. A raft can go out twice in a day. From the start of the first trip the raftsmen need about 3.5 hours before they are ready to go again.

There are two endings. Szczawnica is about 18 kilometres and about 2 hours 15 minutes. Krościenko is about 23 kilometres and about 2 hours 45 minutes. The boats have no roof. A life jacket can be taken from the raftsman before departure. The about page also says life jackets are lent on request. A little water coming into the boat is described as normal and not a danger. Passengers follow the raftsman’s instructions, including how people sit and quiet in the Dunajec gorge, under the park’s visiting rules. Rubbish must not go into the river. Anyone drunk, or under another intoxicant, is not carried, and alcohol on the boats is forbidden.

What the gorge is, on the operator’s page

The English page calls Dunajec gorge rafting the most pleasant way of visiting Pieniny National Park. It says an invitation to this part of the land is only for someone who has never seen it, and it puts the yearly visits at several hundred thousand. The reasons it names are the landscape, a vivid past, monuments, and Goral folklore that is still lived. The visitor rules call the quiet stretch Przełom Dunajca. The raftsmen are responsible for carrying passengers safely. The same notes say the trip does not run when the gauge at Sromowce-Kąty is above 250 centimetres, and they require clothing and rain cover because the weather can change on the water.

The about page calls a photograph the original souvenir of the trip. Ordered from the raftsman while boarding, it is collected at the Szczawnica landing. Sromowce Niżne, on the about page, is a second starting shore, not only another name for Kąty. The same page also pairs the gorge raft with the Palenica chairlift, as a second stop after the water on the same day.