Tour to Zalipie is an interesting idea for travelers searching for sublime folk art experience, and real Polish countryside. Scenic village of Zalipie with its tiny, wooden houses painted in fantastic colors takes you back in time. The quaint local custom was to decorate stoves, wells, walls and windows in the amazing, flowery motives. You will be enchanted by colorful cottages, local art museums and a rural landscape.
Zalipie is located in a distance of about sixty minute’ drive from Krakow. This charming painted village was discovered in 1905 by Władysław Hickel who was fascinated with the local tradition of painting houses in colorful floral patterns. The custom started at the end of the 19th century when women started decorating not only the interiors of their cottages but also the outer walls, farm buildings, fences and even dog kennels and tree trunks. Zalipie village is not an open-air museum. Most of the buildings are actual functioning households. The village school, post office, and church were also painted in colorful flower folk art compositions.The most unique thing about Zalipie, is the feeling that time stood still. People from all over the world agree that the Polish village is the most beautiful place in the Universe. Although we don’t have any statistics confirming that fact, we are 100% sure that Zalipie is one of a kind and is really worth seeing while spending a holiday in Poland. Get yourself out of your boring hotel and open up to a world of colourful flowers cut from tissue paper, decorating the facades. Discover the beauty of antiquities, traditions, and culture passed through generations by word of mouth, and let yourself bloom on a Zalipie tour.
Interesting variation of this tour is to combine it with a visit in Dabrowa Tarnowska, nearby town, which has become famous for its newly restored Chassidic synagogue. This tour can combine the experience of meeting two cultures that have been combined for centuries: Polish and Jewish.
