Cheeses of Zakopane and Podhale
A Tatra mountain town where smoked oscypek, pressed in carved wooden moulds, is grilled and sold from every street stall.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: May to September, when the shepherds make cheese.
Zakopane sits at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, in the Podhale region of southern Poland. The highlanders, Górale, have herded sheep on the mountain pastures for centuries. Their cheese, oscypek, is a smoked, spindle-shaped sheep's milk cheese pressed in carved wooden moulds. It is sold, often grilled with cranberry jam, at stalls along the town's main street.
Oscypek
Oscypek is made in the shepherds' huts, bacówki, from May to September, from sheep's milk sometimes mixed with a little cow's milk. The curd is scalded, kneaded and pressed into decorated wooden moulds, then soaked in brine and smoked for days. Bundz, a fresh cheese, bryndza, a salty spread, and redykołka, small shaped cheeses, come from the same huts.
The town and the mountains
Zakopane is Poland's best-known mountain resort, with wooden villas in the Zakopane style, a cable car up Kasprowy Wierch and trails into the Tatra National Park. In spring, shepherds lead flocks up to the pastures, and in autumn bring them down again. Some huts in the park's glades sell cheese straight from the shepherds.
A trail idea for Zakopane and Podhale
- Krupówki The main street with oscypek grilled at street stalls.
- A bacówka Buy cheese from a shepherd's hut in season.
- Kasprowy Wierch Take the cable car up to the Tatra ridge.
- Chochołowska valley A valley of shepherds' huts and pastures.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Zakopane" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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