Zakopane: Snowmobile/Quad Ride Ticket & Hosted Bonfire Feast｜Poland

Ride a quad or a snowmobile through the Tatra foothills, on trails that tourist coaches never reach. This is an off road ride for people who would rather steer than sit, and it ends the way every good day in these mountains should, around an open fire with something local on the plate.

From roughly December to March the snow takes over and you ride a snowmobile. The route runs across open white fields and along quiet forest tracks, with the ridgeline of the Tatras ahead of you and powder lifting behind the machine. Cold air, a warm engine, and the particular silence you only get when the whole landscape is under snow.

For the rest of the year you ride a quad. Gravel roads, grassy ridges, shaded forest trails and the occasional muddy rut, past scattered highland farms and pastures with the mountains filling the horizon. Late spring and summer are the green months, autumn turns the valley copper and gold. We match the machine to the conditions on the day and confirm which one you will ride before you arrive, so you always get the vehicle the terrain is asking for.

No riding experience is needed, and most of our guests have never done this before. Your instructor fits your helmet, takes you through the throttle, the brakes and the hand signals used on the trail, then gives you a practice loop on flat ground before the group heads out. From there you ride as a group behind a lead rider who sets the route, with the pace set by the group rather than by the fastest rider in it. You can open it up on the straights or take it slowly and spend the time looking at the mountains instead. If you are riding two to a machine, you can swap driver at the stops.

When you get back, the fire is already lit. You sit down around it with oscypek, the smoked sheep cheese produced only in this corner of Poland, grilled sausage, fresh bread and a taste of local drinks. Nobody rushes this part. Muddy boots, wind burnt faces, everyone retelling the same corner of the trail, and the mountains going quiet behind you. It is the difference between an activity you booked and an afternoon you actually remember.

The activity starts and ends at our base in the Tatra foothills, with free parking right where you meet your instructor. It runs year round in almost any weather, suits couples, families and small groups of friends, and leaves the rest of your day in Podhale free.