Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze, PTTK (Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society) is a Polish non-governmental tourist organization with 312 branches across the country.[1]
The PTTK is one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe. Its origins stretch back to the foreign Partitions of Poland. In August 1873 a group of tourism enthusiasts including painter and photographer Walery Eljasz Radzikowski from Kraków and physician Tytus Chałubiński founded the Polish cultural Tatra Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Tatrzańskie, originally the "Galician" Tatra Society for the Austrian censorship). A parallel Polish Sightseeing Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Krajoznawcze) was founded by ethnographer Zygmunt Gloger in 1906. The two organizations merged after World War II in 1950 to form the PTTK.
Current Operations
The Society aims to promote qualified tourism and sightseeing. Its activities include designing and marking tourist trails as well as cycling, horse and river trails throughout Poland; maintaining a network of tourist accommodations, including museums and libraries; running several courses and workshops; training and certifying official travel guides, and publishing maps and guidebooks.
The Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society has approximately 61,000 members, with over 260 branches throughout Poland. It brings together about 2,500 rings and nearly 200 clubs. It runs accommodation facilities of a varying standards with over 20 thousand beds; including, in 60 tourist homes, 77 mountain chalets, 35 hostels and water sports facilities, 5 inns, and 33 campgrounds; along with a network of 16 museums. The society is organised into several regional authorities each with its own staff. The membership fee and the PTTK membership card provide a discount on all accommodation and courses offered by PTTK. Each member of the Polish Tourist Association is a paying member awarded with one of a system of over a dozen badges, including Climbing, Hiking, Skiing, Cycling, Sailing and even a Diving Badge.[2][3] The PTTK Society is a member of international tourist organizations such as the Alliance Internationale de Tourisme, the Naturfreunde Internationale, the Federation of Nature and National Parks of Europe, and the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques.
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras, or Tatra, are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highest mountains in the Carpathians. The Tatras are distinct from the Low Tatras, a separate Slovak mountain range further south.
Poland is a part of the global tourism market with constantly increasing number of visitors. Tourism in Poland contributes to the country's overall economy. The most popular cities are Kraków, Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, Szczecin, Lublin, Toruń, Zakopane, the Salt Mine in Wieliczka and the historic site of Auschwitz – a German Nazi concentration camp in Oświęcim. The best recreational destinations include Poland's Masurian Lake District, Baltic Sea coast, Tatra Mountains, Sudetes and Białowieża Forest. Poland's main tourist offers consist of sightseeing within cities, historical monuments, natural monuments, business trips, agrotourism, bicycle touring, qualified tourism, mountain hiking (trekking) and climbing among others.
Rysy is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, eastern part of the Tatra Mountains, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at 2,501 m (8,205 ft); the north-western at 2,500 m (8,202 ft); and the south-eastern at 2,473 m (8,114 ft). The north-western summit is the highest point of Poland and belongs to the Crown of Polish Mountains; the other two summits are on the Slovak side of the border.
A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas too.
A Ratusz is a historic administrative building in countries that adopted the Magdeburg rights such as the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and others. It was distinguished with a bell tower. Unlike a regular city hall which may or may not have any specific architectural compositions, ratusz (rathaus) always consisted of a building with a tower.
Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (AIT) is an international federation of motoring organisations created to "represent the interests of national automobile associations and touring clubs". It was founded at the Casino Bourgeois in Luxembourg City on 4 August 1898 as the Ligue Internationale des Associations Touristes (LIAT) but changed its name to the Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (AIT) on 30 May 1919.
Przesieka is a village in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland. It belongs to Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in Jelenia Góra County, Gmina Podgórzyn. It is one of the most important centres of mountain hiking. It lies approximately 12 km (7 mi) south-west of Jelenia Góra, and 103 km (64 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław.
Zygmunt Gloger was a Polish historian, archaeologist, geographer and ethnographer, bearer of the Wilczekosy coat of arms. Gloger founded the precursor of modern and widely popular Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK).
Morskie Oko, or Eye of the Sea in English, is the largest and fourth-deepest lake in the Tatra Mountains, in southern Poland. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park in the Rybi Potok Valley, of the High Tatras mountain range at the base of the Mięguszowiecki Summits, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. In 2014, The Wall Street Journal recognized the lake as one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world.
Stożek Wielki is a mountain on the border of Poland and the Czech Republic, in the Silesian Beskids mountain range. It reaches a height of 978 metres (3,209 ft).
Ryszard Kotla is a Polish travel writer, tour guide, activist, journalist, academic teacher and lifeguard instructor at the Polish Life Saving Association. While he is an electrical engineer by education, he is considered to be a leading expert on history and tourism in Szczecin and the greater region of Western Pomerania. He is the brother of Zdzislaw Kotla and the father of Pavel Kotla.
Pilsko is the second highest mountain of the Żywiec Beskids mountain range, near the border between Poland and Slovakia. It rises to an altitude of 1,557 meters (5,108 ft) and is a hiking destination in summer and a skiing area in winter. The name Pilsko is frequently used not only to describe the main peak, which lies in Slovakia, but also the whole range. The mountain lies not only on the border between the two nations, it also marks the European Watershed.
Trzy Korony is the summit of the Three Crowns Massif, an independent portion of a range called Pieniny Mountains in the south of Poland. Trzy Korony forms the central part of a compact group of connected mountains known as Pieniny Środkowe, consisting mainly of the limestone and dolomite rock strata. Trzy Korony is located within the Pieniny National Park in Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
Szrenica is a mountain peak situated in the western part of Giant Mountains in Poland, very close to the Polish-Czech border, within the Karkonosze National Park. Its name originates from the Polish word szron (frost). There is a weather station situated close to the summit. The peak is deforested, both the southern and the northern parts are used intensively for skiing. The elevation gain compared to the main range is approximately 60 m.
Jerzy Roman Porębski is a Polish documentary film producer, scriptwriter, screenwriter, writer and co-writer, director and agent for mountaineering books. Mountain culture consultant. His films mainly concern mountaineering and mountain rescue themes. He is interested in explorers, challenges, mountaineering, mountain culture and history.
CMAS Europe is an organisation created expressly to represent the interests of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) within the European Union and in other parts of Europe by European national diving federations affiliated to CMAS.
Turbacz is the highest peak of the Gorce Mountains, a mountain range located in southern Lesser Poland. It lies in the middle of the range, and according to most sources, it is 1310 meters high. The peak itself is surrounded by dense pine forest, which makes it impossible view the surrounding area. In the past, however, no trees were present there, and according to the 1832 sources, it was possible to see the city of Kraków with a telescope. On the top there is a stone obelisk with an iron cross. Turbacz belongs to the Crown of Polish Mountains.
Crown of Polish Mountains – a list of 28 peaks one per each of the mountain ranges of Poland. It was suggested by geographer, traveller and writer Marek Więckowski and Dr. Wojciech Lewandowski in the tourism and local lore magazine Know Your Country. The list was on December 12, 1997 at a meeting convened by the editors of Know Your Country and at the same time the Club of the Conquerors of the Crown of Polish Mountains was inaugurated.
The Soil Science Society of Poland (SSSP), is a scientific and professional society of Polish soil scientists.
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PTTK Orlica in Pieniny
