Mareszka

Photo: SN Mareszka. The central part of the Beskid Niski, covering the upper basin of the Wisłoka river, is one of the most remote places in Poland. Most of the valleys are deserted former Lemko villages, and those that are still inhabited often have only a few dozen residents. Vast forests stretch for kilometres, and meeting a wolf here is not unusual. On the other hand, the villages hide wonderful small wooden tserkvas (Eastern-rite churches), and most of the accommodation is in small guesthouses and agritourism farms. No lift queues, peace and complete relaxation. That is why the ski areas here attract visitors not so much with their skiing in the strict sense as with the atmosphere as a whole. Świątkowa Wielka, with a fairly new micro ski resort at its far end, is just such a quiet and relaxing place. Although it has the only ski lift in Jasło County (the lift in Żydowskie near Krempna, marked in some guides, has long been out of use), you will rarely meet more than a few dozen skiers on the slope. The heart of the resort is a button lift about 600 metres long, with two pistes alongside it that are really variants of a single slope, passing (as is often the case at micro resorts) the picturesque little pine trees on the right or on the left... The slope is floodlit and groomed, and at the valley station you will find an equipment rental shop, a ski service and a small food outlet (the grilled trout from the resort's own fish farm is particularly recommended: by the standards of Polish ski resorts, a real delicacy). Three short cross-country trails (4,500, 3,000 and 1,500 metres long) have also been laid out here. There are several wooden tserkvas worth seeing in the area (Świątkowa Mała and Wielka, Kotoń and Krempna), and in nearby Krempna it is also worth looking into the Natural History Museum of Magura National Park.