Stara Polana Hostel

"Stara Polana" translates to "Old Clearing", and this hostel is located in a clearing that happens to be in the very centre of town. The hostel is housed in an old villa built in 1905 in the classic Zakopane style. Surrounding the hostel is a large garden which includes a place for grilling. The famous Krupowki Street is just a ten minute walk away, and the train and bus station is just five minutes away. The hostel is open 24 hours a day, and the price of a bed includes breakfast, the use of a large and fully-equipped kitchen, free Internet, parking and a laundry.

I stayed at this place on the recommendation of a local mountain guide (who made a very peculiar noise when he snored), but was pretty unimpressed. Not a patch on other accomodation i've used in Zakopane.

Very poor welcome by the staff, will never come back there. Rooms tends to be dirty. You need a car, it is isolated, it is far from eveything.

This hostel is great and three of us stayed here for 5 nights. Yes it takes about 15 minutes to get to main Krupowki Street, but it is a nice walk and it is definitely within walking distance to other tourist attractions like Gobalowka. If you want to get to the slops (Kasprowy Wierch, Nosal, Witow) or Morskie Oko (Lake in the Mountains) there is a bus station near the train station about 10-15 minutes walk from the hostel. There are a number of private minibuses outside the station as well, which will take you wherever you want at the same price as the normal buses. The staff at the hostel was very helpful as well and I would definitely recommend this hostel to anyone.

Really friendly staff who cant do enough for you. Apartments are too expensive for what you get in comparison with Zakopane Hotels. Position of the Hostels is a good 15 minute walk from the centre of the main street.