Mountain hostels on The Loop trail

The Loop is a trail that is distinguished by high quality accommodations. For that reason the trail leads by the best kept PTTK mountain hostels in the Western Beskids. There is a big variety of accommodations on the trail – the track also passes by student cabins, camp bases and towns with an elaborate offer of accommodations (ranging from lodgings and houses for rent to hotels and apartments). In this text we focus only on all-year mountain hostels located on The Loop’s track. You can say that these mountain hostels are cozy and warm accommodations with a tasty meal with a view of the mountains included.
Before we go to a particular listing, a quick explanation… What do we define as mountain hostels? We consider it to be facilities located in proximity of tourist trails, usually far away from other buildings. The mountain hostels are interpreted as open-access accommodations with a gastronomic area. The hostels should in principle take in guests from the route without a reservation, they should not deny shelter, and substitutionary accommodation (e.g. on the floor) should be available 24/7. Despite that we still advise you to always make a reservation ahead of time if you plan to spend the night on the trail.

It is our interpretation, so please do not treat these words as a statutable definition or a basis of any legal claims towards the hosts. We do not take into account the marshal’s offices’ certifications nor the Central Register List of hotel facilities. We just want to point out that due to that we did not classify some facilities that are often referred to by the name ‘mountain hostels’ as such if we know that the way they function does not meet our definition of a mountain hostel (e.g. Czantoria Cabin, Dębowiec Gastronomy, Gościniec Równica or Stefanka Hostel on Mount Kozia Góra).

The Loop – mountain hostels in the Silesian Beskids
In this mountain group we have the highest density of mountain hostels on the track of The Loop. They are located in close proximity to each other, sometimes even less than an hour away from one facility to another. These are:
● Mount Szyndzielnia Hostel
● Mount Błatnia Hostel
● Mount Soszów Hostel
● Mount Stożek Hostel
● Mount Barania Góra Hostel
It is worth mentioning that the Mount Klimczok Hostel is also located close to the trail. On the other hand in a big section of the trail in the Silesian Beskids The Loop leads by numerous agritourism farms, tourist buffets, inns, and accommodations located high in the mountains.

The Loop – mountain hostels in the Żywiec Beskids
In the tourist environment the Żywiec Beskids are well known for a big and well developed chain of mountain hostels. In direct neighborhood of The Loop on the land of the Żywiec Beskids there are the following mountain hostels:
● Hala Rysianka Hostel
● Hala Miziowa Hostel
● Chata Baców in Korbielów
● Markowe Szczawiny Hostel
It is worth noting that the Hala Rysianka Hostel is very popular, however in close proximity of it (around 10-15 minutes by foot) there is another equally well rated PTTK mountain hostel on Hala Lipowska. Therefore we can consider Hala Rysianka and Lipowska a joint accommodation on The Loop trail.

The Loop – mountain hostels in the Little and Makowski Beskids
The Little and Makowski Beskids will be described together due to the fact that on the track of The Loop there is only one mountain hostel located in the area of these two Beskids and it is:
● Mount Magórka Wilkowicka Hostel
As people marking the track of a nearly 250 km long track we do not have control over the location of already existing facilities. A scant number of mountain hostels in the Little and Makowiecki Beskids is an impediment to the track going through a bigger number of towns or by mountain facilities of a different category. That’s why we encourage you to creatively analyze the wide offer of accommodations in the Beskids and on the entire track of The Loop!

Photos by Radosław Szczepanek