Hiking in Silesia: Pilsko and the Żywiec Beskids
The Silesian and Żywiec Beskids are mountains of forests and pastures, with PTTK huts on almost every summit. Pilsko, on the Slovak border, is the second-highest mountain in the Polish Beskids after Babia Góra. Here you will find the route with track, elevation profile, GPX and practical information; we will add Barania Góra and Skrzyczne.
The numbers mark where each trail starts.
No trails match the filters: try widening them.
How to read the grades
Trails in Poland have no official difficulty scale: the PTTK waymarks, a red, blue, green, yellow or black stripe between two white ones, identify the route, not its difficulty (red usually marks the main trail). To compare them with our Italian guides, we have estimated the difficulty of each trail on the scale of the Club Alpino Italiano (Italian Alpine Club). Grades assume dry ground: rain, snow or strong heat make a route harder.
- T Tourist
- Roads, mule tracks or wide, easy paths with no route-finding problems.
- E Hiking 1 in this guide
- Waymarked trails over varied terrain: you need hiking boots and a basic level of fitness.
- EE Expert hikers
- Exposed, steep or rocky sections, sometimes with chains: you need a sure foot and a head for heights.
- EEA Expert hikers with equipment
- Via ferratas or equipped routes: you need a harness, via ferrata set and helmet.
Before you set off
Mountain huts
The PTTK huts of the Beskids serve hot meals all year round: you can walk light.
Weekends
On summer weekends the trails near Szczyrk and Wisła are very busy with people from Silesia.
Fog
On the high pastures fog rolls in quickly: keep the GPX track on your phone.
Emergencies
GOPR mountain rescue: 985 or 601 100 300; single emergency number 112.
Water sports in Silesia →← Guide to Silesia
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via Waymarked Trails and BRouter; elevations from a digital terrain model. Times and elevation gains are indicative: waymarks on the ground and closure orders always take precedence.