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Police officers and rangers have stepped up joint patrols in Poland’s mountainous Tatra National Park during the peak summer season, following a spate of rule-breaking including swimming in the park’s lakes and ponds, driving cars and going off marked trails. Meanwhile, national park authorities have repeated warnings that bathing, littering and breaking other rules can damage the park’s fragile ecosystem. Local police officers have joined Tatra National Park rangers on patrols on popular tourist routes.
On one such patrol last week, officers focused on education and prevention, reminding visitors not to leave marked trails or litter and explaining how to behave safely and responsibly in the mountains. They also checked that organised groups were accompanied by qualified mountain guides, as required by law. Fines for such offences range from 50 zloty (€11.55) to as much as 1,000 zloty (€231) in the event of environmental damage or multiple offences.
Police said that all visitors encountered during the patrol were complying with the park’s regulations. However, they added that similar patrols would continue on a regular basis. The park, the most visited of Poland’s 23 national parks, welcomed a record 5.3 million visitors in 2025 and offers 275 km of marked hiking trails, including high-altitude routes that connect at several points with the adjacent national park in Slovakia.
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