Zakopane Cable Car Tours from Krakow

For a Gubałówka funicular day without the thermal baths, book Poland is beautiful’s Zakopane, Gubałówka and Wielka Krokiew Day Trip on GetYourGuide. It costs from $74 per person with pickup and drop-off at your Krakow accommodation, includes the funicular ticket and a cheese tasting at a highlander hut, and runs about 9 hours. It holds 4.7 from 1,737 GetYourGuide reviews, the most of any Zakopane sightseeing tour without baths on this site (prices checked October 2026). The same operator sells it on Viator as From Krakow: Zakopane, Tatra Mountains & Gubałówka Day Trip, from about $74 with 5.0 from 105 reviews on Viator, so check both for your date.

Every tour here uses the Gubałówka funicular, a short railway to the ridge facing the Tatras across Zakopane. None of them includes Kasprowy Wierch, the high cable car into the mountains, which is closed for maintenance from 19 October to 6 November 2026.

Gubałówka or Kasprowy Wierch?

These are two different lifts, and every Krakow tour on this site that says “cable car” means the first.

• Gubałówka funicular (PKL): a railway 1,301 m long that climbs about 300 m in about 3.5 minutes, first opened in 1938. It runs 09:00 to 19:00. In the low season, from 1 October to 18 December 2026, a return costs 37 PLN online or 42 PLN at the ticket office; in the 2026 high season it was 44 PLN online or 49 PLN at the office. Children under 4 ride free.
• Kasprowy Wierch cable car (PKL): a two-section cable car of almost 4.3 km from Kuźnice to just below the 1,987 m summit on the Polish–Slovak border. A low-season return costs 129 PLN normal, and the ticket includes Tatra National Park entry. It is closed from 19 October to 6 November 2026.

From the Gubałówka ridge you look across at Giewont, Kasprowy Wierch and Czerwone Wierchy, and on clear days north to Babia Góra and the Pieniny. At the top PKL also runs a 700 m gravity slide and a tubing run, and a market below the ridge sells sheep’s cheeses and folk crafts. If you want to go into the high mountains, our Tatra Mountains tours page sets out the walking options.

Funicular plus cheese tasting

This is the classic format: Chochołów, a tasting of smoked sheep’s-milk cheese sold as oscypek, the funicular and free time on Krupówki. Genuine PDO oscypek is made only from May to September, which is why the listings say “sold as oscypek”.

The Poland is beautiful day adds photo stops at the Wielka Krokiew ski jump and the wooden Jaszczurówka Chapel, and the itinerary allows about an hour on Gubałówka. Your driver doubles as tour leader in English or Polish. See our breakdown of the Gubałówka and Wielka Krokiew day.

VISIT POLEN’s Zakopane and Tatra Mountains Door-to-Door Day Tour on Viator follows the same pattern from about $81 per person, with groups capped at 15 and everyone collected from their own accommodation. It holds 4.8 from 1,194 reviews on Viator.

Krakowdirect’s Zakopane Cable Car, Cheese and Drink Tasting Tour on GetYourGuide is cheaper at first glance, from $69, but read the options. The $69 Basic option is a return transfer with free time and the tasting, with no Gubałówka ticket and no guided sightseeing. The guided option with skip-the-line cable car tickets costs about $79, and a higher option about $89. It holds 4.7 from 396 GetYourGuide reviews. On the Basic option, add the 37 to 42 PLN return ticket yourself.

Funicular plus more time in Zakopane

ExploreCracow’s Zakopane Small-Group Tour with Funicular and Cheese Tasting costs from $74 per person on GetYourGuide and gives about 3.5 hours in Zakopane with the funicular ticket included. Hotel pickup runs between 8:20 and 9:20, the van makes a village photo stop and a tasting in Chochołów with Polish vodka, then you ride the funicular and spend the rest of the block on Krupówki. It holds 4.8 from 405 GetYourGuide reviews. On Viator the same small-group day is Krakow: Zakopane Tour with Cable Car, Cheese & Vodka Tasting, from about $82 with 4.9 from 38 reviews on Viator. See our breakdown of the small-group tour. Our Zakopane day trip page compares every sightseeing-only day.

Funicular plus thermal baths

Adding the baths gives you three hours at Chochołowskie Termy and correspondingly less time in town. The Thousand Miles Zakopane, Gubałówka Funicular and Chochołów Thermal Baths day costs from about $114 on Viator, with 4.9 from 13,368 reviews on Viator, and runs 11 to 12 hours. The same day costs from $102 on GetYourGuide as Krakow–Zakopane: Cable Car, Chocholow Baths, Cheese & Vodka, with 4.8 from 11,112 GetYourGuide reviews. It includes the funicular return, the tasting, about two hours around Krupówki and the 3-hour baths ticket, but not the sauna area.

ExploreCracow’s Zakopane, Gubałówka and Chochołów Hot Springs Day Trip with Tasting costs from $96 from a meeting point, or about $102 with hotel pickup, with 4.9 from 4,526 GetYourGuide reviews. Chochołowskie Termy is closed from 19 to 30 October 2026, so check which baths your date uses. Our Zakopane and thermal baths page compares all the baths days.

Funicular plus snowmobiles

Time4Krakow’s Zakopane Snowmobiles, Funicular and Hot Springs Tour fits a one-hour snowmobile ride, a cheese maker’s hut, an hour in Zakopane, about an hour on Gubałówka and about two and a half hours at Chochołowskie Termy into about 10 hours. It costs from $113 per person with hotel pickup and holds 5.0 from 215 GetYourGuide reviews. The snowmobile itself is extra: 400 PLN in cash per two-seat machine. Snowmobiles may not legally run inside Tatra National Park, so the ride is outside it, and snow is not guaranteed; the listing sells dates from October and does not say what replaces the ride without snow. Our snowmobile tours page covers the winter options.

Where to go next

For every type of Zakopane day in one place, see our best Zakopane tours from Krakow or the guide to which Zakopane tour from Krakow is right for you. If you would rather ride the funicular on your own, our Krakow to Zakopane page compares the bus and train. When you have chosen your pairing, check availability.