Czorsztyn Lake

The Czorsztyn reservoir was filled in 1997 after a dam on the Dunajec that had been argued about for decades - proposed in the 1970s, opposed on environmental grounds by a campaign that became one of the formative Polish conservation disputes, built anyway, and it flooded the valley floor including the village of Maniowy, whose inhabitants were moved to a new settlement. What it produced is a lake of about twelve square kilometres in the Pieniny foothills with two castles standing above it on opposite banks, which is the arrangement people come for: Czorsztyn, a ruin on the northern shore, and Niedzica, restored and complete, on the southern, built by rival powers when the river below was a frontier. A ferry crosses between them in season. The lake is used for sailing, windsurfing and swimming and the Dunajec raft trip starts downstream of the dam.

What you actually see

• Two facing castles - a ruin at Czorsztyn and the restored Niedzica across the water.
• A drowned valley - the reservoir filled in 1997 after a long and contested project.
• A frontier river - the castles built by rival powers when the Dunajec was a border.
• A ferry between them - crossing in season, with sailing and swimming on the lake.

When to go

May to September. A day, taking in both castles.

Honest expectations

The dam remains contested and the drowned village is not commemorated on site. Ferry operation is seasonal and weather-dependent. Niedzica charges entry and queues in summer. Water levels vary and the shoreline can be muddy.

Nearby

The Pieniny and Trzy Korony are east; the Dunajec raft trip starts below the dam.