Czarny Staw pod Rysami — Black Lake below Rysy — is one of the most dramatic and atmospheric lakes in the entire Tatra Mountains. Sitting 188 metres above the famous Morskie Oko and cradled in a glacial cirque beneath towering rock walls, it delivers a view that stays with you long after you descend.

The lake's almost black surface is caused by the shadows cast by surrounding ridges and by a cyanobacterium called Pleurocapsa polonica — an organism practically endemic to this spot. The cirque is enclosed by the 576-metre north face of Kazalnica, the dark peak of Mięguszowiecki Szczyt Czarny, Rysy itself, and the Żabia Grań ridge. Even on the hottest summer days the air here is cool and still, and the atmosphere borders on the eerie — Polish poet Wincenty Pol famously called it 'a land of death'. Water temperature in summer stays between 7 and 11.5°C, the lake freezes as early as October and only thaws between May and July. At 76.4 m deep it is the second deepest lake in the Tatras and the fourth deepest in Poland, and it holds the distinction of being the southernmost lake in the country.

• PTTK mountain hut at Morskie Oko — red trail, along the eastern shore of Morskie Oko to the rocky threshold of Czarny Staw — approx. 50 min, moderate
• From the trail junction at Czarny Staw continuing to Rysy summit — approx. 3 h, demanding
• From Czarny Staw to Kazalnica and Mięguszowiecka Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem — approx. 2 h 30 min, demanding

• The lake is within Tatra National Park — leaving marked trails and entering the water is prohibited.
• Snow may linger on the approach until July — microspikes or crampons recommended in early season.
• Several plant species found nowhere else in Poland grow on the lake's shores, including Saxifraga retusa and Poa tatrae.

Look out for the iron cross on the western shore — cast from Tatra iron at the Kuźnice forge in Zakopane and erected here in 1836 in memory of Bishop Grzegorz Ziegler's visit in 1823. It is one of the oldest tourist monuments in this part of the mountains.