Wyżnia Świstówka is the uppermost tier of the Mała Łąka Valley in the Western Tatras - a wild, flat-bottomed glacial cirque with no marked trail leading to it. It's a place that captures the imagination more than the boots, though the view of it from the surrounding ridges is genuinely striking.

Sitting at around 1650-1850 m, it's enclosed by the northern ridge of Kopa Kondracka, the main ridge of the Western Tatras toward Małołączniak, and the Czerwony Grzbiet ridge. Inside lies the grassy Czerwony Upłaz and the Kotliny basins. Built of limestone and dolomite, the cirque is dry - no stream flows across its surface, as water drains underground through an extensive karst system riddled with caves, including the entrance to the famous Śnieżna Cave. In summer it holds a stark, rocky-grassy character; in winter it's completely cut off and inaccessible.

How to get there

• The area lies within a strict nature reserve (Wantule, Wyżnia Mała Łąka) and is closed to tourists - there is no marked trail leading directly here.
• Wyżnia Świstówka can be viewed from the ridges surrounding the Mała Łąka Valley, reachable via marked trails in this part of the Western Tatras.

Practical information

• The area is under strict conservation protection - venturing off marked trails is prohibited.
• Rare plants grow here: Hacquetia epipactis relative Pedicularis hacquetii and the drooping saxifrage, found in Poland only in the Tatras.
• The area was once used for sheep grazing as part of the Mała Łąka pasture.

The entrance to Śnieżna Cave, part of Poland's largest cave system, lies right here - making Wyżnia Świstówka one of the most fascinating, if unreachable, corners of the Tatras.