Orange envelopes on the streets of Zakopane have become a surprise for many tourists. They invite drivers to park, but they are not for everyone – and using them without permission can mean an extra charge of up to 300 PLN.
The orange envelopes were introduced in Zakopane in 2023. Their goal is to make it easier for residents to reach offices and public institutions. During the tourist season, visitors leave their cars in the centre for many hours and block spaces, so a resident who needs to handle a matter at a nearby office often has nowhere to stop.
Only people who hold the Zakopane Resident Card and have an active parking package, known as the „Zakopiańczyk” subscription, may use the orange spaces. The stop cannot exceed 120 minutes, and the driver has to collect a ticket from a parking meter and enter the registration number assigned to the card. These spaces are located in front of public institutions: the City Office, the District Court, major bus stops and the ZUS social insurance office. For tourists and residents of neighbouring gminas, these places are unavailable.
Weekend parking has changed
Since December 2025, the Paid Parking Zone has been in force in the city centre, and drivers pay every day, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, between 8:00 and 21:00. Earlier, fees applied only from Monday to Friday. The change came from a resolution adopted by the Zakopane City Council on 23 October 2025 and was made possible by an amendment to the Public Roads Act that took effect in June 2025. The zone is designed to increase the turnover of vehicles; free weekends encouraged cars to remain in the centre for hours, blocking places for other drivers.
The city has been divided into subzones, and rates depend on the location. The highest rates are in subzone A, in the strict centre. In the remaining subzones parking is cheaper: the first hour costs 6 PLN, the second 7 PLN and the third 8 or 8.20 PLN. In subzone B there is an additional option for longer parking: for seven or more hours in one day, a driver can pay once 45 PLN. A separate subzone D is the car park at Aleja 3 Maja, intended exclusively for buses, with rates from 8.40 PLN for the first hour to 12 PLN for the third.
Residents have lower rates, neighbours complain
Payments can be made at parking meters or through mobile apps. Owners of the Resident Card pay less for parking in subzones A, B and C. After the free limit is used up, the rates are low and identical in all three subzones: 3 PLN for the first paid hour, 3.50 PLN for the second and 4.20 PLN for the third.
The arrangements also affect people from outside Zakopane who visit the town almost every day. Residents of neighbouring gminas, including Poronin and Kościelisko, did not receive preferential conditions and, as Radio ESKA Kraków reported, they regard this as unfair because they pay the full tourist rate for parking.
– Zakopane is a city and a commune, but it is also a county town, where many offices and institutions have their seats, which I have to visit as a county resident. I therefore feel unfairly treated because I have to pay as much as a tourist, and I am not one – said one resident of Poronin.
Where else do tourists have to be careful with orange envelopes? For now, Zakopane is the only city in Poland that has introduced them.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
